Rear suspension lift questions.

Ok... So I have a 2002 Prerunner, double, 3.4, Taco with 250,000+ miles on it. All of tge suspension is original... and a lot of it is in need of replacement (struts, shocks, ball joints, tie rod ends etc).

Since I'll be doing all the rest of it, I've decided the truck is going to get lifted while I'm under there.

So... now my questions are.

The truck still sits higher in the back than in the front, but when I add a load the rear squats a lot. I think the leafs are decent enough to do an add a leaf, but I'm not sure I want to go that route.

The other option is to go with a new leaf pack. From what I can find, my options are Old Man Emu = 2.25-2.5 lift springs or Skyjacker Softride = 2.5 lift springs.

My problem with the lift leaf packs is that they are 2.5 lift... from what I can tell, if I want to level out the truck, I need to lift the front 1.5 inch more than the back (generally speaking) which puts me at a 4 inch lift in the front... which is not good for the CVs (from what I understand).

Anyone with experience with OME or Skyjacker... do they lift as high as advertised? What size lift did you go with to even out the front? And if anyone wants to chime in on... should I just save the $$ and go with a 1.5 add a leaf?

(I am most likely going with Bilstien 5100 front and Bilstien shocks in back)

I'm looking to do a lift that gives me good ride quality, and good payload capacity. The truck sees a fair amout of off road use, in the woods, but mainly on well (and not so well) maintained fire roads. Not looking for rock crawling or baja stuff.

 

I have a rear add a leaf, and it rides STIFF, I do not recommend an AAL unless you get a progressive AAL. My OME coils in the front ride great however so I would imagine OME leafs would be great as well. And unless I'm reading something wrong, you have a Preruuner, so CV angle will not be an issue up front, just watch for ball joint angles. Maybe look into some progressive AAL's that give you around 1.5" of lift, and ride better than a single leaf AAL. I know wheelers.com has some. And highly recommend the Bilstien 5100's. I have those as well and they are great.

 

There are many more choices available for leaf packs than those two. Alcan and Deaver make great leaf packs for our trucks. Also, check out the packs available from Wheelers Offroad. 4" of lift on the front of your truck is not likely to be 4' over stock. Your front end has sagged quite a bit since new. Maybe as much as a couple of inches.

 

I tried the Wheeler's old 5-leaf pack (1.5) for 4x4 several years back on my 01, and its durability was not impressive with a full bed and pulling a light trailer. Allegedly Alcan made them for Wheelers. It was also expensive for what it was. I opted for Dakars after that, which were much better (and less expensive), and which you can tune to some degree by removing or adding leaves.

I'm not familiar with the Prerunner 8-leaf packs they list now (In the link Mike posted), but I would look for some good reviews on those before committing.

Another note: I recommend keeping some rake and not leveling. This is built in to accommodate loads and still have the truck handle well and not have a saggy ass with your headlights pointed in people's faces.

 

You do not have cv's. Only 4wd trucks have axles in the front.

 

Thanks for the info!

Yes... You read that correctly. It is a Prerunner, and you are right about the CVs. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the whole lifting a 2x4. Every time I have lifted a truck I have had to account for CVs. (Actually all but 1 time. I lifted a friends Taco Prerunner about 10 years ago).

As for the ball joint angle. I am planning on replacing with aftermarket upper control arms to fix that problem. Now that you've reminded me about there being no issue with the CV angles, I think I may go OME 2.25-2.5" leaf packs in the rear with Bilstein 5100s set to 2.5" with a .5"Headstrong top plate spacer. (That may leave me with a slight rake, but I would rather have a rake than have the truck squat in the back)

 

Ya... I know. 00PreRunner reminded me. I've, pretty much, only lifted 4x4s and have always had to account for CV. Still trying to get used to the lifting a 2x4.

 

I have already ordered, and received, new (original replacement) coil springs. They were on a "damaged package" sale. Picked them up for $25. That should help alleviate the front end sag.

 

I also had the wheelers 5 leaf pack on my 2000 reg cab paired with 5100s on 3rd setting (most lift). The truck sat perfect. Had just a little rake in the back. At first it hauled loads well, but I too wasn’t impressed with the durability. It started to sag in less than a year. It also squeaked badly. I think I paid 500.00 for the leafs. Would try Dakar if I still had a 1st gen.