Front shock replacement

Haha!! I see that crap around too! But I get the use of spacers. For some it's a just for looks and for others it can be a temporary solution while they are deciding their suspension choice. Let's be real though, there are also a TON of people who throw $2k+ Kings, Fox, Icon, etc on their trucks for street cred that never leave pavement except for Instagram photo ops. lol

As far as spacers go on the front only. I actually think they are better than swapping out for lift springs when using stock shocks or even 5100's when going for 1"-2.5" of lift, anything higher is obviously going to take much more work that I won't go into. Here's why in my opinion based on mechanical specs...
- Spacer - The whole shock assembly is moved down X amount. The shock piston still rests in it's normal location giving you the same up-travel and down-travel from resting as stock. You will loose X amount of up-travel that may require a spacer on the bump stop but you gain X amount of droop. Say it's a 2" spacer, you'll gain 2" (roughly, not getting into exact measurements) of down-travel which is VERY helpful off road when you can keep more tires on the ground!
- Lift spring or clip position - Now the piston is riding higher in the shock or closer to the full extension limits. So lets use 5100's as an example with a compressed length of 17.03" and extended 22.56" or 5.53" of piston travel. If you move the clip position up to raise the ride height, you also raise the pistons resting position. I'll assume it rests in the middle at stock height which gives the piston 2.765" of up and down travel. IIRC the clip settings are roughly .250' / 1/4". Now as you raise the clip setting you are raising the piston resting height closer to the extension travel limits. Lets say you choose the 3rd clip setting out of 4, that's reducing roughly .5" of extension travel to about 2.265" of free travel till max droop. This can be noticeable on rough roads where your suspension may fully extend and make the truck feel unsettled. This would be the same situation if using lift springs on stock shocks also.

So IMO spacers for the front are actually "better" if using stock shocks or even 5100's if absolute travel is the goal. A whole new setup is better, but at a higher cost. The rear is whole different story when it comes to lifting.

Here's some interesting tid-bits in this thread below. Looks like they confirmed the OEM 3rd gen coil is 717lbs and the 2nd gen coil is 500lbs.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...2016-tacoma-presented-by-toytec-lifts.395798/

I can't say no as an absolute. The only reason I say that is because Toyota valved the 3rd shocks (specifically the front) to function with the higher spring rate (717lbs). If you install the 2nd gen springs (500lbs) on 3rd gen shocks it would likely be a very soft ride and may dive pretty hard into corners. Not to mention your springs are likely sagging since they are already 10yrs old and however many miles. A soft ride might sound nice...but the trucks suspension characteristics would be sorely mismatched front to rear. If the front is unbalanced from the rear, it will make the rear feel like it wants to hop around or do it's own thing. One reason the 3rd gen suspension feels more planted on a 2nd gen is because the spring and damping rates are more closely matched and it makes the truck more balanced.

If you're looking to do the 3rd gen setup I would shoot for complete fronts and rear shocks, if you find it with the leaf springs that would be even better! I know my thread is long, but if you have time to peruse through it, you'll see it really transforms the truck and makes it a lot more pleasurable to drive, like it should have been from the factory! It's even more noticeable on a high mileage truck and/or going from a TRD Sport or SR5 suspension to the 3rd gen TRD OR suspension.

 

As far as the shocks go, refer to my previous post... we posted roughly the same time. haha

You don't have to worry about changing upper control arms (UCA) until you get to about 2.5"-3" front lift. I'm sitting at 2.5" with the 6112's now and I still have the stock UCA's, though I am planning on getting UCA's soon. There are many people who have ran 2.5" lifts on stock UCA's for a long time, though it would be better to have performance UCA's for ride quality and alignment.

 

I just ordered 2018 front struts (with springs) off Facebook for $180 34K on them. Not sure the guy realized that he was only charging $5.45 shipping! I will keep an eye out for a deal on rear shocks, though I am not in a rush to do all 4 wheels right now. I have not really noticed any "sagging" in the back, but what symptoms would be good to look for to know that it needs a tune up?

 

I just did the 3rd gen TRD OR swap and I love it! I would recommend that remove your sway bar and see how you like it. It drastically improved the ride even further. after a few days you dont even notice the additional body roll.

 

That seems iffy to me, any safety concerns?

 

You normally don't notice the rear sagging because it happens slowly over time. After you install the 3rd gen front suspension and drive it so it all settles in, compare the front and rear hub to fender or ground to fender height measurements. If it's pretty much the same or the rear is lower than the front, then they are weak/worn. The rear should be about 1"-1.5" higher than the front. Once you get the rear shocks you'll find that it will be more balanced too since the damping will be matched front to rear. Especially since it appears that you have an SR5, I could be wrong.

