Hello All!! I’m ready for a change, lift, wheels and mods?

super short and most likely flawed in every way. My name is Brent and I’ve had my SWB Tacoma prerunner for 10 years. Nothing has ever went wrong or broken al fluids and part well taken care of “ I love Her”.
But i do need some pointers and some opinions. I have stock everything with the exception 265/75/16 tires. My questions are these: Lift? Done right of course and functional for down the road gonna take it cross country riding with the wife. Tires and wheel size opinions are most welcome. I will be replacing struts shocks.
All the parts around the suspension like maybe the bushings and other boots look pretty bad. So what should I replace what should I add “ Leafs, blocks, or other stuff I do not understand or know about”?
Also suck at forums and to be completely honest with everyone I have only posted on forums maybe 10x in my life....so feel special Tacoma world.
Like I said I suck at all of this and I’ll put it in the wrong spot and people will say just look up the answers but I really don’t want to leave it all up to me. You all have to take some of the blame so my wife doesn’t kill just me Pics of my truck. I hope this comes out right

 

Being a prerunner if you want lift, maxtrac spindles are your best option. They provide 4" of lift without changing any of the geometry of the suspension. Pair them with some bilstien 5100 or even some stock trd pro coil overs and you'll have a nice ride up front. For the rear ome Dakar medium duty leaf springs. Paired with a suitable set of shocks will suit your needs. Definitely do recommend replaceing upper and lower control arms if you have a lot of miles on the originals. You can find low mileage take off around here fairly easy. Research, research and send Marie @HeadStrong Off-Road or @Wheeler's Off-Road Inc a PM and they will be able to get you set up for how you plan to utilize your rig

 

If you leave it up to us you won’t have any money or a wife left. Have you considered that?

 

Well it didn’t come out right pictures were supposed to be on bottom but I don’t really have anymore time to try. All I here at the moment is DaD DaDDy daaaaad. Haha Looking forward to using a forum finally in my life and hopfully can get some advice on all things Tacoma and forum and anything related to well anything I guess....

 

Wow didn’t realize how fast someone would respond. Lol I’ll share the blame with all of you so when I run out of money and time I will just stick with they told me so.
4 inch lift yeah that sounds pretty big but again I will be getting it ready to play with as I’ve been sitting without a car payment for 5 years and need to “not want to” but need to do somthing

 

If you want some ideas you can click the link for my thread. Decent amount of info and plenty of pics in there. Good luck..

 

Getting hood and roof painted for $900 and headlights coming in a few days so I’ll get pics of that soon

 

If looking for wheel ideas check out SCS. They're made specifically for Toyota trucks (they have the stock bore diameter, so you won't have to get hub spacers) are lighter than stock, and look dope.

https://www.stealthcustomseries.com/collections/toyota

 

Thanks for the info the wheels thing hung me up for about 5 hrs learned about back spacing and offset vs wider rim but couldn’t really narrow my search for providers.

Diabetik I couldn’t see that link or find it rather

 

Work on the suspension and mechanicals first. Cosmetics are nice, but don't make it run better.

Any reason you 'need' a lift? What does 'cross country riding with the wife' mean? Off road, or touring the states?

If mostly pavement and light off road, lift can cause more issues that it helps. You can install a take off from a 3rd gen for a budget friendly refresh. Several will show up in the market place as people choose to go with pricey aftermarket stuff.

Also, if pavement and light offroad, Michelin Defenders are a great choice for performance, MPG, quiet and durable. Not the cheapest option, but a great one.

 

Yeah the paint on hood and roof is coming next it’s just too bad not to paint it. As far as cosmetics not really in a rush except for the paint. Cross country from one side to the other with the wife in the truck would be what I ment, the trails and driving out to interesting spots may include trails bumps and such. Definitely not crawling or serious mud riding. Never knew about the 3rd gen takeoff thing I will take a look.
But the coils and new struts shock may lift my truck 1.5-2 inches in front I’m not sure if I will need anything in the back but I was going to replace those shocks as well.

 

Maybe lift isn’t the correct term maybe just level the truck but I would like suspension to be tough enough to handle speeding through the desert bumping and poping up and down! Having enough play to play I suppose...want to add not the dunes or anything like it, should have gotten the 4x4 years ago

 

If you're going to paint the hood and you're getting new headlights you may want to consider the 12-15 front end upgrade (https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2012-tacoma-front-end-conversion-rg11.293318/)

As far as a lift: first decide what look you like (factory rake/leveled/bro-stance), tire size, and how much weight you plan on carrying. From there, start at the rear leaf and look at the springs you currently have. Are they worn with a lot of miles or are they in good shape? Will you add a shell or carry extra weight in the bed a lot or do you want a smoother ride at the expense of some capacity? If they're bad consider a full replacement like a Dakar over an add-a-leaf. Note that it's hard to find a replacement pack that doesn't add at least SOME lift. From there I'd pick a front set of front springs/shocks to get the stance I want with whatever I did in the rear.

There are TONS of options on shocks...it just depends on how much you have to spend. Bilstein 5100s or Old Man Emus work for a lot of people...but some spend more and go with Fox, Icon or Kings.

Tires/wheels: if you'll be doing long trips I'd look to keep the weight down to save some mpgs and help with acceleration....that's why I chose to stick with 265/75/16s and went with SCS F5s (19lbs vs the stock 24lbs). The bigger the tire the more expensive things get (tires themselves, bigger lift, adjustable upper control arms, cab mount chop, regear, etc.) If you want to go with 17s there is a relatively easy swap to bigger 4 Runner brakes (https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...unner-bbk-upgrade-for-2nd-gen-tacomas.504234/). I'm running DBA rotors and TRD pads and that setup is good for 16" wheels.

Your idea of inspecting/replacing worn parts is definitely a good one.

 

Thank you for the time! So thinking back to front is going to be replaced shocks in back are done lead doesn’t seem bad but if it will help ride and performance for occasional off-road perfect. Coils and struts for front nothing big just want to level from what I do in back. Not sure what bro stance is but I do like the tire out a little bit more....i certainly don’t mean anymore than maybe 1-1/2max of the max.

 

Bro Stance/Lean is when the front is lifted higher than the rear...Level is when front and rear are equal.... Raked is when the front is lower than the rear (2" is stock on 2nd Gens.) The tire sticking out has to do with the backspacing/offset of the wheels. This can be achieved by using different wheels or by adding spacers. Note that the farther the wheels stick out the more clearance you get between the upper control arms and the tire....but you're more likely to rub on the front/rear of the wheel wells (larger arc radius when the wheels are turned.)

 

Whoa that crazy conversion I do like it! And I just figured out how to reply directly I believe

 

Which ever way you go with your suspension just make sure it’s what you need in terms of usability. We have a lot of trusted vendors here at TW to help out with your parts and @HeadStrong Off-Road or @Wheeler's Off-Road Inc .

Then as for wheels you have scs wheels , FN Wheels , race relations , methods etc.. if you want to go upwards of price you got BC forge wheels or Volk Wheels.

 

Yeah I read about the wheels took me down a rabbit hole for about 5 hrs....most likely be .5 inch past fenders or just flush. I’ll make sure to get low offset and 4.5 or more back space. Didn’t want to be slinging a ton of rocks all the time lol.

 

Posting in the forum makes this so much easier thank all of you who are sending me in the right direction for purchase help

 

You’re welcome. I’m sure there are other vendors here that other members can recommend . We’re all here to help out. You have some real die hard enthusiasts and your causal enthusiasts. For the most part a lot of us came from other car or truck forums that just can’t leave anything stock..lol