Lowering my 5 lug, what’s the best combo for no rubbing?

Just grabbed a fairly low mileage 2x4 2nd gen. I want to lower it but not completely ruin the ride quality. I was thinking 17’s or 18’s for wheels and maybe a 3/3 drop? Any pics or opinions on similar setups? I’d like to avoid notching the frame but not 100% against it.

 

I went with a djm kit, originally 3/3 then switched to 4” blocks. I have 18” xrunner wheels. I notched but not sure if it’s really necessary.

 

That’s honestly a perfect build, any rubbing or bottoming out with the 3” drop in the front?

 

I have X-Runner's and have run every combo of drop over the years. Pretty much any drop over 2" in the back you will want to notch the frame

 

No djm makes a good kit, comes with new upper and lower arms and keeps the same ride geometry. I also installed xrunner shocks. I ran into someone with the same setup and they didn’t notch and told me they did bottom out a lot, but they use the bed hauling furniture etc. You can also have the notch welded.

 

Noted, I think I’ll end up welding a notch in. I haul bikes and other junk all the time.

 

Yeah not a bad idea if you have the means to do so. But for what its worth I bolted the notch in my one truck about 10 years ago and havnt had issues either. Its seen lots of abuse and racing. Also, adjustable qa1 shocks for the rear are a great idea

 

My .2 cents is the 3/4 DJM kit with the notch welded in. Previous owner to me did that kit on the truck, and then put in a 5in block with 4x4 leafs and it bottomed out hard everywhere. Beat the frame so bad it cracked the replacement frame in two years. So staying with the 3/4 or so is safe. I race the crap out of mine on 18" wheels and I like the look. I'll agree with a previous post saying 2" is the max lowering without the c-notch.

My truck as it currently sits for reference. I'm about 4 1/4 front and back. (Ignore the body/cab gap, I screwed up a bed mount and it doesn't sit level currently)

 

the frame cracking at the notch is what had me worried.
I’m not sure if 2” will be enough drop so I may be looking for a welder.

 

I do have to point out that whoever cut the frame on my truck for the notch did a very... "less than good" job about it. I still haven't welded my notch in after picking the truck up two inches and welding the crack up. Two years of abuse later and it's doing fine, so having correct ride height is important. If you're slamming your bumpstops everywhere you go it's not good for the vehicle. See the photo for how not to cut...

 

Holy hell, what a hack job! I can see how that cracked lol

 

Generally to even the ride height out between the front and rear you need an extra inch of drop for the rear. If you like the stock ride the DJM 3/4 kit is the quickest way to do this. If you are wanting a more performance oriented ride then swapping to coil overs in the front and adjustable shocks in the rear is a must. Personally I've got Viking Coil overs up front and swapped to 4x4 leaf springs in the rear. This has let me drop the front by 3/4" and the rear by 1 1/4" while stiffening the ride up for much better handling. I'll be adding the DJM 3/3 kit to this as I like how even the front to rear drop is currently. I'll also be adding a 1/2" spacer to the passenger side block to even out the Tacoma driver's side lean in the rear. Also remember that the base model truck is about 1/2" higher than the X-runner from the factory. As for rubbing measure clearances around your stock wheels/tires and then you can input your stock tire specs and what you want to go with in to sites like to see how the offset, diameter, and width will change with new setup. I recommend getting all the suspension work done first so that you can see exactly what clearances you will have to work with.

 

@gstodd that’s great advice. I didn’t see any obvious options for what coil overs to use from Viking. I definitely don’t mind going stiffer for better performance.

are there any budget friendly stock options or coil overs are king?

 

I thought we needed custom brackets for front coil overs?

 

I’m pretty certain we do, I’ve e seen a couple of options.

 

Easiest way to do the Vikings is to order them from https://www.strictly-street.com/ They come with the needed upper bracket and bearing to fit the Tacoma mounting holes. They're not cheap, $1200, but well worth it in my opinion with the added adjustability in height, compression and rebound dampening. I run the 550# springs and they are more than enough stiffness for my little 4 banger and DD use. There are others who have used different set-ups without going the full coil over route but I only glanced at what they did as I've used coil overs on most of my vehicles for years now. You will find their build threads in this section of the forum. Feal Suspension also does a coil over setup for the Tacoma though it does cost a lot more if you want both compression and rebound adjustability. Less if you just go with their single adjustment dampening, which really would work fine for DD use.