looking for suspension suggestions

hi all-
so... after years of lurking, i've decided to post something.

it's long past time for new suspension, and i'm hoping for some suggestions.

i have a 2013 trd or access. 150k as of last week.
still on the suspension it came with.
have a mid rise century on it full time.
also have an arb deluxe bumper and white knuckle sliders. full size bfg at spare under the bed.
265/70/16 bfg ko2's.
have a warn 8k winch that i haven't put on yet, because the stock stuff on the front end is already taxed by the arb.

i spend most of my time on pavement or gravel. i'm in construction, and it's not unusual for me to load enough materials or tools to where i'm about a couple of inches from the bump stops.

when i decide to have fun, my girl and i will pick a spot and go.... probably a few hundred pounds worth of camping gear, beer, ice, etc. my favorite type of adventure is roaming around places like bowman lake... we'll spend a week tripping around on roads that are pretty much paved with softball size or bigger granite rocks. she doesn't enjoy speed as much as i do, so it's relatively slow going.
no serious rock crawling, but i have gone over some bigger stuff it it was in the way.
the last trip was pretty rough with the current suspension... even aired down to 20... and that was before the bumper or sliders

after hauling a bunch of lumber for a deck i'm building, and seeing how bad it was sagging (and hitting the bump stops constantly) i've decided it's time to upgrade.

i'm looking for something with decent road manners, yet somethig that can handle the camping we do.
also wanting rear springs that can stand up to being occasionally overloaded with tools and materials.

i've been considering icon 4rxt and deaver u402 springs, fox, king, dobinsons, bilstein, and icon shocks... but am open to suggestions on anything that might be a good fit.
i don't have an unlimited budget, but also adhere to the "buy once cry once" ethic.
don't mind buying used if it makes sense, and i tent to do my own wrenching.
am hoping to go with no more than 2in of lift, as i don't want to fall down the rabbit hole of bushing/cv angles/shims, etc if i can help it.
also, my gf is 4'10, and it's already a chore for her to get up into the truck (as far as a step, rock sliders and heels aren't a great match).

so... there ya have it.
any input will be greatly appreciated.

thanks!

 

Maybe consider going with a low mileage Gen3 Off Road takeoff suspension, probably something at like $400 for shocks and leafs, and a set of airbags...

 

Scratch that. Probably not the best approach with the added weight you have, particularly up front...

 

i had actually considered a 3rd gen trd pro setup i ran across recently, but was thinking i might need someting with adjustability... which leads me to fox, dobinsons, or king.
as for springs, almost decided on the icon rxt leaf pack, but was concerned with whether or not they'd hold up to being overloaded from time to time (putting 800+ lbs of tile/stone in my truck isn't unheard of).

 

i would suggest old man emu heavy load nitrochargers for shocks and front springs, and dobinsons deavers or old man emu heavy's for rear springs

 

i actually had ome on my last taco... a 99. had an arb and winch on that one too.
they were pretty stiff for day to day road driving.
what i did love about them tho, was the 2 mile part of my commute that was on an unmaintained county road that had washboards and ruts after every winter, until we could get the gravel trucks in around june.... hit that at 40+ mph, and i'd barely feel it.
below 30mph, it was pretty miserable... so the options were making the neighbors mad by kicking up the dust, or follow the 15mph signs everyone put up in front of their houses.
coming back in at midnight was never a problem, because everyone was in bed already.. lol.

 

I just put RXT Leaf Packs, Bilstein 6112's, 5160's and Timbren bump stops front and rear on my 2013 SR5.
What an amazing difference over the old stock suspension.
I went with the option 2 for the RXT's to handle the loads I typically haul out of the mountains following a successful backcountry hunt.
If I were hauling wood or construction materials on a regular basis I would go with option 3

 

do you think that the rxt's at stage 2 would handle the occasional 800+ lb load without getting too bent out of shape?

 

i had considered that same setup, but had read that the 5160 might not have enough travel when used with the rxt leaf pack.
have you had any issues with that?

also, not hauling on a completely regular basis... i may make a couple of big trips one week, then not haul much besides my cordless stuff or a big compound miter saw for the next month. i like to try to get most of the materials for a given job in a couple of trips, then just bring the tools to and from work.

 

just checked out the roadactive stuff... that's pretty slick.

 

Curious why you think he is not a candidate for air bags? I always considered air bags a great option for people who need lighter springs day to day with an occasional heavy load. Genuine question, because I have deaver stage 3s, and sometimes I wish I went lighter progressive and had airbags for heavier trips..

 

This is what I have with option 1 (usually an empty bed and infrequent towing), agree with the above. Huge difference in my ride quality on and offroad. Not terrible in price particularly if self installed.

 

Its been a while since I hit a scale but I am somewhere around probably 6200lbs day to day if my skid plates are on. Recently ditched the RTT. I have maxed out at 7500lbs on one trip when I was loaded down with rocks and all my trip gear(I am a rockhound).. Installing a Dynatrac ProRock60 in a couple weeks and have a set of airbags with cradles I was contemplating putting in.. I didn't really think about the bags causing the uptravel to be harsher..

 

Look at Dobinsons. I run the adjustable IMS struts and HD leafs. @Crikeymike is great to work with and will get you exactly what you need for the weight you carry.



How it looks now. Running full SOS skids/sliders, full spare 33x10.5 Kendas



This will be added at some point



This was with a decked system and camper shell

 

was definitely considering the mrr/mra from dobinson.

i could have thought suspension before bumper... but the deer around here are really dumb.
have hit deer with both of my previous trucks, and had one actually try to jump between me and the handlebars when i was on the bike (clocked it in the jaw with my shoulder).
bumpers are pretty much the first thing i put on a truck.

 

That suspension is slick. I didn't have the need for resi's....so I went with just adjustable. My truck is more of a get to camp over rock crawler. I have absolutely no complaints with it.

As far as the bike...............I dig those too

My truck was loaded with half a bed of wood, generator, and all kinds of crap

 

Pretty sweet rig.

I used to be into more developed campsites... then I discovered gaia gps. Figured out how to download all of the forest service maps, and sync it with my in dash display... now I look for the most out of the way places I can find.

The area around bowman lake in the sierras is pretty rough as far as forest roads go, but some of the places we found were pretty amazing.
I like to fly fish, the girl likes to sit by rivers with a book and a glass of wine...
We found plenty of room for that and saw very few people. It was great.

Now that I have those maps, there are many more miles to explore.

I wish California didn't have issues with extended range gas tanks, but that's a whole other gripe...