Leveling kit that doesn't kill the ride..

There is a good reason they have abad rep. Spacer lifts suck and should be avoided like AIDS.

 

If ride is the most important aspect of your truck, you shouldnt be in a truck. Yes there are better riding trucks but those trucks are not as good as the Taco off road.. where trucks get to be trucks.

 

I bought my spacer lift on Amazon. It arrived and sat in the boxes in my laundry room for a couple of weeks. When I finally got up the gumption to install it, I ripped everything apart one Saturday morning. The front spacer bolt holes wouldn't line up with the three bolts on the top of the struts. I had everything apart and had a lift that didn't fit. I have the TRD Off-Road so it may be different than a stock Tacoma or SR5 BUT my kit said it fit the TRD OR. SO...I spent the next hour calling around seeing if anyone had a front spacer lift that would work. I found a Daystar front 'leveling' kit at the Napa distributor 30 miles away. I went and bought it and installed it in the front and put the spacers from Amazon in the back. By the time I was done, I was in for about $150 more than I'd planned. I just didn't want to button everything back up without being done with it.

I generally have good luck with Amazon but this one sucked. No store front to take it back to that day.

Again, I don't want to get into a dick measuring contest here but I'm a Mechanical Engineer from a reputable school, I do ALL of my own maintenance with cars, plumbing, electrical, two stroke carbureators, home remodeling, gunsmithing, home vasectomy kits, etc, etc, etc. I can hear water dripping from the other end of the house. I feel every vibration and hear every noise a vehicle makes. I've diagnosed a mis-adjusted accelerator pump on a carbureator on a 4.3 liter in-board boat engine over the phone.............this spacer lift DID NOT change the ride on my 2014 TRD Off-Road Tacoma.

You'll get a lot of speculative responses about spacer lifts. I have one and can give my opinion that they work for those of us that are not hard core wheelers.

On a side note, it's my 52nd birthday and am about six beers into a twelve pack so I may be a little blunt.

 

Happy birthday!

 

Why? Axle wrap on the rear end?? Are these 4.0 engines really that powerful?

I've seen this comment before but why? Mechanically speaking the spacer in the front only changes the angle of the upper and lower control arm and the axle shaft. Bilstein 5100's do the same thing, do they not?

Beefier coils do the same thing, do they not??

 

By the way, I have a set of 2" spacers for the front that don't fit my truck. If anyone is interested in them, PM me and they are yours for the price of shipping. First PM gets them. I have too much crap laying around anyway.

 

I put limit straps on the front to keep the UCA's from hitting the coils. The passenger side was the only sided hitting at full droop. As stated earlier, I also added the Toytech shock extenders to the rear. They were about fifteen bucks. For the limit straps, I just marked a point on the shock tower at full droop and drilled the top mounting point an inch higher. I routinely jump a small bridge not far from here. My traction control light flickers when I go over it so I know I'm catching air. The truck lands like a Baja buggy. YMMV.

 

Been rocking a top plate spacer for last 7 years. Couldn't be happier. 2".

 

Its cold out anyways

 

Do 5100@1.75 and be done with it. I have an ARB bumper with a warn8k with steel cable and it still rides like a Cadillac. about to do full ome 886 /dakars and light racing uca only to get more lift and hold More weight that I'm adding. Otherwise the 5100@1.75 would be fine. You will probably Need the ecgs bushing tho, to fix the driveline vibes.

 

It's dark but u can see how 5100@1.75 still hold an ARB with warn8k/steel cable pretty damn good.

 

Dude, you are missing MY point. Don't take this personal or as an insult to your ego. It's my personal opinion that the Tacoma rides like shit. The rear leafs are WELL documented to be pure garbage and most have broken them.

Having said that, I have still purchased TWO of them. Ride was obviously not THE determining factor in my purchaseS. I'm still allowed to state my opinion that the Tacoma rides like shit compared to other TRUCKS I've driven/owned.

 

Please reread my posts. I never said the ride was the most important aspect. It is important though. I find it hard to believe anybody can honestly say the way a vehicle rides isn't at all important to them.

I love my truck, but I'm not going to act like it's perfect in every way and ignore its flaws just because it's parked in my garage.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/4-inch-lift-on-my-trd-pro.471480/ Just because it's funny. Get some 5100's call it good. You will probably like the way they ride over stock ones. And if you want to add more lift later(new coils and such) you won't have to buy struts again.

 

Go with 5100s, that will most likely fit your budget.

 

I'm looking at an ARB bull bar, but concerned about the extra weight. Is the setup you have pictured using the stock front springs with the 5100s set at 1.75? I've wondered if I could do this without having to get heavier springs. I'd be looking less at a lift, more or supporting the front bumper and possibly a winch at stock height.

Thanks!

 

Yes, they are the stock springs. They hold the weight fine, after settling they are a little lower than they were before the bumper, but I would say a little above stock height. The ride is no different from what I can tell.

 

Off road is NOT where "trucks get to be trucks".
That's where PRETENDERS get to PRETEND that their... whatevers... are FOUR WHEELERS.

Trucks are CARGO MOVERS... for ON the road.

 

ftfy...haha...Happy Birthday!!

btw, while here what is the main differences between a 5100 and a 6112 Billy shock? Thinking of upgrading my shocks
soon...straight stock suspension with 265/75 16's.

Thanks.

 

Cargo vans with large sunroof basically.