Leveling 02 prerunner.

Hello guys. New to the forum. I have searched many threads but still have a question about leveling my 02 prerunner.

I would like to level the front of my truck to better match the rear(absolutely hate the rake look). I also want to replace the old shocks to a better non off-road ride. Truck does no off-roading and rarely hauls any payload so I’m not worried about the squat with something in the bed. I know this can be achieved several ways. Which route should I go?

1. Front spacer for now then add bilstein 4600’s when the money is right. If so what size spacer would I need and would that size require longer bolts?

OR

2. Bistein 5100’s with the front adjusted up to level. I was told these shocks were a firmer ride than the 4600’s because they were used primarily off-road. I’m not looking for a former ride.

 

In my personal opinion I would go with option 2. I have them on 1 of my tacomas rides great.

 

Hey I was wondering if this is how your Tacoma has always looked?? I just replaced my rear leaf springs that were worn to shit…. Now my truck looks like this… I am wondering if this is how it originally looked when my father purchased it new in 2004…. I have been mulling over ways to level the truck but I have recently just replaced all 4x shocks all the way around and do not really want to purchase 5100s to replace basically brand new shocks. I went with kyb monomax shocks because I have a shell on the back and regularly load up the truck for camping trips and ride around with a bit of weight. I had read some places that the truck came with this raked look from the factory but I can’t remember what it looked like originally. Any info would be much appreciated.

 

I'm no expert but most of the trucks I see, that are factory height, are raked.

 

And according to his picture, he's hauling the fifth wheel.

 

Almost all vehicles are engineered with some form of rake, but especially trucks. It's intentional and functional.

Level is for looks.

For example, when a vehicle is corner weighted for handling performance purposes, (say a sports car) often every corner winds up with a different measurement.

So the user has to decide, in all these cases, do they prefer style or function.

 

this rake is standard because trucks are made to carry stuff and the rake is to compensate for the weight

 

Yeah that is kinda what I figured but I couldn’t quite remember exactly what the truck looked like when we first got it. When I got the truck from my father the rear leafs were so bad that the truck was level and if there was any weight in the back it would sag the back end. I ended up putting in the HD leafs from Dayton/husky/general springs because I was under the impression they were supposed to ride approximately stock if you have any constant weight in the back (I have a shell on the back) but at first I thought it lifted it up quite a bit, but now I am starting to think that it really didn’t lift it too much….

 

That photo is a little deceptive because the parking space is slightly sloped. Sorry if I hijacked your thread OP…. But I have been going back and forth in my head with the exact same conundrum as you! Starting to lean towards just letting it ride…. It rides ok with the new springs so I guess it’s probably best not to mess with it. The front coils do have some rust forming though and have flaked on off the coating towards the bottom on one side….

 

Yes, this is the factory stance. And believe it or not, the rear leaf springs are almost flat, so with new ones it would be even worse.

 

honestly that makes me feel a whole lot better about how my truck looks!! Now that I finally got someone to do a proper alignment on the front end the truck actually rides like is has had the whole suspension overhauled as well. Replacing the rear leafs definitely made the biggest overall improvement in the drivability of the truck….