Newbie question about suspension upgrade

Hey guys, new to the Tacoma scene, she's a 2010 sport i call her Black betty. and the previous owner put spacers in the front/rear, I'm looking into getting a suspension upgrade. I've been looking into the Bilstein 6112/5160 combo, as I can get a pretty decent deal on the parts at least for living in Canada they're a good deal. So my question is, can I run the spacers with the new suspension, or do I have to take out the spacers? the spacers are not affecting the suspension geometry or anything so I would imagine it wouldn't affect the new suspension? Also, do I need any supporting parts, like upper control arms, or and extra leaf's in the rear? thanks for any input and I'm excited to join the taco family!

 

You need to take the spacers out.
The closer you get to 3” of lift, the more likely you will need UCA.

 

If by “spacers” you mean wheel spacers then no you do not need to remove them if you are only installing 6112/5160s.

if by “spacers” you mean lift spacers (ie a block in the rear leaf, spacer above front coil) then yes you would probably remove those if doing 6112/5160. Main reason for this is to avoid blowing out your new shocks from over extension/compression.

Check out the suspension sub forum for lots more info, this has been done thousands of times before. Welcome to Tacoma World.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/forums/suspension.18/

 

Welcome!

Assuming you're talking suspension lift spacers, I'd highly recommend removing them.
I have the 6112/5160 bilstein lift set at max height and the wheelers progressive add a leaf ("AAL"). I got 2.5" of lift up front and the rear sits level with the front.

While aftermarket upper control arms ("UCA") are not mandatory they can help maintain factory alignment specs. I really like my SPC UCAs as they offer a lot of adjustment.

2.5" in my opinion the highest lift you can go without needing UCA.

 

As said by wi_taco, the 5100's have the option to have lift added to them when installed by moving their adjustable collars up and down. With this, you should remove spacers that go on top of the spring hats. If you're okay with the alignment specs currently you probably will not need UCA's. That's not to say they still won't be recommended and that your truck wouldn't be better for having them, but if you can get aligned properly at the height you choose without em, then you should be fine.

In the rear just make sure to get long enough 5100's for the lift you intend to run so they're not the limiting factor in your travel.

2nd gen guys, do 2g's suffer from Taco lean like the 3g's do? Should the OP put 1 notch higher on the driver like the 3g's need to?

 

Yep, my 2014 had the taco lean but a 1/4" spacer was enough to compensate.