Lifting my 03 taco! Suspension and tire question

Hi all!

Excited to join the first-gen tacoma club! I got my dad's 2003 manual 4x4 Tacoma Access Cab last summer and took it on a nice road trip from Colorado to upstate New York. Honestly for such a old car, it drives smoothly! Aprox 185k miles bone stock and last Fall I made a few interior upgrades (new interior lights all around, sound system, and back up camera) plus undercoating w/ lanolin.

The suspension is pretty old and soft, so looking to beef it up and add a lift w/ bigger tires. Leaning toward Bilstein 5100 shocks with OME 881 coils and an Icon Add-a-Leaf. There's currently a kit on Yota Nation for ~$970 which should give me about ~2.25-2.5 inches of lift.

• If anyone has other kit recommendations and/or websites with a better deal, please let me know!

This is my daily driver for most of the year, mostly highway/city driving and honestly no off-roading other than the occasional trip to ADK for camping/snowboarding. Primarily looking to improve ride quality at a reasonable cost. Plus a lifted Taco always looks badass

What I could use some advice from y'all:

1. What else should my mechanic address while they're digging around the suspension? PS. Lower Ball Joints are definitely on the list! Should they look into new control arms or anything else?
   
   
2. I'm looking to upgrade tires and rims too as well, and I'm overwhelmed by all the options
   • Curious about the ride quality of BFGoodrich K02 on pavement - anyone have experience? Other tires I should check out?
     
     
   • Rims recommendations? I've seen rims with 0mm offset, 10mm offset, etc. Can someone ELI5 what this means? I am hoping to do the Tundra brake upgrade this summer so what should I look for to make sure the rims/tires will clear the bigger brakes in the future.

Thanks in advance!

 

Welcome aboard, if you want the most out of this truck when you sell it, do not mod it. Mine is completely stock. "Upgrades" never increase the value of a truck and serve only to boost the ego (unless you're doing serious off-roading, which it doesn't sound like you are.) On a 22 year old truck, maintenance will use up any money you'd hope to put into mods.

185K is not that high for a Taco, seriously. I went with new LCA's so I wouldn't have to deal with pressing bushings in and out, but yes an older truck will not align properly until the issues are addressed with bushings and coilovers (or coilover bushings at the very least.) Upper ball joints and bushings recommended, but they don't take as much of a beating. These are what I'm running, no fiddling with spring compressors and closest to stock you'll find.

When was the timing belt changed, or was it ever? Recommended is at 100K or less. Kind of a big deal.

Also what's your frame look like? It would be a waste to throw any money at it if it's starting to rust out. You mentioned upstate New York so presuming it's an east coast truck, undercoating is good but it has to be done regularly and ensure the inside of the frame is coated.

Sorry to be Mr. Debbie Downer but maintenance first, mods last.

My front end refresh

 

Appreciate the reply! I've already taken care of a lot of maintenance issues when I got the truck (new clutch, flushed and new fluids throughout, etc). I honestly don't have plans to sell the truck as I have fond memories of riding around with my dad. I figured it's been bone stock all those years, lets have some fun hence the lift.

Frame is in great shape, was in Colorado for 20+ years where they don't use a lot of salt. I got lanolin before winter so I don't have to worry too much about the salt here in upstate NY.

Will add timing belt to my list. Was more curious about other suspension elements but looks like upper control arms are a must with the lift to help with alignments. Will look into LCA/UBJ/bushings as well.

 

This is wrong, unless you excessively lift or screw something up with some cheap parts. I would leave the UCAs alone.

Have you driven the truck off road in Colorado or elsewhere? You’d be surprised how capable the 1st gen Tacoma is in stock form with just some decent tires (even in the stock size).

if I were to do things again with my knowledge of owning my 2003 from 2014-2020, and 2015 since 2020:
- Keep it as stock as possible and tailor to your needs after using it for a few years.

A decent front skid, 1-2” lift, and 32” tires would probably cover 95% of Tacoma owners actual needs (excluding the desires for LOOKS).

 

Since you're in the deep salt zone (like me) make sure to treat Inside frame rails as well. Do this every year. For simple DIY, look up waxoyl cavity wax in aerosol with 360 wand. Treat everything underneath except exhaust and trans, etc. All those bolts turn to rubbish if splattered in salt.

Will agree with all the above ^^^. Also bone stock on mine. Put on same susp. as linked above. I just put on Toyo Open Country AT3 in stock 265-70-16 size, Much lighter weight than the KO2/3 which are C or E class (can't remember). KOs are nice tires -- get tires that suit your driving needs.

Welcome!

 

Welcome! everybody's probably going to have slightly different opinions so here's mine. You might check out JBA upper control arms. their integrated upper ball joints are almost a pleasure to replace...and they're also rebuildable, if you prefer to go that route. OP, the setup you described wanting is almost exactly what I have on mine. I think I might've gone with the 5200's and I did replace both rear spring packs with OME with an AAL after the fact to get some additional height. later I fabricated a couple of 1" spacer blocks for the rear too.

 

This is very sound advice. I would just refresh the suspension with new shocks and coil springs. Install new upper and lower control arm bushings, tie rod ends, upper and lower ball joints. Maybe some new rear leaf springs and install a good winch if you plan on going off roading at all. These trucks live previous members have stated are pretty dam tough in stock form. I've had mine for 14 years, and it's completely stock and will stay that way. Just my 2 cents worth. As an added note, Lift puts more stress and strain on parts, especially the front cv axles.