The best way to find out is to measure from either the center of the hub to the fender or ground to fender, has to be the same spot on the fender to be accurate. Measuring from the hub center is considered the standard since it eliminates tire differences, but since there is no hard point to measure from you are just lining it up by your eyes and that gives the opportunity to be off on your measurements.

There isn't a big safety concern since the likelihood of needing to do a sharp emergency maneuver at 70mph+ isn't high. Even still it's pretty dang stable because of the 710lb springs.

The reason it rides better is that the left and right front are completely independent from each other after removing the sway bar. You will notice some added dive in harder corners, but it's not like baja truck bad. The sway bar's function is to equalize the load between the outside tire and inside tire in a corner. So as the outside suspension loads up (or compresses) the sway bar transfers some of that load to the inside tire in an attempt to reduce body roll, weight transfer and overloading/overworking the outside tire. This is great for handling. But off camber bumps where one tire is hitting a bump and the other stays level, it can feel very stiff since the sway bar doesn't know the difference between a bump or a turn. You can easily try this out for yourself with a speed bump. Going over a speed bump dead straight isn't bad, but at an angle you'll feel the difference. The sway bar also affects off road suspension articulation for that same reason.

It's easy enough to remove and install that you can try it on for a week and then off for a week to make a decision.



Another interesting factoid... The 2nd gen (not sure about 3rd gen or if it will fit) TRD Off Road has a 28mm sway bar and all other models have a 30mm sway bar. So if you wanted to keep the a sway bar but improve your ride a little, you could find a TRD OR sway bar. I've considered trying to find a TRD OR sway bar because my Bilstien 6200's have a 600lb spring and without the sway bar it dives pretty bad in corners. Though for probably the same amount spent I could just get 650lb or 700lb springs, which I'll probably end up doing.

EDIT: Sorry for my long winded responses. I'm not good at compressing explanations. I like to give as much info as I can because I don't assume peoples knowledge level. Some don't know the questions to ask because they don't think that deep into a subject or take some things into consideration and there are many lurkers just looking to gain knowledge.

 

Thank you for your responses. I do appreciate the long explanations and while I already know some of what you are saying the detail is helpful. Yes, I do have the SR5 version. 30mm sway bay. I will be picking up the rear shocks next week and installing them when I do the fronts. Good info on measuring sag to see if there is an issue. What are the markings for the spring that goes on the drivers side? I will be picking up bushings for the top of the rear shocks from the dealership I guess.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...en-tacoma-today.6499/page-11386#post-26672398

 

So I agree that the clocking is the important part. The dots are a bit of a mystery and mostly speculation. In fact, if you look up the spring part numbers on Toyota Parts you'll find there is separate part numbers for left and right, 127" (DCLB or AC) and 140" (DCLB) as well as 2wd and 4wd for JUST the TRD Off Road (same spring as the PRO according to the part number info). So for the TRD OR alone there are 5 different front spring part numbers!! See why below. VVV

Check out the link below to make sure the shock assembly is installed in the correct orientation. The easy way is to ensure the dots and the lower spring coil where it ends face the REAR of the truck, just like yours should be from the factory. If the dots are facing forward, then it is on the wrong side. If you got them fully assembled and they were never taken apart, then they can only go in one way correctly.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...n-trd-off-road-shock-strut-assemblies.618845/

Thank you for bringing all of this up, I really do appreciate it! I am going to edit my 3rd gen suspension post today hopefully to include this data so people don't have to hunt and it will hopefully be somewhat of a "one stop shop" for info.

 

The shocks are all replaced! I put in stock 3rd Gen for all four, and the total ran me about $280. I also replaced the upper control arms and lower ball joints. Once I had all the shocks out I could see that the old ones were pretty rusty and I am glad that I replaced the rear ones as well. I can agree that is does make quite a difference. Hard to describe, but things just feel tighter and less bouncy. Thank you for all of your help!

 

Heck ya!! That's great to hear!

The reason it rides better is because the front spring rate is more closely matched to the rear. That's why even when 2nd gens were new, it felt like the rear end was unsettled. That's my thought on it anyways, it is also likely that the dampening is better too for the rear shocks. Either way, as long as you're happy...it doesn't matter what the science is behind it! haha

 

Did you get new uca’s yet? I just put in the old man emu ones and they look mint. Got them from polyperformance w code poly10 for around $500. My driver side front coil over is so stuck it feels like a extra bolt or something must be holding it in idk, usually when I take off the top 3 nuts the shocks just fall strait down. I let it soak in penetrating oil all night and I’ll try again in a minute