Suspension Upgrade - King OEM Front

Aye mates,

I'm new to TacomaWorld as an official member (first post) but have come here often for advice. Great community. I'm sure this has been covered plenty but I'm looking to dive into upgrading my suspension to get more clearance for bigger wheels/tires. Looking into somewhere around a 2.5 - 3" lift. I'm heavily considering doing coilovers on the front and just doing a lift on the back rather than swap out the rear suspension entirely - partly to save some coin and also bc I don't know how necessary an upgraded rear would be for me compared to the front. I commute daily with my taco and take it out to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado when I can but am not trying to rock climb. Just need enough clearance to get over some of the rugged terrain and want the agressive stance that the upgraded suspension/lift gives ya.

Right now looking at the King OEM system as my preferred but I have a lot of research to do still.

If there is a one stop shop thread for this I wouldnt mind getting a link to something you've found helpful on here. Anything helps

Cheers!

 

bump

 

We have tons of different options to fit the needs of every style driver! I noticed you are in Colorado? Feel free to stop by our show room and talk to one of our experienced reps in person or shoot us a call anytime at 303-255-4959!


Welcome to the forum BTW!!

-David

 

Welcome to TW, if you can swing it I highly recommend kings Ive had mine on less than a week an the ride is supreme an Im armored up with 10ply tires. Had icons rode ok on road a little stiff good in the dirt, 2nd setup was ome HD stuff rode like a tank but still solid, kings an ads are on another level of comfort. Fox is another solid performer had those on another truck.

 

Appreciate the insight especially with your multiple different setups you've tried. Honestly the trademarked bright blue King coilovers caught my eye but even better that no one has a bad thing to say about them that I've seen so far.. I am curious about the effects of only doing the front and just doing blocks on the back to level it out. Are there any major/obvious drawbacks to this? I have the impression that the most noticeable difference in suspension comes from upgrading the front as it makes first contact. But I'm thinking I might be just convincing myself that to save $$$

 

Personally not a fan of block/spacer lifts, you would be much better off with a 3 leaf aal from headstrong or icon. I ran the icon aal out back for a while with icon 2.0s an had 0 complaints just sagged a little with any weight more than 150lbs. But the ride an flexiness of it was amazing. If you only got coin for the fronts COs do that an 5100s out back it will perform great lots of people do it.

 

If you're going to spend the money on Kings and likely UCA's up front I'm pretty sure everyone on here would advise you to do a proper lift on the rear to, whether it be full leaf packs or an AAL if you don't ever put much weight in the bed. An AAL and basic Fox 2.0 shocks would probably run you another $500 if you're really looking to keep the rear really cheap but in my opinion it would be criminal to put on Kings up front and put a block in the rear. I have them all around and really will say that suspension is a system that works from all 4 corners, not just on the front.

 

Kings in front and blocks in rear??? That's like...taking a $5 dollar hooker to a world class restaurant.

Seriously though, the rear is just as important to the overall ride as the front and vice versa. Blocks in the rear are not going to help your ride.

 

You don't have to get equally expensive Kings for the rear, you can go with other options for the shocks but for the lift you'll want to do that via add a leafs if you want to stay on the cheap side. Much much better than blocks, and you can get an add a leaf for maybe $70.

 

Okay that's the slap of reality I needed to hear lol. Just might have to wait a little longer to pull the trigger since I want to do it all at once. I knew I would end up surpassing the TRD suspension one way or another which is why I went with the SR5 to begin with so in the mean time I suppose I'll keep putting the stock suspension to the test

 

I went with Kings up front and Icon remote resi 2.0s in the rear, with an All Pro leaf pack. I did it over the course of a year but in the end I think I spent about ~$2k. Prices for 1st gens are a little different than for the newer trucks but for the same amount you can get a performance setup that'll be a big upgrade over stock

 

Bumping an old thread..

Hows the ride with King in front and those icons in the rear?

 

Still rocking the same setup, it rides fine...I've never noticed an issue with having King fronts/Icon rears. I had to dial in the Kings a bit both in ride height and valving to get them where I wanted them - after initial install they were stiff as hell. No surprise, but 3" of lift is a lot of preload and kills ride quality (and CV boots). Eventually settled on 2" of lift, maybe a little under that actually. And got them revalved + front steel bumper. Ride much better now.

I think the 600# springs they come with are a little much for a stock front end

The rear Icons have been great, haven't given me any trouble in the last few years. Easily 40k miles on them now and they still haven't been rebuilt or leaked, but I'm sure I'm pressing my luck with it at this point.