Rear End Suspension Questions for my 2009 Taco

I'm a noob and have a couple of questions and was hoping I could tap into some of the expertise here.

I have a 2009 Taco DBL Cab Short Bed TRD Sport. I'm the second owner and the truck has 74k miles on it. It appears that the TSB for the rear leafs was never performed, so I'm SOL on getting that done under warranty.

I currently have Billstein 5100's front and rear- this improved the ride quality of the truck dramatically and I'm very happy with that upgrade. However, when the truck is loaded down, the rear end does sag a bit. I'm headed to Utah in two weeks to mountain bike the White Rim trail and the truck will be the support vehicle. I'm worried that with all the weight, the rear end is going to sag too much and might drag/ scrape some. I'm not a huge off-roader and typically the off-roading the truck does is just to get me to trailheads to ride here in Colorado and in Utah.

What suggestions to people have for my back end? I'm not interested in doing a big lift, but am fine with a 1-2.25" lift if that's part of the solution. With the Billy's on there, raising the front should be straight-forward, but I only want to do that if it's to match the rear with an AAL or the like. I would like to maintain as smooth a ride as possible for the on-road driving I do 90% of the time.

FWIW, I'm also planning on putting the 16" Off-Road rims on there to replace the 17's and gonna pick up some Goodyear Wrangler Duratracs in 275/75/R16s (buddy had the rims and my current tires are worn anyway).

Thoughts?

 

I am running a toytec 2" AAL in the rear since I don't have the TSB. I like it and it holds a stance ALOT better than stock. Price was only around $80 for the AAL too. Well worth it.

Yes I am running the AAL on my 2nd gen.

 

I really like my icon progressive aal. I left the overload in and got 2" with a stock four leaf pack. I got it from down south motorsports.

 

Thanks guys- with the AAL, do you notice that the rear end is a lot stiffer? I think that's my only concern there (and that the front might be stiffer too with compressing/ preloading the springs more).

 

That is why I went with the progressive aal. It is not stiff at all. Preloading can make the ride stiffer or rough. I wanted the front end to be stiffer but not rough so I went with a new ome coil and shock.

 

The addition of any AAL will stiffen up the rear end somewhat. I've also got the Icon progressive AAL and have been very happy with the results. I think it rides smooth on the road, my truck is also mostly on pavement. It give you 1.5" of lift if you remove the overload or 2" of lift if you leave the overload in place. If you do a frequent amount of hauling or towing, I'd recommend leaving the overload in place.

Other options to help your problem would be Timbrens, air bags or a replacement leaf pack. A replacement leaf pack would be best, but also the most expensive. Putting an AAL into a tired leaf pack is only a band aid and you will need another solution in a few years when the AAL sags. Timbrens are basically an oversized bump stop that is designed to help support weight. It's not a hard, solid bump stop like the factory ones so they have some give to them. Air bags are pretty self explanatory but would allow you to support extra weight while retaining stock height.

 

All good advise right there.

 

Anyone know if the leaf pack off a 2012 Long Bed will fit on my 2009 Short Bed? There's a guy locally selling his pack from a 2012 LB and they're the 4-leaf type. If they'll fit, that might be the best solution... otherwise, I think a progressive AAL is my answer.

 

Supra- did you replace the overload or add the AAL to your non TSB pack (so, do you now have 3 or 4 leaves)?

 

99.999999% sure the leaf packs are identicle and interchangable (only shred of doubt comes from not knowing if anything changed for 2012 but I don't believe anything did). I've never heard of different bed lengths getting different leaf packs other than for 2012 some getting 4 leaf packs and some getting 3 leaf packs. They should bolt right up, no problem.

 

My 2012 pack looks the same as one if the 2007 packs at work. Both long beds but I would go take some measurements. If it works grab it and then add the icon aal

 

I posted a WTB on craigslist yesterday and a guy got back to me and said he has a pair of the TSB Leaf packs sitting in his garage! From what I've heard, that's probably my best solution- I heard the TSB leaf pack was way better and should raise me up about 1.5-2" (from what I've read in some of the posts). I can bring up the front on my Bilsteins to match and I'm Golden.

Think I can fit 285's on there with a 2" lift?

 

The TSB leaf packs aren't much better than the stock 3 leaf. They'll give you a little lift initially, close to 1-1.5" but will settle down to about 3/4-1" of lift. If the TSB leaf packs you're looking at are old and worn, they're really no better than your current leafs. If they're new, go for it, it's not a bad thing to have. If they're old, I wouldn't waste your money or the time to install them.

To clear 285's, you'll need to do some trimming unless you just like driving in a straight line.

 

Thanks for the continued help guys. One last question on this:

The 4-leaf TSB leaf pack that the guy has locally has about 25k miles on it vs the 75k miles on my 3-leaf non-TSB pack. I'm not really looking to get a lift out of it, so the 3/4" after settling is fine with me- just want them to be a bit stronger than the 3-pack ones that sag a bit under heavy load.

OR- there's a guy locally who also has a 3-leaf, non-TSB pack WITH an AAL already installed- lift would be about 1.5". Again, not super interested in the lift, just want better support/ performance.

Thoughts?

 

I would be focused on the usage of both leaf packs before they were taken off the truck. 25k miles isn't a lot if the truck was on the road and rarely used to haul or tow. If the truck was off road and flexed out constantly, or towing every weekend, then 25k miles is plenty of miles to kill a leaf pack. Same goes with the AAL. Was the leaf pack flat before the addition of the AAL or did it have a lot of life left in it?

I realize that buying used you might not be able to get answers to those questions but they should be going through your head. Look at the guy's truck that the leafs came off, ask him why he put the AAL in, etc. Chances are the TSB pack will be better than yours with 75k miles on it. The one with the AAL might put you too high in the rear since you have no front lift. The AAL would be a bit of a gamble unless you know the history.

 

Another option is to use Helwig Helper Springs. Those would give you the load carrying ability you need but you could remove them when you don't. Also it's a cheap fix.

I have a pair for sale: http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/1...sale/421254-helwig-ez-500-helper-springs.html