2002 Toyota Tacoma (Bupkis) - JoeyIV's Build Thread

Nice! Money well spent, you'll appreciate the upgrade every time you drive it.

Don't be surprised if you start out with more rake than you were expecting, the OME leafs can take a while to settle in. Don't forget a BPV extension bracket, and you may need to raise the e-brake cable attachment point at the drums, as well

 

Thanks man! Good tips.. I have a question for you, and will probably post a thread about this soon too- The shocks I bought in the rear (Kings 25001-153) are technically meant for a stock ride height.. I have heard all about the rake that OME springs can cause, and I am a bit nervous about the shocks potentially topping out. Not sure if this means I should take a leaf out of the pack, or potentially leave the stock leaf pack in (not ideal as it's definitely saggy). Any thoughts?

 

Get the right length shocks. You'll overextend those shocks and damage them.

 

Right, that's my thought too.. I heard King does not offer the "right length" shocks for my truck unfortunately and that shock relocation might be the move. Not sure. Gonna post a dedicated thread.

 

I'd cancel the rear shocks and reach out to Accutune to get you the right length, and valving shock.

 

Removing a leaf wouldn't reduce the amount of droop so I don't think that would be a solution in any case, you'd need limit straps for that

 

Yeahhh.. That's an idea too. I don't know if I love the idea of limiting my travel, but I absolutely hate the idea of wrecking my shocks

 

Alright, after having trouble with the whole stock length rear shock problem, I've decided to ditch the Kings and focus on ordering an OME setup LOL

Gonna be way softer on the wallet but way harder on washboards If I wanna go bigger down the line, I may order Kings with custom length shocks in the rear... Until then, I will do what thousands of other First Gens have on their trucks.

I was originally going to buy an OME setup in the first place, but I didn't like that OME was reliant on different coils to adjust preload and stiffness; if you wanted to add a bumper, you had to go out and buy a whole new set of coils. But, to my luck, OME just came out with a completely new shock design for the Nitrocharger where you buy one coil and just adjust how much preload you want on said spring (very similar to Bilstein).

I'll be ordering through Cruiser Outfitters/Cruiser Teq.. hope I don't regret it!

 

Intro

Alright! After all the research, consideration, and labor, the Tacoma is riding proud with Nitrocharger Plus shocks on all four corners and Dakar springs in the rear. With information gained from Cruiser Outfitters, I believe my first gen is one of the first installs of the new generation of the Nitrochargers (Nitrocharger Sport -> Nitrocharger Plus; [880, 881, 882, 883 coils] -> single coil option with spacers)

I decided to tackle the job in my garage to save some $$$ ... While I did save the money, I sure as hell lost a lot of time because this job took me and two of my buddies about 25 hours of labor... LOL - and then an additional 6 or 7 for me to replace the tie rods and LBJs. Admittedly, I am a novice mechanic at best, so this project taught me boat loads of skills and ultimately boosted my confidence for future projects.

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The Front End

I was able to complete the front end in one evening's worth of work. Pretty much everything was smooth sailing, and I was stoked to have 0 seized bolts in the front end. Only hiccup for me was getting the lower shock mount to align with the shock. I ended up using a bottle jack to push the UCA down... pretty ghetto, I know

22 year old Shock vs. New Nitrocharger Plus




Bottle Jack Method




Shock Mounted




The Rear End

The rear of the truck was easily the most difficult portion of this project. The commonly seized bolt on the front leaf mount was seized on my truck (of course), so it took an angle grinder and some high quality Sawzall blades to cut those hardened steel bolts out. Again, I'm a novice mechanic so it was pretty much my first time using these tools... Would've been faster if I had more skill like you guys!

The next challenge was the fact that my stock shackles were seized. I ended up using a blow torch to essentially melt the rubber bushings on the stock shackles so that I could pull them off the mount. They were replaced by OME Greasable Shackles which should hopefully never seize.

Lastly, to fit the massive Dakars in the back, the axle had to be dropped pretty far. I ended up unbolting the brake hardlines from the axle so that I could get it to fall far enough downward. I was really thankful to have my buddies in the garage with me to help me lift the springs into place... they're huge and awkward to maneuver, so this was essential IMO. I am shocked that people do this solo.

Angle grinder go brrrr




Dakars are mounted!




The Results

Okay, first off, I was super nervous of the notoriously stiff ride that OME tends to provide us First Gen guys. To my surprise, however, the truck feels GREAT. It drives on road a lot better than my stock suspension, and it feels so much more stable off road. Keep in mind, however, I have quite the load in the rear that is helping with the softness. All this to say, it drives like a truck still, but a truck that doesn't have blown out 22 year old suspension

Visually speaking, I was nervous about the size of my tires (265-70-16) looking too small with the lift... However, I think my truck actually looks far more proportional now overall. I'm obviously biased, but to me, this is a huge improvement over how it used to look. The ride height has settled about an inch on all four corners since these pics have been taken

Once I use up all the tread on my tires, I will most likely add a leaf in the rear and upgrade my tires to 285s!

[sorry about the dark lighting - we had to make an In-n-Out run at like 12:00 am on the last night of the job, and these are the best pics I have right now]

Before the lift...



After the lift...



My truck next to my buddy's sweet first gen




Had to flex it out in a parking lot right away lol



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Thanks for readin!