My first Tacoma, Looking for some advice

I've lurked the forums for quite a while. Never had a Tacoma, but did have an 04 Tundra that I loved to death. My father in law bought it from me to replace his aged 95 Tacoma (which Ive always wanted). After a few months of owning the tundra he ended up giving me the tacoma. I'm now a proud taco owner! Its a 95 Xtra Cab, 3.4L, 4wd, locking hubs and all factory. It has around 250k on it. He is the original owner and was very, very good about maint. I've got paperwork for everything, all the way down to every set of tires ever put on her. This is going to be my "play" truck. Because of its high mileage, I fully intend on rebuilding the engine and tranny in the next 6-12months, more of a preventative thing more than anything. It runs and drives great.

First things first, I want to beef up the suspension. It NEEDS new leaf packs in the back. They are definitely worn. The shocks are also worn a bit. I would like to do the leafs and shocks all at the same time. I'm not really looking to jack it way up, but I would like to lift it up a little bit, mainly to put a little bigger tire on, maybe 33's. I don't want to have to worry about extending brake lines or anything like that, so I'm thinking (based on reading the forums) I need to stay around 2". Any thoughts from the seasoned gurus around here? I'm also leaning towards billy 5100's all the way around. I would like to hear everyones thoughts on some good leafs to pair up with the 5100's, considering I want to stay around 2" lift (maybe 2.5 if you think thats a safe route). Money is definitely a factor right now, as I need to save up to do the engine rebuild. But I do want to hit the trails with some friends in the mean time so I'm ready to do the suspension, and do it right. I'm no expert in this area, but I'm learning quick and really appreciate any advice/tips/info you guys can offer me. Thanks!

BTW anyone in the North AL / South TN area?

 

Should I stick with factory leaf replacements and consider an AAL or is there a better option? Wondering the same for coil springs as well.

 

It appears that no one really cares enough to chime in and help a noob, but I figured I would post some pictures anyways.

Overall the truck's in pretty darn good condition considering its age and miles. The paint is gone on the front of the hood, and there is some very early stage surface rust, but that will be remedied next month when we repaint. There is no other rust anywhere. The frame is impecable.

 

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/suspension/11282-tacoma-lift-faq-guide-read.html

Give that a read.

That being said OME is nice stuff, you could do a full suspension set-up (coils, leafs and shocks) for around $1100-1200. This will give you around 2"-3" depending on which coils you go with.

Wheelers Off-road has a nice selection...check it.

 

I had a 1997 Tacoma and loved it. Here is my advice to you.

1. Never log into Tacoma World again. Delete your user name and do not look back. This site will cost you alot of money on mods. It gets to be addicting.

2. Get billies 5100 all around. OME 882 coil overs Front billies set at 0. Replace the leafs the ones on the truck are probably shot. I had Wheelers leaf packs and liked them. I replaced brake lines with stainless steel ones. The brake lines were cheap compared to everything else and I liked the idea of new brake lines on a high milage vehicle. Do the work yourself and save some money. Also look at the replacing the steering rack bushings, swaybar links, ball joints and tie rods.

Good luck!

 

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/1st-gen-tacomas/120541-wheelers-5-leaf-thumbs-up-down.html

 

Use the search function and find "4WD" s post on "Tacoma Spring Refurbishing" before you spend a dime on rear leaf springs.

 

I was just reading through some posts suggesting the OME 882's with the billies. Im pretty sure that's the route I'm going to go. This thing rides like a battle tank right now. Will 5100's + 882's produce somewhat of an enjoyable experience driving down the road? I will be spending a lot of time on trails (nothing to serious, yet), but I don't want my brains to rattle out when driving down the road


Good call with the brake lines, I think I'll be doing that soon.

 

Wolftree - I will do that now, thanks!

 

by the way, never mind the f250 in the background That's nothing more than fragmented light