Lift options?

you don't need the diff drop at 2.5 -3

 

I have a small back yard shop where I do lifts and such. What brings people to me is usually their limited budgets keep them from taking their trucks to specialty shops, dealers, etc....My low overhead equates to a lower cost. There's an eletist attitude amongst some that says the more you spend, the better it gets. Bah---lone-EEEEE.

Here's a few tricks I've learned that help to hold down cost.

1.) After ANY lift, you need a proper alignment. Factor that into your budget. Some shops offer "lifetime alignment" for a single one-time fee, or free alignment with tire purchase. Take advantage of that provided the shop has a reputation of doing good work.

2.) About 9 times in 10, complaints of vibration or poor ride from a lift just so happens to come with a lift AND new tires installed at the same time. Make certain you aren't chasing gremlins in a lift that are actually tire related. My advice is to stay with same tires/wheels for a while until you're sure the lift isn't the issue.

3.) I've installed lifts as much as 2-1/2" that aligned to spec with stock UCA's. Beyond that, good luck....I did one a while back that was 2". One side aligned great. Other side was a mile off when all the adjustability ran out.....Not all trucks are the same. Basically a crap shoot.

4.) Once in a blue moon, you get lucky. I installed a 2-1/2" lift on my truck. The handling was kinda dicey BEFORE the install. When I took it in for alignment AFTER the lift, it could not have been any closer to "spec". One in a zillion. I still had to pay for the alignment.

5.) Some high dollar lift "kits" aren't any better than piecing together coils, shocks, etc, from a variety of brands.

6.) "Good ride" is purely subjective in many cases. What one person says is an excellent ride may just jar the teeth out of the next person. I off road my truck, but 95% of my driving is on the highway. Make certain you select a combination of parts that still allows a decent ride if you are lifting a daily driver.

7.) The best ride I've ever experienced on a lifted Tacoma was a $925 lift.....While it may NOT have been the ultimate race truck, it IS a very capable off roader, and like I said, rides VERY good at highway speeds.

8.) Don't "over engineer" one end and ignore the other....Front vs rear suspension needs to be balanced.

9.) Talk with an experienced vendor who sells a wide variety of products. Don't take any one single persons opinion as gospel. People will tend to tell you their choice is always "the best". Listen to them, but keep an open mind.

10.) Shocks serve a purpose....To dampen the enegry of the springs. There is compression dampening and rebound dampening. Using more preload with any coil spring has an effect on BOTH, but the more the preload, the harsher the rebound will be. Use longer coils for lift as opposed to jacking up the preload. Lift will flex better AND result in far less "jackhammer" effect at speed. Some shocks simply do NOT have sufficient rebound dampening to handle extremely stiff coils, or coils that have been preloaded far more than their intended static length.

11.) I spent 17 years working for a division of American Honda as a suspension tech/R&D rider. Most of my time was spent working with Showa forks and rear shocks, but I did play around with several brands of shocks that now cross over into off road trucks.....With that, I learned one thing for certain. Cost and design complexity do NOT always relate directly with excellence in performance. They ALL have their assets and liabilities.

I HATE add-a-leaf's. Rather use blocks than add a leaf. Best choice is a well designed leaf pack. Again, don't skimp on rear end and put all your $$$$ into the front.

 

Procomp

 

if he is gonna get junk like that, might as well just get spacer lift

 

Don't get the diff drop. Doesn't do shit on second gen tacomas. Also just to be clear, is your taco a double cab?

I still think for your budget and intended use, that kit is perfect. I say that because I was in the exact same boat as you are, I did months of research and that's what I came to. You should of course do the same... but I doubt you'll find anything better unless you score a some lightly used parts allowing you to get a new leaf pack or something.

 

5100's in all 4 corners is ~ 330 bucks. AAL is 75-150. that will get you a nice ride, 2in of lift for 400-500 bucks + alignment. Still under 600.

 

The leaf pack can come later if need be, no?

 

Yeah for sure! That's my thinking, I'll replace it with a new pack if I need to...right now it's just fine.

 

Yes.

 

I have the Bilstein 5100 set to 3"...I love it

http://toyteclifts.3dcartstores.com/Bilstein-Adjustable-lift-kit-with-5100-shocks_p_132.html

Pic below:

 

Hey, I'm in the same boat too. I recently replaced my stock shocks & 3" dealer-installed spacer lift on my '15 Off-Road TRD V6 with a pair of 5100s up front - on stock springs - all the way at the top setting... Well, the old setup rubbed a little at articulation, but the new setup is AWFUL! (I'm running Duratrac 285/70 R17s - 33" tires) Backing up is the worst, massive rub - I wouldn't EVEN take it off-road right now. Obvious I need new springs & UCAs, and have been leaning towards the Eibach with 2.5" lift 660#, so i wont have to add any spacers (also equipped an integrated Warn 9000) but I'm leery of the LR UCAs failing and wonder if i should just pay extra now and go with the Total Chaos (or there's something else) and whether the OME springs have a better solution. Any champions of OME and/or LR that have done Oregon-level wheeling (Tillamook State Park, Sand Lake, etc.) that could share some insight, or am I on the right track?

 

X2. Im living that right now. 5100s all around with Eibachs. Suspension is sweet and tight. The OE Billys were 13yrs old. Although its tight now, you have to "drive" the truck. Toyota had a hell of a time aligning it. Im buying Camburgs within the next month because im throwing new tires on it. Also, at full droop, the UCAs hit the springs. Smh. I don't offroad much but since I've passed that 2.5" threshold, its been $$$ to make it drive smooth again.

But mine is a 1st Gen. Just poking my nose in the 2nd Gens business and found the shopping cart comment funny. *puts hands up and slowly walks backwards through the door*

 

For UCA's, I've been happy with the Camburg balljoint ones.

 

I think I'm going to go with the kit from Headstrong, with the LR UCA's. I appreciate all the help guys. I will post up some pictures when its all installed. You guys think there is anything i should know? tips on putting it on? spacers or plates or anything it should come with but doesn't?

 

It sounds like a lot of people are happy with the LR UCA's. Is headstrong a new vendor? I'm looking for solutions to replace my current spacer front/AAL back... Swaying from 5100's all the way to a full icon set up. I already did UCA's to fix the alignment issues. I'll have to check headstrong out.

Post pics when you get yours done!