Needing suspension help

As stated in the thread title, I need some direction. I'm pleased to announce, I have finally paid off my 2013 Tacoma after 6 years! From the lot, it came with a 6" suspension lift. The best I can tell is that it's a rough country lift with blocks under the leaves and blocks on the struts. It has constantly eaten through the inside of the front tires. This should be able to be fixed by adjustable upper control arms. From the leaves to the suspension up front, everything squeaks and pops. I've had enough of it. Part of me has thought about replacing everything suspension-related. The driver-side leaf has begun to sag. The rear shocks are worn. The driver-side steering knuckle has a heli coil kit in it. The inner and outer tie rods are bad on either side. CV axle boots are busted. Ball joints all the way around are due for replacement. Now that it's paid off, I'd like it to ride nicely. Part of me wouldn't mind going down to a 4" lift since my wife is on the shorter side. I have no clue which brands are the best or where to order this stuff. I'm mechanically inclined and don't mind putting in the work. It's a 2013 SR5 base Tacoma with 34" 10 ply tires and 2" spacers. Do I replace just enough to get by or rip everything out? What are my options? I'm trying not to completely break the bank. Hopefully, this can all be done for $6000 or less. My wife and I are trying to save money and pay off student loans. Every bit of money matters. Sorry for the long paragraph and poor structure. I've had many people refer me to this forum. Y'all are the best from what I hear. I look forward to a long life with this truck. Thank you in advance.

 

Welcome to TW
I’m sure someone will chime in to help you . 6” lift is too much for sure .

 

You don’t need adjustable UCAs to fix the camber issue. Check for worn parts. May need all new control arms, ball joints etc.as for the rear I’d look for a good quality leaf pack with lift and get to the smallest rear block possible.

 

Yes, that looks to be a Rough Country 6".
You have the plain-jane version that reuses the stock springs & front shocks via big spacers all around. So yeah, plenty of room for improvement there.

Just FYI, that kit comes in both 4" and 6" versions. All of the brackets are exactly the same, just the spacers are different. So there is no need to change the whole kit if you want to drop it down to 4". What you need are adjustable coilover shocks (many options are available here).

Fox pt# 883-02-048 (non-DSC) or #883-06-048 (DSC) are a direct fit on that (eliminating those barrel spacers in the process), and pt# 985-24-196 fits the rear.

A good set of 3" lift leaf springs paired with much shorter (1.5" or so) lift blocks will be an improvement over what's on there now (I'd say get 4" or 5" leafs & no block, but such leafs seem hard to come by without going full-custom). Icon RXT, Deaver, and OME are all pretty highly-regarded. I like the RXT for their configurability. There's a chance you might need new U-bolts since you'd be changing to a shorter block, but this would depend on how much thread length you have available on yours.


As for your tire wear issue, I agree you shouldn't need UCAs with that lift, but you can add them if you want (that should allow you to ditch those downtravel stops for another inch or so travel). Your issue is more likely to be toe alignment, which can be caused by worn parts. A new set of LCA bushings (and UCA bushings if you keep your OE arms) should help get things back into order. Then tie rods, balljoints, CV boots, whatever else you need.

Also I see enough clearance between your tire & knuckle you should be able to ditch the 2" wheel spacers for 1" or 1.25" ones. This should take some of the load off your wheel bearings, ball joints, tie rods and your steering rack.



I had @AccuTune Offroad do a set of Fox 2.5s for mine (adventure tuned), and am very happy with the outcome. They should be able to set you up with something for yours as well, they show the front shocks I mentioned above on their page:
https://accutuneoffroad.com/product...ver-2-5-series-remote-reservoir-5-8-4-6-lift/
https://accutuneoffroad.com/product...-5-series-remote-reservoir-5-80-4-6-lift-dsc/

I don't see #985-24-196 on there, but I suspect that if you call them, they can set you up with those or whatever else you want/need.

Hope that helps.

 

@4x4junkie thanks for the tag. The coilovers we have listed should work for most drop bracket systems, however these are intended to be used with BDS kits. We've just not confirmed fitment with every drop bracket system out there. The rear shocks listed are IFP shocks, not something we tune so there wont be a lot of improvement getting those. Depending on rear lift height, we may be able to recommend a 2.0 remote reservoir shock that we can tune. We would just need to get some measurements on your current setup to see if it would work. @Renegade_Leader let us know if we can help.

 

Wow your truck is on stilts

 

I mentioned the IFP shocks only because that is all Fox offers for the rear with 4-6" lift. Still, they are a nice step-up from any of the "liftkit" shocks that are out there (have had them on another vehicle).

As to the front shocks, the Rough Country 6" lift barrel spacer I believe is 4.75" tall (OP can confirm though), for which my own research shows the 883-02-048 would fit that fine.

Stock shock = 21.375" ext., 17.6" comp.
With the spacer = 26.125" ext., 22.35" comp.

The 883-02-048 is listed at 26.250" ext., 20.45" comp.

RC also equips their kits with downtravel stops that act upon the UCA to stop the suspension overextending (these are visible in OP's pics). Because of this, that 0.125" ext. length difference likely wouldn't even come into play.