3rd gen Tacoma build help

I recently got a 2020 Tacoma off road. It’s bone stock right now but I am wanting to build it out. My dad has a 1997 Toyota Land Cruiser that is built out, so I have him to help a little but he knows little about Tacomas.

Here what I want to do - lift kit, 33s, maybe new rims, make a bumper, custom make a grille and maybe wheel spacers depending. I’m wanting to have a offroad ish look.

for a lift kit, I’m still stuck. I don’t want to spend over, around $1,100. Can’t quite figure out what I want. I don’t want to spend a ton of money but also don’t want to cheap out on one. I’ve heard good things about bilstein 5100s other then they ride stiff. Any recommendations for cheaper lift kits? I saw these bilstein 5100s

I definitely want it to look cool tho.

I’ll be doing light off roading in Florida, but mostly driving on the road. I just moved to fl so I don’t know exactly where I can off road yet tho.

Any other tips or suggestions?
I couldn’t figure out how to add photos of the Tacoma and land cruiser sorry.

 

Most IFS lift kits are going to make the truck ride rough since they are either putting a stiffer spring rate spring or adding pre-load to the OEM spring. You can get a mid-travel coilover which will add about an inch of travel to the front suspension but that is about all you can add without spending $10k on long travel. The 5100's are a great starting point and pretty cheap compared to the other big box brands. After that, there are a few options in the $2k to $2500 range. I'm a huge fan of Ironman. I have 60,000 miles of highway, overlanding and hard wheeling on their suspension and no issues at all. The foam cell keeps the oil pretty cool so you don't experience shock fade like you do on other non-reservoir shocks. "a ton of money" and "cheaper" is always subjective. What is your budget and what is too expensive? What will you use the truck for? If you just want the look and not performance, you are either going to hate the ride or you are going to spend a lot of money for comfort but not use the shocks for what they were intended.

 

Will you be offroading or do you just want the look?

Most bang for your buck is tires. If you go skinny 33s there wont be fit issues. Avoid spacers and negatuve offset wheels unless you like the sound of rubbing.

Cheapest quality lift actually seems to be to buy individual parts from the TRD lift kit. It is basically 5100s in front and longer 5125s in the rear with a 1in lift block in the rear.

 

I don’t really want to spend more than a $1k -1,200 on a lift kit. So anything under that or at that price is my budget. Preferably under $1,000.
I’ll do light off roading in the truck, but more road driving, not sure where in Tampa fl I could go off-roading so. And I want it to look cool but also ride nice and know there high quality.
You said most IFS lift kits make the truck ride rough, what’s ifs? I want my lift kit to raise the truck about 2” front and back. Maybe more or less in back to level it out or wtv

 

A little bit of off roading in Florida, Tampa. But more of street riding/daily driver ish.
i was thinking once I lift it I might have to do a viper cut to make sure it doesn’t lift, I didn’t know if I would have to do a cab chop.
How much would the individual lift parts from TRD be? Not sure what it is.

 

Jackson,
Welcome to TW!
You're asking a reasonable question that doesn't have a right answer. However, it's been answered in a thousand ways in these hallowed halls. I know how tempting it is to throw out the problem and hopefully get the Taco Sages to answer it for you, believe me. In this case, I'd invest a few hours in looking at prior build/lift threads to get the lay of the land. Then ask the hard questions about what you really want. If the answer hasn't revealed itself by then, you could at least come back with a more specific question.
Good luck!

 

You won’t get good quality and good riding for that price. It will be a rough ride without upgrading springs and shocks and that is more than a grand. IFS is independent front suspension. That means you can’t just put a bigger spring on the truck and lift it without sacrificing ride quality. A 2” lift is achieved by adding more preload to the spring and reducing the amount of downtravel of the suspension. This is why they ride so rough.

like was suggested above, do a lot more research. There is a good chance you can achieve what you want with bigger tires alone. Otherwise save up a bit more for a quality suspension like king, fox, locked, Ironman, dobinsons, or Icon.

 

This is obviously very entry level here. Tires are first and then wheels if necessary for the new tire width- it's a whole topic to itself. As said before, skinny 33s, 255/85r16, will fit on stock 16" wheels and within the wheel wells.

The most common, basic, (and cheapest), entry level front, suspension lift is Bilstein 5100 (model for particular Gen), which are valved to reuse the stock springs. These coilover shocks are already extended length at 22.22". At stock truck weight, the front is adjustable from stock height up to 2" lift. For those looking to max them, a 1" block is often installed between rear leafs and axle.
A 3rd Gen rake is about 1", so 2" front lift and 1" rear lift is approximately level. Drop the front 1 notch to 1.5" lift if the truck is sitting nose high at max front lift.

You don't have to get aftermarket UCAs for 1.5" lift and 2" only if you don't like how it drives. Your tires wont shred or pull you into a ditch. Nor do you need to worry about additional caster degrees at this point, hence see how it drives first. Since your leafs are already 4-5 years old, get the AAL instead of 1" block only if hauling or towing is in immediate future. AAL is better to have in all respects than a block but it will ride harder than a block at this point with an empty bed with 4-5 year old leafs at 90+% road use.

Rear shocks, keep stock OR shocks for now if not blown. Basic rear shocks are cheap to upgrade. 5100s are the same size as OR rears but are slightly stiffer. If blown and no block, get 5100s. If blown and 1" block or AAL, get 5125s.

 

Thank you, a lot of information here. I was also looking at maybe eibach stage 1 plus pro truck lift. I think with the eibach I can skip a 1” block and skip the leaf kit. Maybe I’m wrong?

 

Do yourself a favor and look at the Eibach Stage 1 kit. It’s a lot of juice for the squeeze. I’ve had mine installed since May of 2020 and I’ve been very happy with it!

https://eibach.com/product/E81-82-069-01-22?epsid=1920