3rd gen leaf pack replacement RXT or Deaver, others LCA bushings? Please recommend me pros and cons

For right at 25,000 miles now I’ve been running bilstein 6112s in front with whichever springs come with standard(cant remember if 600 or 650lbs) and JBA UCAs. 5125s in the rear and icons progressive AAL. Blue sumo springs as well in back. 255 80 r17 nitto ridge grapplers. Now for the weight and gear in the back I have a soft topper with a ICECO Pro 45L fridge that weighs right at 65lbs loaded. I also carry a tool bag with around 60lbs of tools back there and 50lbs of miscellaneous gear such as air compressor etc and the OEM spare is underneath the bed as well. Ive been back and forth looking at Deaver and RXT leaf packs and cannot decide.. i like the price of the icon rxt but if the deaver is much better ride and performance I’d be willing to pay a little more. Any help would appreciated..
Heck here is an actual image of what I usually have in the rear.. maybe not the shoes on a regular basis but part time fastpitch softball and baseball coach and railroad worker.. Single dad of 3 it stays pretty full tbh. I’m also considering new LCA bushings, cam tabs and or taco tabs. OP sorry I’m not trying to high jack your post but thought any info may be helpful to all in the thread.

 

If you upgrade to a full leaf pack you're most likely going to need new rear shocks as the 5160's will be limiting and you might blow them up at full droop/compression. So no matter which pack you choose budget for shocks too. (I used to have 5160's myself)

RXTs and Deavers are both good choices and you'll be getting some lift around 2" or maybe more. RXTs are cost-effective and lots of people run them. Deavers are more expensive but might last longer and lots of people run them. Questions only you can answer: How much offroading do you plan on doing? How much towing and how big? How much weight do you plan to add in the future? My 2 cents: The more towing or more weight you want to haul go Deavers, or if you are staying light duty either is fine. Anything is better than stock + AAL.

Regarding LCA bushings and cam tabs: Why do you think you need these? What's wrong with stock stuff? If you aren't wheeling hard or finding problems with OEM there isn't much reason to change in my opinion unless you just want to do it for fun. Save your money and time here, do some other mods first.

 

Hey thanks for the response! So me and my son have gotten into some dirt trail riding at low speeds and do come upon some mud and rocks but i also haul a trailer at times hence the reason i have the sumo springs along with the gear i have in the bed at most times. On the reason I’m thinking of bushings and tabs is Some how along the way my cam tabs have been completely flattened i learned last alignment i got after installing the JBA UCAs.. i was just thinking that if I’m changing cam tabs i may as well change out cam bolts and if I’m doing both of those while I’m at it i should probably just replace bushings since its all gotta come out. Probably overkill on the bushings tbh

 

Depending how heavy your trailer is I'd lean towards the Deavers. U402 stage 1 if it's small/light. I have stage 2's and they are probably too stiff for your daily loadout but might be great for your trailering.

Makes more sense now too about the cam tabs. If they got bent/flattened last alignment then yeah do cam tabs if you or someone you know can weld and all that jazz. If your cam bolts and bushings aren't bad/damaged there is no reason to change them out at only 25k miles. But when you reassemble I'd definitely use some anti-seize on the cam bolt inside the sleeve so they don't seize up later (a very common failure point that is easy to avoid with maintenance).

 

So I wasn’t clear on the actual mileage of the truck. I’ve got roughly 25k miles on my 6112s and 5160s. Probably 15k on the JBA UCAs and icon progressive AAL. My first lift I did was 5100s at 1,500 miles and ran that for 75k miles. Truck currently has a total of 110k on it. With that said what you mentioned about cam bolts seizing is exactly what I’ve read and that went into my consideration of swapping those and the bushings out too. Lol so much I still wanna do to this truck it’s crazy bc I’ve done a ton already. Definitely addicting and every winter is when I start getting the itch to mod. Sliders, bumpers, wheels are definitely on my to do list as well but gotta do a little at a time on a budget lol. Seriously appreciate your help

 

Definitely a more valid consideration to think about at 110k. They last a long time as long as the bolts/sleeves don't seize. I have simliar mileage and my cam bolts were seized and had to cut them out and buy new LCAs. Would have rather not had to do that, I'd have $600+ still in my bank for other mods.

Personally I'd inspect your bushings and ball joints, if they look OK and the cam bolts still move for an alignment then save your money for now. If your bushings are bad you could DIY replace them with Whitelines but it's not my idea of a "fun" job (search for other threads, it has been done before), or buy new OEM LCAs online. Again as long as your cam bolts/hardware aren't seized or damaged you can re-use those forever - just make sure to anti-seize inside the bushing sleeve, I can't stress that enough! Being in TN you have a better shot of them being fine than I do here in WI.

