Lift Leveling

Hello Tacoma Owners, I could use some help and maybe some of you have experience with this. I bought the truck with a Toytec/Bilstein lift kit, and I believe the back is sitting at around 1.5-2” lift while the front is at around 1.75” lift.Making the front taller by an inch-1/2. I took it to a 4Wheeling Shop and they told me they never like to max anything out(the shock) and instead would move it up to the next notch up (theres a max of 4 and its on the 1st one) and add a diff drop kit to get it pretty close to level($700approx).He told me its so I could prolong the life of my cv axles but I don’t really see a point in it if it’s only going up a max of 3 inches in the front. Could someone explain why its not a good idea to just max out the coilovers at approx 3” (like 2.5”) and add a 1/2”-3/4” top plate spacer. He also told me the drop kit was included in the lift kit and maybe the previous owner didn’t put it on but I thought the coilover itself was around 3” lift. I’m aware of the positive camber the lift can cause but wouldn’t an alignment fix that? Thank you, just trying to learn.

 

So when you max it out, youre basically using the perch to lift and not the spring to lift by compressing the crap outta the spring. adding a spacer on top of that will do even more so, and it will ride like a chuck wagon. your best bet would be to obtain the proper front springs for a 3 inch lift and put it back to the bottom notch like its supposed to be. using the notches is a "quick" and "easy" way to lift, but springs should have been considered at the beginning. and a carrier drop isnt really needed unless you go over 3 inches. how is the back lifted? blocks or springs? and are you SURE its a 3 inch lift?

 

these are the shocks I got for the front, , you think i should go with something like this ? https://ironman4x4america.com/nitro-gas-prebuilt-front-coilovers-suited-for-2005-toyota-tacoma/ or have him go up 1/2-1” and then 1” from the drop kit? Pretty sure the back is just a block, i could get you some pictures

 

Anything over 2" in front causes premature front end wear. You are going away from Toyota reliability by doing so.

 

Not going for a grandpa truck, i got 33’s im trying to clear and trying to get it level looking, i’m asking for my options.

 

So those should have come with the proper rated springs, for a lift at the bottom notch so you dont preload the spring. Do you have armor or anything on the front or did it just sag? If it just sagged, you can move it up notches on the 5100s, but the more notches you go up, the more preload you put on the springs and the harsher ride you will get. If you truly want to FIX it, you need new front springs properly rated for the weight on the front of your truck. Also, if you do have blocks in back, you had better watch out for axle wrap if you do any off roading or "Stomping" on the gas.

 

Lift still won't clear 33s. You going to have eto do a cab mount chop, pi ch weld mod cut some plastic and remove the mud flaps.

 

You want to learn, yet you argue with great info like

 

you can clear 33s with a 2 inch front lift/1 inch rear. i am doing so with toyota lift, 1.25 spidertrax spacers, alignment, removal of front mud flaps.

 

no , dude just is just stating the obvious

 

i don’t need a cab mount chop, the offset clears it. plastic has been trimmed, only rubs when in parking lots.

 

looking to actually overland , staying away from spacers.

 

@STCATX1 I would like to take you on a few off road adventures and see how well your tires hold up. Yes they "fit" if youre just mall crawling...

 

Just the oem skid plate, im pretty sure the previous owner just lowered it one notch because of the smaller tires that were on it, ima head back to the shop ask him about my options, I’ll prolly end up lowering the back or something and go with a 2.5 lift in the front.

 

@eddieco If youre going to seriously use your truck, and not just camp, but USE your truck OFF ROAD, You need to do some research on what you have vs what you need. To me, sounds like you need new front springs to compensate for the "sag" for better lack of terms in your front end. upping the notches on your Bilsteins is just adding more preload onto your front springs, and not really fixing the issue, it actually compounding the issue as the springs will further "sag" the more preload you put on them. The essentially lose their "sprigingness"

EDIT; for tire size, and if you are running 33s already, any kind of offroading, they WILL rub. 33s require CMC, no matter who tells you differently, UNLESS youre just mall crawling.

 

yea definitely going to research that more, i’m not looking to rock crawl anything like that. mostly camping, mediocre trails. appreciate your help, i’ll talk with my local shop some more, was just trying to keep the labor costs down but you gotta do what you gotta do.

 

Sometimes you inherit questionable mods that others thought would be OK. Good on you for trying to fix it the right way and get it straight. If you have any mechincal abilities, the front coil overs are fairly easy to remove actually and you could do it yourself saving the labor and spending more on the goodies!

 

The 5100s, simply put, can't handle much preload on the coils. It wrecks the shock. If the kit is the one you linked from Toytec, they already include a lift coil, built-in top plate spacer and the perch is on the bottom clip setting. That means that shock is already preloaded as much as it can go. It literally says right on the webpage "Do not adjust past bottom clip setting as over extension of shock can occur" You should be close to 3" of lift already. You can verify this by measuring from center of the hub to the fender opening directly above. Factory on 2nd gens is about 20" hub to fender. If you aren't at about 23" then report back with pictures of the actual suspension on your truck.

I am also very skeptical of the 3" of rear lift you mentioned. Normally blocks are like 1-2" max. But the factory leafs sag so you'll lose about 1/2". To get 3" you are either getting crazy axel wrap from way too tall of a block, or there's something else going on.

The other issue is that our trucks only have about 3" of front downtravel from factory. So if you lift the front 3", you won't have much downtravel left. That means your truck will be "falling" into dips and holes rather than extending the wheel down into the hole/dip and dampening the "fall". This makes for a much worse ride quality and you risk damaging the shock by topping it out.

Now, about the CV axels... The higher you lift your truck, the more severe the angle is at the joints, obviously. TBH this isn't really a huge concern for the axels and CV joints themselves, provided you aren't trying to lift the front too much. They should be able to handle the full range of motion that the truck had from factory. The concern is with extended length shocks (like the 5100s) that can push that downtravel number higher to potentially past where the CV joints can safely go. What usually happens though is the rubber boots need to flex more and will wear out faster. And if you don't fix the boots immediately, you start getting shit in the joint and ruin the axels. Dif drops can reduce this angle, but only very slightly. It's hard to say whether they actually provide any benefit or not. Some will say they cause more problems than they solve. FWIW, I've had a dif drop on mine for 9 years now and no issues. But my CV boots are still shot at only 110k kms so I'm not sure if it really helped at all.

And yeah, you will 100% not be able stuff 33's without some heavy cutting. 3rd gen's you might be able to get away with with it, but not on a 2nd gen. You might be able to drive around town without rubbing, but the moment that wheels gets pushed into the wheel well a bit you are going to be rubbing if not damaging things. A lift only helps with the driving around town part.

 

here’s that good info that guy was talking about, and yea its not 3 inches lol, wasn’t thinking at the time. i’ll get back to you, thanks for the response, this one was really helpful

 

Yes you do take it offroad and at full flex and full lock you're going to rub like shit lift does not help fit bigger tires.
I have a 2.5 to 2.75 inch lift front and back with 33s I ruled like shit till I did all the things need to fit them correctly.