Lift setup rides poor! Looking for a little help

hey guys, and gals! New to the site and enjoying it so far! Looking for a little help. I bought my son a 2009 Tacoma sport 4x4 with a 3-4" lift, Truck rides like crap, looks like the lift has maxed out the total chaos control arms so the truck never moves back up. Anyone have the same lift? Can you tell me how to fix this if there's a way without going to a 6" lift or lower the trick back down and go with a smaller tire. I'm running 285/70/17's any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

That's a decent lift, so it's odd that you'd think it rides like crap. What is your tire pressure set at? What does the rear suspension look like?

 

Looks like a good front setup actually (Toytec Ultimate kit?)...what's the rear setup look like? Maybe it's coming from there

 

That or maybe the front springs are rated too heavy for a lighter front end, not sure what the Toytec options are but it might be that those springs were meant for a bumper/winch/skids setup. That would make it ride pretty harsh.

 

Hey I'll trade you set ups!

 

Just searched the part number and they're 620 lb springs. I bet that's where the harshness is coming from.

 

Yeah makes sense. I'm not well-versed on 2nd gens but I'm pretty sure that's heavier than the stock springs? @Tadams17 if that's the case it sounds like you might want to switch those front springs out for something lighter (<600 lbs)....or add a steel plate bumper to the front

 

That's a great setup but the previous owner may have put those 620lb eibach's on the .85 setting on the 5100's. Probably experiencing a rough ride because those springs are meant for having weight in the front, ie bumper, etc. Even at 0" on the 5100's, those springs provide 1.6"~ of lift from stock.
Stock springs are 560lb I believe.

 

I'm not sure on stock coils, but OME coils (883,884,885, 887,888) are 590 lbs and those ride pretty nice (that's what I have). 620 lbs would be pushing it though.

 

I think stock is around 550 lbs

 

Depending on the kit itself, it could have the adjustable threads, and there is too much preload on it, similar to what @PapaBear just said.

 

Yeah the guys I wheel with that have 2nd gens run 600-700lb springs with weight so that's where my money is on this.

 

Both local lift shops told me that the reason the ride was so rough was from the lift being maxed, this being no up travel In the truck, they are telling me I need to lower it or raise it to get the ride back. So you guys think if I just changed the springs I might be good?

 

Can you post a pic of the bottom half of the shock where the coil sits? That will tell you if you've preloaded the spring too much.

 

The springs should be set at the bottom of the shocks- not higher up on the shocks. My Icon springs come with 650lb spings; ride is plush.

What is out back for the lift? Blocks?

Also- what size are those wheels? If they are 18", the ride could be harsh from that and tire PSI. I use appx 40 PSI front 39 rear.

Not too familiar with your specific lift set up, unknown how it is supposed to ride- but keep in mind spring rate is only one portion to consider. If you have no up travel and little droop- my best guess based on the pics provided is that there could be too much spring compression.

 

This.
Spacer lift can't be helping either...

 

How bout this? Sorry first Tacoma just trying to get it right for my kiddo before I hand over the keys! Thanks for the help

 

Looks like it's sitting on the highest notch. Lower that and take out the top plate spacer and it'll ride much better.
You'll lose at least a couple inches of lift...

 

There's the issue. The 5100's are set at what looks like to be 1.75" (or third notch from bottom) I believe these coils are meant to be set at "0" on the 5100's (bottom groove)

 

That might be right, might not. It depends on the coil length. They offer those in two different lengths (maybe more). Those that definitely could be the issue though. The coil weight being too great is also a good explanation (and separate from the preload issue).

Your CV axle angle is pretty steep (not outrageous, but getting there). The next step might be to measure the actual lift to see where you're at. You can read about it on here, but basically you measure the distance between the hub (wheel center) and the bottom of the fender flare. Stock is something like 20.5 inches (but please double check that). So if you measure something like 24 inches, that means you have 3.5 inches of lift. Make sense? You want to shoot for no higher than 3 inches..and 2.5 will ride even smoother. If you want the height toss a 1inch body life on there. A lot of folks don't like Body lifts, but there are a bunch of guys running 1-inch body lifts with no problems at all (myself included). Just use 4crawler or toytec, but not some cheap eBay company.

If you're at 3.5 or 4 inches, then you likely want to drop it down one or two notches, depending on where the coil is seated. Unforatenly that means you need to pull the coilover off the truck, compress the coil to remove, drop the notch that holds the spring perch, and put it all back together again. It's not that hard with a buddy, but is a bit of a pain if you've never done it before. There are a bunch of threads on how to do it on TW.

I hope this helps! And by the way, nice truck. Your son is a lucky dog! He'll need to beat the ladies off with a stick.