Another Spacer Lift Question - is this a diff drop kit?

Hey guys...

Been trying to educate myself on my new (to me) 2019 TRD Sport 4X4 . I know there's tons of threads and information here on the spacer debate, but I'm hoping to get more personalized opinions on what I should do here. This will be my daily driver, but I'm also a seasonal hunter and enjoy mild offroading a few times a year as seen in the last pic at the bottom.

I bought this truck off the Toyota dealer 3 weeks ago as is, and I'm not sure what brand lift is on it, but it is a 3/2 spacer lift. Coil spacer in the front, 2" blocks under the leaf springs.
I believe there is a front diff drop kit on it. I can see little silver pucks in there. see first pic.

Here are my questions

1. I have almost decided 100% on removing the lift based on most of the "cons" I have read. Once I remove the lift, I want to upgrade to 265/70/17 AT tires. Really want to know what the stock ride feels like.

2. But now, I see there is a diff drop (please confirm if that's what is in the pic below). Having the diff drop should help mitigate some of the "cons" right? Or no? The axles and tie rods don't look that stressed in the pics below. Or is the spacer compressing the stock shocks so much that it is affecting the ride quality?








Here is how the truck looks today




Sorry, I know my post is all over the place. Just torn on what to do.

 

No - Those are just the anti vibration mounts. Think of it like an engine / motor mount for your differential.
W/o those, your diff would transmit every vibration, bump, and clunk into your feet and the whirring and whining of the gears would resonate through the whole chassis like a haunted mansion.

Having a Diff-Drop does mitigate a hand full of cons with drive line angle of the half axles / CV Joints. But it trades them off for new and different cons that it creates.

Diff-Drops are fairly rare all things considered.
Having said that, someone with a favorite crayon flavor is going to go "NUH UH! I HAVE ONE." Yes they exist. Yes people have them. Yes many of them are members here. But I'd bet there ad Diff Drops on less than 1% of all Tacomas and maybe less than 5% of lifted tacomas.

 

That sure looks like a diff drop to me (mine didn't have anything like that on it, the diff support arms were mounted directly up against the bottom of the crossmember).

Diff drop helps a little bit with the CV angles, but does nothing to take any stress off the steering rack. It also slightly increases your vulnerability to impact damage while offroad since it puts those parts lower to the ground.


A simple fix would be to get rid of all that crap and throw some Bilstein 5100s on there (set to 2" lift). Are there aftermarket upper arms on it (UCAs)? If so, you can leave those in place, they'll give you a little more flexibility for your wheel alignment, as well as allowing an extra inch or two of travel.


Welcome to TW

 

Your Cv angles are pretty bad. I would
Lower your lift Imo. Like said above get some 5100’s and call it a day. Good luck

 

Pretty sure you’re right. The more I look at other pics, it has to be a diff drop.
My UPA’s look stock. I think I’m going to remove everything and go back to stock. Later on, I’ll add the Bilstein shocks you’re talking about.

 

Can 100% support 5100’s. It improved my ride and got some extra clearance.