funky suspension

when i bought my 2007 tacoma the dealership had installed some 1.5" spacers , last weekend i went ahead and removed them in hopes of getting a better ride by adding some add-a-leafs to the rear and new uca's , i very quickly realized something was wrong , the ride has become what can best be described as bouncy . can anyone help shed some light on why removing the spacers and adding the add-a-leafs and uca's would make the vehicle ride worse

 

With apologies, going to ask something basic - shocks got bolted back to the bottom mount? Just assuming you had to remove them to maneuver things around. A buddy removed the air shocks from his car half a lifetime ago, it was bouncing like a kid on a pogo stick. They sure as heck went back on real quick.

Would more likely guess the bounce is due to things being too stiff in the back for the amount of weight back there. What happens when you jump up and down on the bumper? You can see about adding a couple hundred pounds of weight in the bed, if that improves the ride you'll need to continue doing so or make other mods to the leaf pack. I just put a new set on to replace the tired stock packs, haven't driven enough yet to decide if it's noticeably better. Thinking I'll end up with some weight added to smooth things out in the end.

 

What did you install in place of the spacers in front or are you saying you just removed the rear block and added an aal.

 

initially i just removed the spacers and raised the ring on the spring perch but even going to the 1.75" position the front end was much lower , i ended up putting the spacers back in the front and left the aal in the rear

 

yes the shocks were bloted back into the orginal position , i would have assumed with removing the lift blocks and overload springs and installing the aal the ride would have gotten softer . im hoping to not have to add weight to the truck

 

You need to take some pictures and post them.

 

Indeed, it's a pain to have to do that, but with a relatively light rear end I think it's hard to get both cargo hauling capacity and a smooth ride when completely empty. Many, many threads exist where people say they've gotten their Taco to ride well with some combination of new springs and shocks, but as that's all relative/subjective it's hard to know just how smooth you or I would find it.

I think using some added weight as a diagnostic could be useful, though. If a couple hundred pounds sitting in the rear of the bed is enough to significantly change (improve) the ride, then at least you know you're in the ballpark. If it doesn't change much at all, something else is likely contributing to the situation.

One thing to also check; how much space between the bump stops and the frame when on level ground? Are they stock?

 

got a picture of the aal on your leaf pack?

 

my big thing is that when the truck was on still on the spacers the ride while stiffer was better riding ?! but once i swapped the spacers out and put on the aal thats when it all went sideways . the bump stops are all stock and the front sits roughly 2" away from the lower a-arm and the rear sits roughly 4" away from the frame

 

That leaf pack looks just like the OEM TSB packs I just took off my truck - three leaf plus overload. Is there any chance those shocks are long-reach, and bottoming out with the stock height leafs?

 

^^ This. Your shocks look super clean and still have labels on them. See if you can find the part number on that rear shock assembly, they might be extended length.

In the original post you mentioned you were adding an add-a-leaf. Based on your photo (and what Leomania confirmed) those look like the OEM 3+1 leaf pack. Did you change anything with the leafs? If you did and it only had 3 leafs to begin with, it could be something going on there. Stock leaf packs aren't known to be very good.

Another thing to check: When you were re-tightening the leaf pack U bolts what torque spec did you use? Factory service manual has a mis-print of 37 lb/ft when it should be 73 lb/ft. If they are too loose it could be acting weird.

 

the stock leafs were 3 + 1 overload , i removed the lift block and overload then added the 3 leaf add a leaf pack (all pro offroad pn 4500T-3AAL) the pn on the rear shocks is 25-242539 .

 

dealer techs still torque them to 37 ft. lbs because that's what Toyota says.

 

you'd think they'd don't have a tsb for the misprint

 

Based on that, I'd assume the rear of your truck sit's considerably lower now? Does your truck now sit level?

 

the aal gave me a 1.5" lift which was equivalent of the lift block so the rear of the truck is sitting right about where it was when it was on the blocks

 

You've increased the spring rate doing this. That's probably why you find it stiffer/bouncier. Blocks and overloads don't change the spring rate. The overloads only come into play once you've squashed the rest of the pack down, they don't do anything during normal driving.

AAL are good for if you are running extra weight in the back constantly. Otherwise you are going to want a new leaf pack that will add lift without adding spring rate.

 

damn this is not what i wanted to hear , i assumed by pulling the blocks and adding leafs i would be making the ride better not worse and seeing as the truck is my daily i wasnt planning on sinking a lot of time and money into it , thanks for explaning it to me

 

You could always just run a couple hundred pounds in the box. I had AAL for the first few years and with about 250lbs (more like 350 in the winter) in the box it road just fine with a bit of lift still.

But honestly a new leaf pack isn't terribly expensive or hard to swap. They can make a pretty big difference in ride quality though. The factory leafs aren't great lol.