Beefing up load capacity

I mjust bought my 99 taco 4x4 and love it. That is until I put my tools in it for a trip to work on my aunts house about 3 hours away. These are tools that I carried with me at all times plus some for work. My problem is that on the highway the new taco would sway which was almost scary at highway speeds. It also bottomed out on every decent hump in the road. a leer camper shell on it and intended on putting an exto-style rack on it to haul lumber and my kayaks and allow me to have the camper shell on or off. I know that i can put airbags on it but is that just going to move the problem into the axle. My question is if anyone else has this problem also and what is the proper fix if there is one?

 

Better leaf pack?

How much weight are we talking about here?

 

i think a new set of leaf springs and some good polyurethane steering rack and sway bar bushings would take care of your truck, and the ride would be great. check out.. they have some awesome tacoma stuff man!!! prices are good too. if you call....ask for Jason Perry...he's awesome to deal with.

 

This taco may be a 99 but it only has 52,000 on it. I dont think anything should be bad or need to be replaced. but it is my first taco!

 

a set of helper springs may do what you need then, seeing as how it has really low miles on it.

by the way...welcome to tw!!!

 

How much weight are we talking about?

Have you looked at your leaf springs? I've heard of some folks having cracked/broken leafs on the older gen trucks.

But you are correct - the axle is only rated for a certain amount. I would ultimately upgrage the leaf springs and go from there. I had upgraded leaf springs in my 96 (re-arched & 2 AAL's) and I could haul 2 scoops of mulch in it (carefully and not often). That was probably overloaded by a lot. It can be done, but ultimately.....you have to accept the consequences if something happens to your axle.