Am I ruining my truck by lifting it?

Just curious what type of short and/or long term negative effects anyone has had to deal with by lifting their Tacoma. I have a 2013 dbcb trd off road with rear aal and front 3” coils with top spacers. I run 265-75-16 tires. Not too happy with how it rides after the lift installed. I’m thinking either go ahead and get new uca’s, Bilstein 5100 front and rear, ecsg bushing to see if that helps bring the ride back closer to factory or just remove the front coils and rear aal and go without it lifted.

I don’t want to have constant issues to deal with as it’s my daily driver. So what are some of the potential problems I can expect to have to deal with? After reading some of these posts it seems like it’s a never ending quest to get ur ride dialed in after installing a lift. Also has anyone experienced more serious issues with driveline, transmission,, etc...

 

My suggestion would be to go to a meet and see if you can drive a few trucks with different set ups.
Where are you located.

 

That would be good however I live on an island in Alaska so that won’t be happening anytime soon

 

Yeah that poses a problem for sure.

 

I put a Toytec Boss suspension on my 2000 Tacoma last summer. It went on very easy, and overall have been happy with it. I will say however that after I put it on I was having a hell of a time with the steering. It started wandering around the road something terrible; even after an alignment (twice). Ended up replacing my rack and pinion and now it drives perfectly. Did the r&p go bad bc of the lift? Or bc it had 200k miles on it? Probably a combination of both. It rides a little stiffer in the front end, and pretty jumpy in the back end unless I have weight back there. Will probably end up taking the add-a-leaf back out of it this summer to see if that helps any. Pros - Allowed for bigger tires under it to help with the off-road driving that I do frequently, improved the appearance of the truck, and after 100k+ miles on the OME suspension it was ready to be replaced. Cons - Will put an exclamation point on any issues you may already have in your front end bc of the added stress on all other components, so it may end up costing you more than you are expecting with the lift itself.
I will add also that the customer service at Toytec was second to none. I had some questions about installation and also with a wrench that is used to adjust the height of the lift. They were very responsive and helpful with everything.

 

I did 5100s front and rear, OME 2888s, a no name 1.5-2.5 AAL, did the diff drop and drive shaft drop (maybe it was cam shaft...idk), and went with 265/75r16. The truck is stiffer in the rear, but drives super smooth overall. My one and only gripe is the MPG loss that came with it. About 2MPG, but I drive around a lot and thats what bugs me about it the most.

 

In my opinion, any lift bigger than what the 2015 TRD Pro has (I've read anywhere from 1 3/4" to 2" front) is putting more stress on numerous components, not to mention driveability issues. There is a reason Toyota only lifted the Pro that amount. I think tall lifts and big tires and wheels look great, but it robs performance due to all the extra weight and rolling mass of the big tires and wheels, not to mention lowers fuel economy. But we all have our own desires and opinions on what is best.

 

Did you put new coils on stock shocks? How tall are you spacers?

You're not ruining it. You probably won't get the money out of it that you put in as far as upgrades go and you'll have a smaller group to sell to eventually. Parts will likely wear out faster. I'd still rather have my truck the way I want it while I have it and not worry about the rest.

 

A correct lift will just decrease the lifetime of normal wear parts. I never had problems with my lift and had it for 70k miles before I sold my truck.

A solid lift is the 5100's and even the stock uca if you can get the alignment right. I ran that for 20k miles and loved it. These aftermarket shocks will perform a little different than OEM though.

If you were to buy nicer shocks/uca's etc they do require more maintenance than typical OEM.

 

Yup. Truck killed a needle bearing and a wheel bearing (simultaneously ) BEFORE I lifted my truck. As long as your CV boots don't rub, you aren't really hurting anything.

 

So the new coils are combined with stock shocks. The truck only has 36k miles and since I live on an island with mostly logging roads I only drive about 5k miles per year. So when I say a daily driver (which it is) I mean less than 5 miles a day average. I mostly want the clearance the 265-75-16 10 ply tires allow but wanted to lift it to truly accommodate that size of tire.

I would like to get new 5100’s all the way round with new uca’s, it seems from most what I’ve read on here is carrier bearing drop and diff drop Don’t do much. I prob should do needle bearing too.

 

I think my spacers are 1/2”. I had a local mechanic do the install. Although he’s a decent mechanic he’s a bush mechanic and didn’t take any measurements of before and after and so not 100% sure how much it lifted. My guess is closer to 3-3.5”. If I do get 5100’s I would take out the spacers

 

A modest lift won't really hurt the truck. As long as you understand how the lift will affect your 2nd gen, and most of these are well documented. You don't need a huge lift for increased performance off road. I did some trails I didn't think I should/could do in Moab with a 2.5" lift and rock sliders...and factory bumpers. Luckily I had an experienced friend tag along.

I'd shoot for 2"-2 1/2" max given your location and limited access to parts. Generally speaking a modest, well recognized lift from a vender here that fits your budget will be just fine. There's a sticky above that describes different lifts. Basically, avoid spacers if possible. They are "frowned upon" here for a reason. The only things I had concerns about were my stock UCA's with regard to longevity and alignments, so I got some Camburg Uniball UCA's. Maybe overkill, but reliable and overbuilt are my two favorite things, with easy maintenance coming in third. There are some very budget friendly alternatives for UCA's here too.

If you are on rough roads a lot, I would get some good shocks. I had a Toytec lift up front and 5100's with Dakkars out back and they were pretty rough in the washboard in Moab. Shook the shit out of my truck. I doubt you will be going 40-50 mph up and down logging roads however. I now have Fox's all around and while I haven't been back to Moab just yet, I can tell it will be a huge improvement. What you said in your last post tells me you're on the right train of thought. I did a diff drop, for whatever thats worth. It definitely doesn't hurt the truck...

But I would buy whatever you think will be best for you location and ease of procurement, and maintenance. Sending Fox's in for rebuilding may not be the easiest thing for you out there...

Good luck.

 

The simplest answer I can give you is, YES, yes you will.

 

Definitely don’t want that ‘heavy duty’ ride. I want soft nd smooth. So sounds like the fox shocks setup is the way to go

 

Go for it. Its a really nice setup, if it fits your budget then great.