Deaver Stage III - Soften Ride?

I’ve had airbags and now I have Deaver stage 3’s that I’ve modified to be softer, so I may be able to help you.

1.) It’s counterintuitive, but put 5 lbs. of pressure in the air bags, (assuming they still hold air.) Empty air bags ride rougher than air bags with just a tiny bit of pressure for cushion.

2.) If you don’t do step 1. or the airbags don’t hold air, just remove them.

3.) Deaver has recommended removing specific leaves from a Stage 3 pack to soften them. The first two (the bottom two) are overload leafs, and you can remove one or both. There is one other leaf you can remove — I don’t remember which but I’m on my way to my garage right now to check for you.

4.) Buy OEM takeoffs from another Tacoma locally — from any year between 2005 and 2023 — just count to see that they have 4 leaves, including the overloads. You can find them cheap or even free. I wouldn’t pay more than $100 for them, and have personally never paid more than $20, but $50-100 is a common asking price if they are not just giving them away.

 

Edited my above comment with more detail.

 

Great advice and I agree. I had forgotten about the minimum airbag pressure.

 

@ggaddamm

Okay, so assuming your Deaver Stage 3 springs have 9 leaves — that’s the way they come from Deaver — you want to remove the middle leaf. That’s leaf #5 if you are counting from the top or bottom. That’s in addition to removing one or both of the overload leaves.

If you don’t have 9 leaves it means the previous owner has already pulled a leaf, in which case just focus on the overload leaves.

One other very important piece of information: your airbags have replaced the bump stops. So if you remove the air bags you will need to swap in some new bump stops at the same time. If you don’t you will ruin your rear shocks.

I used Tacomaworld to locate another member near me who had an extra set of OEM bump stops in his garage, which he just gave me for free.

If you decide to use aftermarket bump stops instead of OEM, note that the OEM ones are about 3” tall compressed. You can use that as a guide for determining the height of bump stops you will need for your particular leaf pack height and shock length. However much thicker your leaf pack is from stock, your bump stop can be that much shorter. But then add to that number the difference in compressed length of your current shocks compared to factory. (Longer compressed shocks require taller bump stops.)

Edit: it looks like you are on OEM rear shocks, so you don’t need to factor that in to determining the length of bump stop needed.

Given that you have Deaver Stage III’s on old OEM shocks, your shocks are way oversprung in relation to their valving. This may also be contributing to your rough ride, and removing leaves and putting 5psi in your air bags will help that.

 

Without the weight your shocks are probably at or close to full extension at ride height so you are feeling the harshness of them constantly topping out. It would probably ride better with no shocks at all than it does right now but I definitely don't recommend that.....

 

This is what I'd do. Find something else that fits your needs. Get that. Sell the Deavers. I am sure there are plenty of people that need stage 3's for their evolving build. You might take a bit of a hit financially, but selling the Deavers would offset that a bit. Anyway, that seems the most straightforward.

 

worst case @ggaddamm - I have a spare set of rear bump stops I’d mail to you for the cost of the shipping (likely only $10 if I can fit in a flat rate box).

 

@ggaddamm To piggyback on this, you can probably sell yours Deavers for at least $500, and can pick up a set of used OEM takeoffs for $100 or less. That’s a great option if you don’t plan on carrying extra weight.

Only reason to not do this is if you are planning to use your truck to carry more weight down the line. Deaver stage III with the middle springs removed are comfortable with 400 lbs. extra weight, and will be comfortable with less weight than that if an overload leaf (or 2) is removed. The Deavers have more travel and superior ride quality over OEM with extra weight.

 

This is why Tacomaworld is awesome.

@ggaddamm I took a more careful look at your springs. The previous owner has already removed both overload leafs. Counting down from the top, you can still remove the fifth leaf. This will lower your rear ride height perhaps ~3/4” and considerably soften the ride.

The fact that the overload leafs are missing will reduce the amount you can get if you decide to sell them.

If you put a little pressure in your air bags before deciding to take them off, check the air bags each day for a few days to make sure they are holding air and don’t have a small leak.

 

Thank you for the very detailed Deaver mod suggestions and general tips @TomHGZ! I'm quickly learning that TacomaWorld is probably the best forum on the internet thanks to folks like you and everybody else giving great advice here. I appreciate it all!

I'll try throwing 5 lbs into the airbags, and I'll most likely seek out some used OEM leaf springs locally so I can sell the deaver pack. If that quest fails, I'll try removing some leaves!

 

Wow, man, people on TW are amazing! Thank you for the offer - I'll for sure get in touch if I end up needing them.

 

Ahh I didn't see this before writing my last response. Do you think it'll drive okay with no weight in the bed with that fifth leaf removed? Considering I'm already down two leaves and it still drives very stiff. I currently am not carrying any weight, though I may look into a topper as mentioned previously, so potentially ~200-300lbs extra plus some gear. (that partially depends on how well it works to carry a mountain bike over the tailgate with a topper on...)

 

I don’t personally have experience with driving with three leaves removed on the Stage III’s, so I can’t say how you might like it. But it will be noticeably softer than what it currently is.

 

I'll chime in here. I have the Deaver stage 2 leafs and they are more than enough for a mid to mid-heavy setup.
When I camp (often), I load my back seat (seats are out - I have a DIY deck in use) with a 50lb EcoFlow and full loaded large electric cooler, and my bed is loaded up with camp gear, and on the truck I have an UpTop mid-level bed rack with a 100lb RTT, AND a full size spare on the back - the stage 2 is just fine. And I drive some pretty rough-ish terrain sometimes.

They also tow my 2600lb pop up with no droop.

I had the mid level Dakars and they were a noisy, rough-riding mess (kinda like my ex). The Deavers are such a better spring and much smoother.

Go stage 3 if you've got the weight that requires it (maybe you tow over 3k sometimes), but you'll likely get a smoother ride from a stage 2.

All in all Deavers are a win.

 

But really, just putting 5lbs. of pressure in your air bags can make such a big difference in ride quality that you might even decide to not worry about anything else for the moment. When I had air bags I carried a bike pump with me — it’s perhaps two pumps on the bike pump for each side.

 

Also recommend getting a different leaf pack set. Either find an OEM used set someone is selling, or good with something like Icon RXT which is adjustable.

 

Swap them for deaver stage 1's. It's not that hard to swap leaf packs yourself in the garage or driveway.

 

I added 5lbs to both sides and it definitely improved the ride - the super harsh feeling on every bump is reduced, but it's still bouncing around a lot. The real question is whether my wife and dog still get carsick...