Minimum suspension mods for occasional use slide-in camper?

I am planning on getting a 3rd gen Tacoma and using a slide-in camper with it (dry weight about 1,110#). Would like to know from those with some experience what minimum suspension mods will be needed to carry that weight safely and relatively stable. The challenge will be that it will only get about 20% of total use with camper and 80% as a daily driver, so I am looking at a way to make it not too stiff unloaded to rattle our teeth most of the time. Also looking to minimize lift as wife absolutely hates that. Sounds too good to be true doesn't it. When camping will rarely if ever do extreme terrain or offroading, paved and some light gravel roads mainly. If this was above 75% use with camper loaded I would for sure get a heavier set of springs and airbags but unfortunately it's not. I have read of people using a set of Timbrens SES https://timbren.com/i-30498046-timb...or-tundra-tacoma-rear-severe-service-kit.html by themselves with no other mods, anybody done that here? A related question is does it matter much which TRD Tacoma trim would work best for this - Sport or OffRoad? My reading indicates the Sport sits a bit lower but has a slightly stiffer suspension for greater highway cornering stability. I fear with the offroad I would get a little too much roll in the corners loaded with the camper.

 

Go with the different truck mod. That camper dry weight alone exceeds the payload capacity of most Tacomas.

 

Lol true. If you keep the Tacoma, leave it stock and ride the bump stops for as little as you say you will use it..

 

Too heavy, you need a F-150

 

Ha thanks for alternative brands but am set on a Taco, and not just because our garage is exactly 227" long and has 2" to spare for length of truck, nothing else will fit. Have a Four Wheel camper on order already (Fleet). There are tons of this specific truck\camper combo on the road (and offroad) already so it can be done for sure, but am hoping beyond hope maybe that I don't have to be stuck with a teeth-rattler on the highway. Other things I've read are people using Fox or Falcon adjustable shocks, adding airbags, and then an add-a-leaf with only 300# additional capacity instead of heavier leaf setup, but that all gets spendy in a hurry. I am aware of the GVWR limitations and no such things as adding payload capacity, but 1000's of setups like this can't be totally wrong methinks.

 

If you’re set on fitting it in your garage and a Tacoma get yourself a SR or SR5 with minimal options to maximize your payload. You’ll still likely exceed it by 500lbs but at least it won’t be as bad. Just because other people do it doesn’t make it smart. With you only carrying the camper occasionally airbags are probably your best bet. Any fixed suspension that will support the camper and associated weight will give the truck a substantial lift and harsh ride without the camper.

 

Thanks for feedback crazysccrmd. If we didn't get upwards of 5' of snow in the winter on average I'd consider parking outside and a whole different setup! I am leaning towards your idea and going incrementally, starting with airbags (or sumo spring or timbren) and seeing first how that handles and then tweaking things from there. I hadn't looked at the SR5 specs yet I'll do that asap. Cheers

 

If you don’t need to haul more than two people a F150 regular cab will fit in your garage and give about 700-1000lbs additional payload over a Tacoma.

 

Hmmm thought I was logged into TacomaWorld not F150World... No seriously thanks crazysccrmd for digging up the length numbers on the F150 - yes that would fit it seems like and would be a legit option. However we are current gen1 taco owners (how I came to this site long ago) which is still running fine so we have planned along time to refresh the tacoma stock and will stick with that. Our '96 taco is single cab and manual with high mileage and we decided it wouldn't be a good fit for the camper and the types of trips we want to take. We do need to haul 4 people around more often than I think also and sometimes long distance. I am planning to build my own 'seat delete' storage contraption in the 2nd seating row for when we do hit the road on camping trips with just ourselves, hoping that will be an equal weight swap or drop after removing the seats and replacing with a little bit of plywood and shelving for a flatter cargo area.

 

To be fair I was bored and got curious if anyone else made a truck that would fit in that space. The Tacoma will work and not likely break, mine was overloaded many, many times and didn’t let me down.

 

Add a leaf? I’d go full heavy duty leaf pack + airbags. The factory leaf springs are garbage. If you’re going to put in the effort to unbolt them to add a leaf go ahead and throw them out while they’re unbolted. You will without a doubt be redoing this job with actual leaf packs. This is also probably one of the few situations where a high end shock with an external reservoir would be handy and necessary. You should also regear the truck. Your transmission will thank you.

 

Airbags are what you want. Load them up when the camper is in, empty them when it's not. They are tailor made for that sort of application.

Probably still won't be great, that kind of weight really would be handled better by a half ton truck. Sounds like that's not an option though.

 

I’m thinking if he gets a trim with the 8.75” rear ended that’ll probably benefit him as well

 

Welcome to the forum

The lightest SR5 4x4 V6 long bed has a payload of 1105 pounds, your listed dry weight is already 5 pounds over GVW.
Weight adds up surprisingly fast: people, food, tools, water, propane, etc and suddenly you are way overweight.
Might want to rethink this.

I know "...lots of people..." -- still doesn't make it right or smart.

 

For as much as you say you are going to use it, and where you'd be going with it, I'd go this way.

https://www.scamptrailers.com/

 

for dual duty i'd recommend air springs to start with, and then decide how much more money and time you want to dump into it, based on how you want to use it, or how you end up using it regardless of what you originally intended.

 

Keep in mind that 1100lbs dry will quickly turn into 1300 or 1400 or 1500lbs once you add some basic gear for camping.

 

Thanks everybody, all good feed for thought. Had a rethought of the camper options and got the weight down to 945# dry. Helps some but indeed adding the 400# of people and stuff I've calculated for us will get the weight up there in no time. Am thinking to go airbags or fancy bump stop (sumo or timbren) at first and see what needs to get upgraded from there. Really trying to stay away from any kind of fixed suspension mod that will guarantee lift and stiffen the ride which we won't be happy with the 80% of the regular non-camper time. We went round and round between van, trailer, camper and our conclusion was camper. We actually have free use of a mini custom trailer like the scamper but not interested in that, I'm 6'3 and lanky and I smack my head and bony parts on everything in those.

 

@Sep1911 - I've seen that 8.75" number but can't remember where - it can't be rear end ratio (3.9 something) or ground clearance (9.3" something) - can you tell me what that number represents? Thanks!

 

It's the diameter of the ring gears. Basically a beefier rear end overall