Daily-ing a long travel travel rig?

I've been going back and forth on building a long travel rig, but it would primarily be used as a daily driver. I'd maybe to take it off-road a dozen times a year, and that would mainly entail gravel roads. The truck I would do it on is 2wd so I can't do much crawling. Currently have leaf springs in the rear, do I need to do a spring under kit, or since its mainly a daily, is the spring under kit even necessary? I will be doing Fox 2.5s, DSC Coilovers in front, DSC shocks in rear. Any recommendations, concerns, things I should consider?

 

Sell 2wd, buy 4wd and then buy a car too.

 

I daily an LT truck, and it's alright. I at times get fed up with the inconveniences (width, body roll, mpg, maintenance...)
Will you clean and lube the uniballs every month (or more)? Are you ok with enough body roll that the VSC sensors will attempt to correct the truck every time you drive through a winding canyon? Loud bypass clicks? Stuff breaking that's not even related to suspension?

Luckily I find a reason to borrow my parent's Lexus hatchback for a few days when that happens... I always smile when I get back in my Tacoma.
It does have its disadvantages, but I believe it is worth it to me. But I also live in southern California, where my offroad driving is wide open Baja style in the desert.

Most importantly, what do you see yourself doing offroad? You gotta figure out that yourself.
To me, from your statement " that would mainly entail gravel roads" -- and your location being NC (grain of salt as I've never been there) -- I'd say you'd probably be happy with a built stock length setup:

• EXT travel Fox 2.5's with DSC
• Upper (maybe lower too?) arm of your choice... Camburg, Dirt King, Total Chaos, JD Fab...
• Keep your current leaf springs if you like the ride height / payload capacity / daily driving feel.
• Get @ARCHIVE shackles, hangers, and maybe a shock relocation kit
• OEM replacement 2.5" Fox w/ DSC or maybe 10" travel ones if you get the @ARCHIVE relocation kit
• and the best thing I've put on my truck period besides long travel, is . No joke they made it feel like the truck never bottomed out, ever. The harsh clunk is gone.

That's how I would build a daily Tacoma that can still feel great on mild offroad trails, carry camp gear, have plenty of flex/articulation, but bomb down fast stuff too.

But still, do some research, hang around and read up on the LT BS thread, and decide where your balance lies between money, realistic usage, and dreams.

 

Even if I went off road 50 times a year.... I would not daily a long travel rig.

 

It looks cool. But 99% of people don’t use it like its meant to be.

 

MID TRAVEL!

 

Form = Function

 

Yeah that’s the route I’ve been leaning towards for the more practical use. LT looks dope, and I’d be one of the very few prerunner builds this side of the Mississippi, but I just keep asking myself is it worth it. It would be awesome, and I do have an Avalon that I should daily but I just like driving the Taco so much that I don’t see myself using the Avalon as the daily in my situation. I mainly use it for long trips where I don’t need to the truck

 

Also been looking in this direction a little bit but don’t know enough about it yet. Or I just don’t know what I’m looking at is considered “mid-travel”

 

Seems like it’s too easy to go TOO big on new trucks. bigger definitely doesn’t mean better with TOYOTAs.

 

Do it and don’t look back!!

 

You mentioned also possibly getting a LCA as well. Do you think it would be worth getting one with a secondary shock mount? How much would a secondary bypass shock help in terms of ride quality?

 

Depends on the LT I suppose. I think of mine more like mid travel on steroids. I daily mine, use it for work, house reno, workhorse on our land etc etc. Doesn’t skip a beat and the only thing that gets old are the mud terrains on the road.

 

I’ve been looking at the BTF kit. It’s a 4.5”. My buddy’s got a discount code with them which would be the only reason I’d probably do LT at all

 

That’s a wide kit and may be less fun on the road, but I have no experience with any other kits. The JD Fab +2.25 kit pulls 13” and you won’t have to worry about upgrading CVs since you’re 2wd. That may be close to what a wider kit would pull travel wise and you won’t increase your track width too much.

 

What are the downsides of a wider kit on the road? Is it primarily steering and MPGs? Or there other things I haven't seen?

 

I don’t have any first hand experience of how they handle, but logistically it may be more of a challenge since you’ll be 9” wider than stock plus your wheel offset. Google tells me that’s equivalent to a stock Raptor before accounting for wheel offset. Parking, drive throughs etc might be a challenge? Just speculating. Someone that dailys a wider kit might can chime in.

 

I daily drove mine with a tc +2 which was great, best turning radius ever. Now I’ve got a 3.5” dirt design kit and don’t daily it anymore. But that’s mainly cause I bought a brand new ram 2500 and there’s nothing quite like getting 19mpg driving a tank…lol

 

I daily a +3 DK with AFC widebody. It's not the worst but the long highway drives are not fun.

 

What did you end up going with OP? I know this thread is hella old but I’m curious lol

I have the +2 TC kit up front on mine and I love it. I plan on doing the Archive shock relocation for the rear since I’m in the same boat you are. Daily driver but wanna go hard on the weekends. If you haven’t started your build yet I’d look into Archive Garages’ stuff. He calls it “mid travel” which I def agree with but it seems it’ll suit your needs. You can get 12” of travel on either smoothies or bypasses with that kit while staying spring over and keeping your bed intact.