Lifted: 5100's with OME 2885 coils, rear wheeler's progressive add a leaf

Hi all,

After a month of research, talking with various parts suppliers, late nights, and multiple beers I will be installing a lift with wheels and tires tomorrow for my girlfriend as a surprise christmas present. I'm mechanically inclined, but have no previous experience with vehicle mods. I've also never written on a forum before, but I found the information on this community so useful, I felt it only proper to give back in hopes someone else may benefit from my experience.

I settled on these suspension components, wheels, and tires after considering many options, lifts, reading hundreds of forum posts, and speaking to an installer at Wheelers off-road. (they are great to work with). It seems to be a great middle of the road lift for those who do mild off road driving and still want a to do a lift properly with quality components and achieve smooth handling.

Here's the goal: 2 - 2.5 in lift in the front and no rake (level ride)

Here's the budget: Lift, wheels, tires, installed and aligned less than $1900 out the door

Here's the truck:
2015 Tacoma double cab, pre runner TRD, 4x2 magnetic gray
Stock, 17" wheels with stock 265/65/17 dunlop tires

Here's the lift components:
- Bilstien 5100's all around. Set at 0" (lowest setting in the front)
- Old Man Emu (OME) 2885 front coils. (no plan for a aftermarket bumper or winch).
- Wheeler's multi-leaf add a leaf 1.5" set 3 leaf progressive
(should help maintain a smooth ride in the rear, single add a leafs I was told tend to be more stiff and bouncy in the rear with no towing or additional weight)

Additional components for purchased the lift:
- New KYB front coil isolator's (KYB part number SM5413)
- Old Man Emu FK29 Driveline carrier bearing drop kit
- Wheeler's 1/4 Thick single strut top plate spacer (polyurethane, Driver's side only to prevent taco lean)

Wheels: I found there are far to many options out there
- I finally picked the Pro comp series 7005 17x8 with 6 5.5 bolt pattern flat black.

The price was right and I think they will look great.
(I also really like stealth custom series (SCS) stealth6 wheels in gun metal finish, they did not have any in stock and I couldn't afford the $900 price tag with the rest of the expenses but they are very nice)

- I went with the 8in width on the wheel (seems a lot of people do 9 to accommodate 285 size tires more properly). I wasn't sure she would like the look of oversized tires so for now this wheel size made for sense for my situation.

Tires:

- Falken Wildpeak A/T3W 265/70R17
This was the best looking all terrain tire with great reviews at the right price for me.
The 70 side wall will yield 1" larger size and still hopefully not require any trimming to prevent rubbing.

Parts costs:

Purchased from Wheeler's off-road
- Bilstien 5100 front x2 175
- Bilstien 5100 rear x2 160
- OME 2885 coil's 167.20
- Wheeler's multi-leaf add a leaf 1.5" 159.95
(comes with new U bolts)
- Old Man Emu FK29 Driveline carrier 12.35
- 1/4 polyurethane top spacer x 1 7.50
- KYB front coil insulators x 2 20

- Shipping 60

Total 762.23

Purchased from 4Wheel parts
-Pro comp series 7005 17x8 x 4 467.71

- Shipping Free

Total 467.71


Purchased from Tire Buyer.com
- 4 Falken Wildpeak A/T 3W 265/70R17 518.88

- Shipping Free

Total 518.88

Tire installation and
alignment estimate 135


Total 1883.82


I will be attempting the installation tomorrow so hopefully all goes well. Will take pictures and update with the outcome. Hopefully its smooth sailing....

 

Your girlfriend has no idea? If not then she will really be surprised ! That is a great Christmas present for sure. Please post pics of her finished truck
Oh and .... welcome to TacomaWorld

​

 

Subb'd for pics

 

Don't forget about the cost of an alignment! Budget blown!!

 

He's got tire installation and alignment @ $135. Can't wait for the pics of this setup OP

 

Welcome to the site. 885 coils will most likely give you a higher lift than 2.5" with a pre-runner but should not be higher than 3". My experience with them is that the average 2.5" height is what is gained on 4x4 double cabs long or short beds. Easiest method I find in doing the coils is the jack method. I also think this is safer than coil compressors. Search youtube for 5100 installation. The rears are easy as long as you have a C-Clamp. Also, people often forget about the sway bar relocation brackets. It's a good idea to install to move the sway bar away from the coils as it can come in contact during compression.

You may or may not need the OME carrier bearing spacer.
I don't think you'd need the coil isolators as the truck is a 2015.
Also the poly spacers will compress a little so the top 3 strut locknuts will have to be re-tighten. Good idea to check after 100 miles then again at 500 miles.

 

My bad!

 

UPDATE: Thank you all for the comments and advice!

Yeah she has no clue. She's visiting her parents for Christmas and will be back Monday. I'm planning to just drive her by her own truck parked down the street and say "oh hey look its a tacoma like yours but lifted the way you want" And she'll say "Oh! please stop!" then after she oogl'es over it for a while, BAM the magic words "Merry Christmas Babe!"


I had not heard of the sway bar spacer till just now (it was inevitable I would overlook something in the project) but that looks like a good idea. Are you saying it is really only necessary for lifts 3in or greater?? I took measurements of my fenders on the 4 sides before and will do it after I take it for a short drive to let everything settle tomorrow and before I get the new wheels to see how much lift this has achieved initially.


