Rear shock recommendations- max comfort dirt roads

Hello Tacoma Worlders,

2016 TRD Sport rode hard and put away wet for too many miles. Looking to upgrade rear shocks from oem. Live about an hour outside town on a rough dirt road, and my stiff truck is jangling what brain I have left out my ears. Any recs on rear shock upgrades for maximum comfort on dirt roads and offroading? budget about $1000 for the pair, would love to hear your favorite models Fox, Bilstein, Kings etc.

Many thanks,

Kyle

 

You might try the RXT leafs and remove the sway bar. Those two mods seemed to soften the ride for mine.

 

To an extent, a rough dirt road will be somewhat rough no matter what. Airing down is where it will benefit the most, however it’s extremely unrealistic to air up and and down just to go in and out of your driveway / road to home.

 

Stick to the ones that require less to no maintenance. You’re not racing so it should be hazle free. Cheers!

 

I'm going to piggy back on the tire PSI comment. While it is unrealistic to air down for your driveway make sure your not overinflated. If your running "E" rated tires like half of us on the forum you could be running more pressure than needed exaggerating the problem. 5 PSI makes a huge difference on my truck. Also I just did a suspension refresh on my 1st Gen and went with the standard load OME springs and shocks. Big improvement from my clapped out springs and shocks.

 

A leaf pack sans overload leaf (e.g , RXT pack) rated for the weight you are carrying in the rear will have the greatest affect on comfort. These type of packs only work best if you keep the weight relatively constant in the bed in the range the pack was designed for. If you use you pickup like most, and run highly varying loads in the back, a progressive leaf pack with an overload leaf is best to counteract sag, but will generally ride harsh when there is no weight in the back. It's the curse of driving a pickup used for pickup things. Shocks that have clickers and are somewhat tuned for the weight range help a bit, but springs matter more.

 

Secure 300 lbs in the bed over the rear axle.