ADS Off-Road Racing Shocks - Information, Pictures, & BS Thread

I would have an actual 4x4 shop install anything over the dealer, but if you are just doing the bushing I don’t see that as an issue.

I would flush your brakes and put in DOT 4 fluid, it’s better and I noticed better stopping with it because it has a 100 degree higher boiling point and Tacomas can use it no issue. I flushed my brakes with my old man in 20 minutes

 

New tires and wheels don’t need alignment just balance

 

Here's my full setup from my build page. I'm hoping to have everything installed before 1k miles so that maybe I can get some value out of my stock suspension and wheels/tires:

A lot of the after market has damage on it because I rolled my 2018 with just over 7k miles and totalled it but I'm hoping to clean it up. I'm gonna have to respray my bed rack and sliders but need to do some research on what's the best type of paint to use. My CVT was brand new and has a corner that's crushed pretty bad, I'll have to work on repairing it but I honestly don't know where to start, still waiting to hear back from CVT. I may send them another email today

Edit: quoted wrong person

 

Sorry to hear your truck rolled. I assume you have this new lift due to insurance? It’s not important

Are your rears extended travel? You will likely need new rear bump stops. Toyotabumpstops.com has some nice 4.25” ones (I just ordered) and you will want them with the ADS shocks and Dakars

https://www.toyotabumpstops.com/index.php/3rd-gen-toyota-tacoma-off-road-parts/

 

Partially, yes. I was intending on purchasing just the lift right before the accident, but was going to hold off on the wheels until I needed to repalce my stock ones. Unfortunately I still haven't settled with my insurance so I am sitting with two truck loans for the time being. They are offering a lot lower than they should be. I work in car sales and have many sources to back up my claim so there is a lot of back and forth going on. They are comparing my truck to SR5 models in my area even though it was a TRD OR with the tech package. I have the money to cover the tires and wheels now but it's from my savings and i'm going to use the remaining insurance money to cover the difference when we finally settle.

As for the rear shocks, they are, and with the heavy duty leaf pack. I had asked previously and was told I wouldn't need bump stops, that's disappointing. Will it be okay for the time being without them?

 

Get the toe set as close as possible and you can drive it no problem. Just measure with a tape measure from center to center on front of tires and rear of front tires, get it within 1/8" - 1/4" Having your toe out will do damage to the tires pretty quickly. Camber and Caster take a much longer time to have any negative affects on the tires. There is nothing on the suspension itself that it can damage.

Its always best to have the alignment done after the new wheels and tires. The wheel offset can have an affect on the ride height, and when spending good money on tires you certainly want to have the alignment right.

 

The distance between remaining compression on the shock and your stock bump stops will be very close in measurement. I would prefer to have bump stops hit an inch at minimum before full compression. I have the medium Dakar (6-leaf) and the measurements are equal

 

The good news is that my new truck certainly has some changes and upgrades!! Leather seats, JBL audio, moonroof. The transmission is the biggest thing though, I don't know what they changed but it is night and day over my 2018. My 2018 felt SO slow and laggy, couldn't decide what gear to stay on when highway driving. This one is much more responsive and smooth. That was my only complain with the 2018 and I couldn't be happier. My only complaint with the 2019 is that they got rid of the cubby in the bed

 

Great! That's very helpful- Thanks!

Are you saying the measurements are equal to the heavy duty ones? I thought the bump stops job was just to keep the leafs from hitting something above them, and that it wouldn't be an issue if they measure short. I can see how having them at full compression could be harmful though. I should be fine for the time being if I'm not going off road, just daily driving?

EDIT:
Will i need front as well..?

 

You should be fine for daily driving. You don’t want your shock slapping on full compression that’s the job of the bump stop

 

Okay, I will go ahead and order them. Is there need for the front ones too while i'm ordering rear?

 

Fronts are less of a worry and more for comfort if you trail ride some gnarly stuff where you bottom out a lot. The fronts are taller so you start cushion earlier when bottoming out and they are softer. There are other options out there. I bought both because I like the way these bumps are made

 

I thought everyone prefers to use their u bolts as bumpstops with all these flip kits people keep installing. Give up 2+" of uptravel just to protect something that will probably never get hit, meanwhile the shock still hangs 4" off the bottom of the axle. LOL

 

Not sure what you’re saying here. It’s not for jumping, it’s for articulation. I’m not concerned what’s under the axle, in this case the u-bolt plate, but your bumps SHOULD hit before the shock fully compresses

 

Anybody with extended rears able to answer a question for me? I installed the extended rears on my truck. I am running a Dakar leaf pack.

Is it normal to only have 4” of compression left in the shock? Seems like normal length would have been fine with the Dakars. Anybody care to give me some peace of mind? @HeadStrong Off-Road @Marie

I have about 4” from shock body to rubber bumper on the shaft where it meets the bottom mount. Is this normal? Not much compression IMO. This means I have 11-12” of down travel in the shock available according to what I’m measuring of shaft remaining in the shock body

 

Well, I'm not running Dakars but Icon RXT'S with the "stock" length ADS rears.

I've got about 4.5" of shaft showing in a neutral position so for a roughly 10" shock that would be about 4.5" of up travel and 4.5" of down travel so that seems about right.

Not sure exactly how much extra down travel the extended ones give but I think if you want a significant gain you need to do a rear shock relocation and run a 12" - 14" shock.

 

How do you like those RXT’s?

 

For what they are (a non-custom 3 optioned leaf pack) they are awesome. If I ever get "done" with my build I would do a full custom pack from Deaver but kinda no point to doing that until the build is static.

I'm running them on option 3 which is approximately 1" lift with 600lbs constant weight over stock. I think I'm roughly at about 450lbs over stock constant extra so likely 2" or so over stock would be my guess.

 

I’ve heard Deavers are really heavy. Alcan makes some amazing leaf packs that aren’t as heavy and can be made specifically to your needs. Seems like they add a little more “U” in the leaf packs without as many leafs too. Ever thought of those?

 

Haven't really researched a whole lot of the various custom options yet. I need to still add a RTT so once I get that done I'd like to know where the rear end settles with the RXT's and evaluate from there. I've got about 1.75" of positive rake so if I'm left level or up to 1" of positive rake with the RXT's I'd be happy for the time being.