 

How does your stage 2 ride without weight in the bed? I’d say I’m right at 250lbs in bed normally and do plan on getting a high clearance rear bumper in the not to far away future. Icon progressive pack I’m running now is an improvement over the deaver single aal I had with 5100 setup in terms of ride quality being smoother. However I’m leaning toward Deaver. It’s just that I’m afraid stage 1 won’t be enough when pulling 14 ft trailer but also worried that with my normal weight in back it’ll be too rough riding kinda like my Deaver single AAL was

 

I have a camper shell and custom drawers/platform that I’d estimate weigh 3-400 lbs and even with that the stage 2 rode firm at the start. Took a few months and they broke in a bit. They advertise 2” of lift but I got closer to 3” (granted I have a 2nd gen so maybe some differences). I don’t tow anything but search around the forum for other threads on those leafs and you’ll probably find other feedback about them.

 

Do you have the flip kit installed? I think I’m about to pull trigger on stage one deavers once I figure out which extended travel rears I need and whether or not I need extended brake line. I hope the blue sumo springs will be plenty when I tow trailer with stage one. I figure it will be since the progressive pack from icon currently handles it just fine

 

This is how the rear currently sits with my normal weight in back

 

I am the last person to give advice on this but my gut says the stage one deavers is a good all around pick. If it needs help with tow tongue weight then maybe airbags too? Spendy for sure though.

 

Yes I have the U bolt flip kit installed with Archive bumps for max bump travel. All in my build thread (link in signature). Definitely buy extended rear brake lines, fronts shouldn't need any extension but you could upgrade them to the braided lines at same time for fun.

You took the words right out of my mouth. He's right on the edge of stage 1 vs 2. I'm heavier and stage 2 was a little stiff at first so was thinking stage 1 is more suited to his needs except the towing aspect. Agree 100% if it was mine I'd do stage 1 and see how it works with the Sumos, and if not enough add some airbags for best of both worlds. Buy once, cry once.

 

See you are in TN. I don’t know where about but running fox 2.5s with accutune bumpstop kit. Switched from the stage 1 to 2 with only a bed cover. Rides awesome. If close you can check my setup out. Good luck.

 

Any suggestions on a comparable shock that would be a better pair with the RXT leaf pack?

I just acquired the RXT leaf pack and have the TRD Pro version of the 5160. My understanding is that they're longer than stock off road suspension but I'm guessing not enough for the RXT leafs? I know they're the droop limiting factor but I assumed it wasn't going to be a problem in terms of damage and only that I'm losing travel. I already have them setup with roughly the same amount of lift as the RXT with my current setup (Headstrong AAL) and so far, so good. But, I am considering an upgrade when I install the new leafs.

 

I’m actually trying to find this information out now too. I was under the impression that 5160s were extended travel and would work well with rxt or deaver. Idk if I’m going to be able to keep my bilstein 6112s for fronts neither if 5160s won’t work.. I don’t want to run bilstein in front and fox or whatever else in the rear. definitely threw a monkey wrench in my plans and if this is the case I’ll probably just stick with my suspension setup as is for a while longer bc it’s got very little miles on it and I don’t feel like redoing fronts and rears for the 3rd time in 110k miles

 

At least from what I remember on my 2nd gen the 5160s are spec'd for 0-1" lift. RXT gives more than that, and therefore shock will act as a limiting strap so you lose travel. Could also kill the shock prematurely because of this but I don't have empirical data on that.

If you are set on keeping things Bilstein to match, they make extended length 5100s and 5125s (non-reservoir) and 5160s/5165s (reservoir). You'll have to search around on that as I don't know the part numbers. Other companies typically list the extended shocks as being suitable for 2-3" of lift. Only way to get a 100% accurate answer is break down your rear leaf pack to the single longest leaf and cycle everything to take measurements but that's a huge pain most people don't want to do.

 

I searched again to confirm and the posts I found from the Icon support/sales guy who's on the forum seems to think it's perfectly OK. Even stock shocks would be fine. His only note was that you don't get to take advantage of the added droop travel the leafs provide. But doesn't sound like there's a danger to damaging the shock. I think that's more of an issue with bottoming out rather than topping out.

I can't seem to find a simple solution for a more extended shock to help take advantage of the added down travel. I know there's a version of the 5100 that works but I'm set on a reservoir setup.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/3rd-gen-5100-or-5125-with-icon-rxt-leaf-pack.714289/

Yes you can run the 5160. Yes it will act like a limit strap on the droop. No immediate danger from fully extending the shocks but I doubt that's optimal and repeated full extension could cause damage over time.

 

So I have a confession to make and corrected it in OP. I actually forgot which rears i bought during last install but I am currently running 5125s in rear. I was thinking I had to go to 5160s with the leaf packs but now remember why I went with 5125s instead of 5160s originally. I should be fine without the rear 5125s being a limit strap knowing this information, correct? If I just order the leafs and extended u bolts I should be good to go. I’d love to try out a set of the new fox performance 2.5s but I feel it’d be stupid bc the bilstein 6112s and 5125s are plenty for what off roading I do and they only have roughly 25k on them if that can’t remember exactly plus I’ll have some extra $$$ to spend on other mods.

 

I’m thinking with the confusion of not really knowing what stage to get with deaver and my fear of sag with stage 1 if I do upgrade to rear bumper and some armor in the near future and discomfort with stage 2 or 3 with my current setup and the ability to swap out leafs to get whatever stage needed with RXT that I’m going to go with RXT leafs. I appreciate those who provided feedback and recommendations in the thread