New Lift: Help me complete my checklist!

Hey everyone! I'm leaving for vacation tomorrow morning but I want to have all the parts needed to lift my 04 DC 4x4 V6 ordered and ready to be installed as soon as I get back!

These are the parts I currently have:

1. NWOR rear HD leaf springs: advertised to give 3/4" lift over stock height and an additional 700lb load capacity. Previous owner used them about 7,000 miles and claimed to get 1.5" of lift. Other people have reported even more lift and anything up to 3" higher is fine w/ me.
2. Bilstein 5125 rear shocks: F4-BE5-6253-H5

These are the parts I definitely need to order:

1. Front Bilstein 5100s ride height adjustable: I will be setting these to 2.5" of lift.
2. NWOR Spring Bushing Kit: The springs I bought used didn't come with any bushings unfortunately...

These are the parts I believe are possibly needed based on the research I've done: (This is the section where I would like your input, opinions, experiences, etc. please!)

1. U-bolt set for leaf springs: Wheeler's Offroad sells a set of (4) 6.75" U-bolts "good for most springs or AAL additions." Let me know if you think I should get this or just use my stock U-bolts.
2. Rear Brake Proportioning Valve (BPV) bracket kit "A bracket and bolt kit that allows you to relocate your BPV arm for rear brake pressure corrections on lifted Tacoma's." Not sure if I really need this, I could possibly wait to see how much lift I end up getting from the NWOR springs and then base my decision off of that. ToyTec sells the BPV kit for $10 and wheeler's offroad has it for $15. If you think it's worth the money then tell me and I won't be a cheapskate
3. Center pin for rear leaf springs: $4 from Wheeler's Offroad. The rear springs I bought already have the center pins and and nuts installed on them and I can tell the excess length was cut off. Is there any reason why I would need new center pins?
4. Front Differential Drop Kit: $24 from Wheeler's Offroad. I do plan on lifting the front 2.5" but from what I've read I don't really think this will be necessary. Opinions based on actual experience?

Thanks in advance for sharing some or all of your knowledge and experiences!

I know that was a lot of text so I will reward your hard reading with a couple pictures of what my truck currently looks like sitting on 265/75/16s!

 

Depending on the area you live the old main eye bolt maybe rusted and seized up. I would invest in that, u-bolts (stock will work again based on condition you live at), BPV is a must for lifted rear but with that amount of lift I would seek BAMF for a customer BPV. When I did my lift I replaced it with all new parts: shackles & main eyebolt cause I wanted them greaseable, u bolt kit, ss ext brakelines and bushings. I rather so it now then later. I am sure if your stock parts are in decent condition and you are on a budget then you can reuse them.

 

Thanks for the advice! We don't get much snow or ice around here so the roads almost never have salt put on them. The parts shouldn't be rusted too bad so hopefully everything will come off smoothly.

 

I ended up ordering the BAMF bpv bracket like you recommended. Makes me feel good that I got a quality product instead of being cheap and trying to save a few bucks. I also got new main eye bolts. Initially I ordered them from Wheeler's Offroad but they took 4 days to process my order. I couldn't wait another week for them to arrive because I need to install my lift this Saturday. They said for an extra $15 they could get it to me in 3 days. Haha, no way in hell I'm gonna pay $45 for 2 bolts! Ended up cancelling my order with them and just buying both bolts from the Toyota dealership for about $5. Anyways, thanks for mentioning the main eye bolt because I never heard about that seizing up until you told me.

 

No problems. Post up some pictures afterwards. The only reason I got main eye bolt was it was greaseable. My stock ones are still almost brand new. Thanks to CA weather.

 

Haha, nice. I'll definitely post some pictures up after the install!

 

Well I got everything installed last Saturday! Bought new main eye bolts but go figure the old ones came right out like butter! I did spray all my bolts with PB blaster 3 days in a row before installing the lift so maybe that helped out. I still need to take some pics of the truck now that it is lifted but so far I'm very happy with how everything turned out.

However, I do have a question about the BPV bracket. I'm guessing you have one of the BAMF BPV brackets installed on your truck, correct? It came with 2 bolts and 2 nuts but we couldn't get those to work with the pre-existing holes from the old bracket. Any chance you have any pics of how you installed your BAMF bracket or at least some words of advice?

 

The holes should line up. If it doesn't hit up BAMF and get a new one cause here is mine...no issues. Reuse the stock bolts and the ones that came with the bracket:

 

Thanks for the pic and quick reply! So I'm guessing the 2 bolts and nuts that came w/ the BAMF bracket go on the top part of that bracket and not at the bottom? Also, do you know if it matters if the old bracket is mounted in front of or behind the new BAMF bracket? Looking on TW tonight I've seen it mounted behind the new BAMF bracket. I need to fix mine ASAP because I'm pretty sure we just ended up removing the old BPV bracket completely and rigged up the new BAMF bracket all by itself (which would explain why nothing seemed to line up or bolt on correctly)...

 

Yes on the bolt and yes on mounted behind the BPV bracket.