Anyways, things went well today just a little slower than I had expected, Rain and some lack-of-the-right-tool issues caused a few road blocks.
For the new U-Bolts on the rear add a leaf pack you need a very deep well socket (which I had to go buy) in order to torque them down due to the excess bolt coming through. (The stock ones were also just a bit to short to reuse, so I was stuck in the middle). Also just a heads up some WD40 is majorly helpful in getting the bottom on the rear shock into the shock mount on the axel.

Here's the before and the progress so far. The rear leafs went in without much of an issue, The new leaf pack looked like it was going to contact the stock spring retainer on rear portion of the leafs so I was planning on having to cut it off but it cleared by a 1/4in. I'm planning on finishing the front tomorrow morning before the tires and wheels get put on at 1pm. Will continue to update.... Should have close to a final product tomorrow.

Cheers





New Wheeler's add-a-leaf progressive 3pack installed. Almost is to long for the rear stock leaf retainer. The parking brake braket was attached on the old bottom leaf (now removed) but you can still see it hanging there (grey metal piece) on the brake line. I cut it off, the brake line looked solid and there was no way to reattach the bracket without undue tension on the line.



Needed to go buy an extra deep socket to torque the U-bolts

 

Definitely following your progress. Looks good.

 

Good man.

 

Update: the front shock and coil install went flawlessly. The jack method on YouTube worked perfectly. Even though the truck is a 2015 I am glad I opted for new coil spring isolators. While the rubber on the old ones looked fine, the deep indent made it seem that the new coil would have to seat perfectly into the old impression marks or there would be gaps or it would not settle level. It makes sense to me that the new coils will settle better into fresh rubber. Could make no difference but for an extra 20 bucks it worth it. I also opted to add the OME drive line lowering kit. From eye balling the drive shaft before and after it definetly looks straighter with the lowering kit while before there was a slight angle at the joint. Again may not make a difference but it makes sense that the more you can keep things close to factory specs the less problems you will have down the line with vibrations and premature wear on parts. It drives like butter At 80mph even without an alignment yet. No noticeable vibrations, squeaks, or noises.

Heres the pre lift measurements, measured from the ground straight up the center of the wheel to the bottom of the fender. Vehicle was on level ground

Driver front 34 3/8
Passenger front 34 7/8
Passenger rear 35 3/4
Driver rear 36 1/8

Post lift before driving or moving the truck.

Driver front 38 3/8
Passenger front 38 3/4
Passenger rear 37 1/2
Driver rear 37 3/4

Post lift after driving 50 miles

Driver front 37
Passenger front 37 3/4
Passenger rear 37 5/8
Driver rear 37 7/8


Drivers front with 1/4 polyurethane spacer.


Passenger front


Passenger rear


Driver rear


At the tire shop installing the wheels and tires

 

Here's the end result, it's raining so I'll have to take better photos but all in all I think it turned out great.

Everything went into spec with the alignment I was told. Had minor rubbing at full lock on the small front mud flaps so the shop took those off and now no rubbing. I may try to trim them and put them back on.

Thank you again to everyone who contributes to this forum!

Merry Christmas

TOTAL SPENT: 1934.07

I forgot the new lug nuts (duh....) 50.25 at 4 wheel parts

Pro Comp 24 - piece 12x1.5 Chrome Lug Nut Kit with extended shank

Blew the budget by 34.07 but I guess you can't win them all.

Merry Christmas everyone!


Alignment after the lift, wheels, tires. With stock Upper control arms (UCA).


Before

After

 

Looks awesome. I think I am going to follow your lead on this set up.

 

Very nice, those wheels are sharp.

 

Thanks for the support!

Anyone know what the ideal camber caster ranges should be post lift? I was told it was in spec, but then I've read that the caster should be somewhere around 2.3 or so?? Anyone have experience with this?

Here is the final lift height to the bottom of the fenders with the new tires.

Driver front 38 3/8
Passenger front 38 5/8
Passenger rear 38 1/4
Driver rear 38 3/4

Looks to have gained just under 4 inches in the front. More than I expected but a half inch is due to the new tire size and as a member mentioned above I did not compensate for the deceased weight of the 2wd with the 2885 coils.

Also just a heads up, the Ubolt torque spec for the rear axle on the Toyota torque spec guide is WRONG. I believe it specifies 37ft/lb
The parts guide from Wheeler off road specifies 70 - 80ft/lb and the after some checking I discovered there was more conversation about the Toyota spec having a typo. Just a heads up to anyone who may make the same mistake I did initially.

Also anyone have experience with brand selection for replacement upper control arms? The truck drives great and feels solid even on the freeway but after doing more reading it sounds like the replacement UCA's are recommended regardless. I've heard good things about the LR brand but has anyone used the rough country UCA's?? Found them here for about $285 shipped out-the-door. Just wondering if they have a good reputation.

https://www.suspensionconnection.co...NAPwrjdoGsW4fqB0P1YZvTJ-oURlFwjXGUaAuz28P8HAQ.



Thanks again to everyone who contributes to this community, I would not have been able to complete this project without your contributions.

 

I have the same lift as you on a 2014 trd sport 4×4. I went with jba uca's and they got my alignment back in spec with 285/75/16 tires.

 

Sweet thanks, I'll take a look at the jba UCA's. Do you know what your caster is set at now?

 

2.3

 

Sweet, thanks man! 2.3 is what I've been reading is the right setting. Any insight into why the 1.8 would be considered "in spec" at the alignment shop?