1st Gen Tacoma: Suggestion of components.

I'm nearing the point that my stock suspension is starting to show its age and also needs to be refreshed to better suit my needs.

I am wanting to retain my LT235/85/16 tires, as they are fairly new. My initial thoughts were to utilize OME / Bilstein components, as I have had always had / heard good experience with 'em. The more I think now, the more I am starting to lean towards utilizing Icon or King product in the front for future adjustability when I add a bumper / winch. Are aftermarket UCAs necessary for this height? Diff drop?

The rear, I am only wanting 1" - 1.5" maximum. Fully loaded, I carry two bed rails that support a CVT RTT + camping gear.

The three options I have attached below range from tier 1 ($), tier 2 ($$), tier 3 ($$$). Let's hear it!

 

One or two, depends on what the truck is going to be used for also the show off to your friends factor lol

 

1 or 2

One would be the best bang for the buck. Two would be a fantastic setup as well, but you would also score the highly coveted cool points for running Kings. If you add in rear resi Kings as well your talking some serious capabilities /cool points

Any lift above 2.5-3" I would replace the uca's. I would honestly just swap them out though if you have the money to do so and are already replacing everything else

Diff Drop is debated, and since I have a Prerunner I don't have any first hand experience with it. As far as I know it won't hurt anything so might as well do it for piece of mind.

Also, if you're not planning on doing some serious offroading, check out the Light Racing UCAs, they offer alot of adjustment for alignment and are booted which can help with salty roads

 

Ha! Cool factor does play a minimal factor, thats for sure, but unfortunately my close friends are not on par with the ooo's and ahhh's of suspension components.

I definitely recognize #1 being the best bang for the buck, and it has me thinking... but I am leaning, up front at least, towards adjustable coilovers as I see myself ending up with perhaps not having the necessary funds to do the bumper + winch at the same time. I rather just do it once, do it right... cry once, buy once.

I would run the COs on anywhere from 0" - 1.5" so I may just avoid the UCAs all together for the time being. Compression Adjuster Knob seems cool, but I'd think I would save the extra $300 and do without.

I have the idea that Icon is the pinnacle of suspension, yet lots of peeps seem to love their Kings / Fox / etc. Everybody seems to make a relatively good product... Wish the OME BP51 were available for the 1st Gen Tacoma.

 

height adjustable bilsteins are gonna cut it, with bumper and winch just take them back out at the time and move them a notch. and the diff drop is well worth it. helps preserve the life of the cv shafts. and its only 20 bucks right, not hard to install

 

Do your research on the diff drop... there's some pros an cons.

Either tier 1 or 2.

I've ran bilsteins and kings and although one does ride better, for the money the adjustable biksteins aren't bad at all