My new to me 2020 Trd OR has been modified by previous owner

Hello, new Tacoma owner as of Friday.
I was hoping I could pick your brains about the work that has been done to this truck as I am still learning when it comes to these things. I am slowly and surely gaining knowledge, BUT I could really use some specific information on exactly what I'm looking at when I look at my truck.

If you folks could take a look at the pictures I took, could I get some opinions, knowledge, concerns on them? Is it crap? Quality? Dangerous? Anything stick out that I should know? Since I'm still very new and learning, I am also not sure exactly what questions to ask either.

Thank you very much!

 

Spacer and block lift.

The cheapest possible way to lift the truck to clear the tires. Has your cab mount been chopped (look at the frame in the back of the front wheel well near the doors) to fit the tires, or do you rub? Maybe you got lucky and neither is the case, but most with 285s rub.

Block and spacer lifts aren’t my cup of tea, personally.

I don’t know the brand of that front bumper nor can I read the brand of bar, but the winch looks nice.

 

I don't believe it's rubbing, I don't see any marks on the inside fender area.

Edit: Not sure about the cab mount. Honestly, I really wouldn't know what to look for.

 

mmm flat leafsprings.

 

The bed is completely empty except for a folding tonneau cover.

 

Nothing dangerous to you, unless you don't know how to use a winch. The steps are dangerous to themselves if you go off road as they are much more likely to be hit by obstacles. As McFly mentions not the best way to do a lift, but very very common, you have lots of company. All depends on what you wish to do with the truck.

 

flat leaves on a tacoma are pretty normal. Looks like whoever had it or the dealer put a cheap spacer/block list to get some height/cool factor. then added a winch and winch bumper.

Are you looking to pull that stuff out and improve the ride and performance or just checking on safety? It works, but it is definitely the entry-level lift setup for a Tacoma. They spent more on the winch/bumper then they did on the rest.

If you are looking to get set on some new stuff, send me a PM or head over to Holyhorsepower.co, which we just launched last summer. Some potential Group Buys coming.

 

That suspension looks prematurely spent to me. Leaf packs can be flat, but they should not take on a w shape, especially when empty.

I would replace the rear leafs at a minimum and get rid of the block. The shocks don't look too dirty and it's optional on whether you want to replace all four corners. I personally would because I hate spacers. But it's not critical. The leaf pack will be important if you ever have plans on putting more than a single bag of groceries in the bed though. That one stands out.

 

agreed its likely the blocks that are doing the W action on it. OP - how many miles are on the truck? The low cost option would be to get some new Bilsteins, add a leave or better a new leaf pack, better bump stops and that truck will be back in business.

 

I've never used a winch in my life! About the only experience I have is watching matts off-road recovery. Thanks for the reminder.

I have a few trails around here I would love to explore in the comfort of a truck instead on the dirt bike. Something like this? From what I've read so far, the block and spacer lift I have isn't ideal for off roading. If If I take my truck out to something like that, how could the current setup handle it?

34k

Appreciate the insight folks!

 

An I looking at it wrong? This looks a fair bit more than just flat to me. But I'm just an armchair wrencher.

 

Setup will work but its not ideal That would be one of the first things to swap out but you will get people that say they wheel on spacer/block lifts all the time.

at 34k the rear leaves are fine but you could prob go with an add a leaf instead of a full pack if looking to save some coin.

 

i see what your saying too but doesn't look much different then my old dakar or factory leaves when they existed on the truck. A nice add a leaf or new pack would get this back in gear. Get that block off its doing no favors here.

 

Why do you think a w shape is a sign there is something wrong with the leaf springs?

 

Because it's a 3 year old truck with no weight in the bed. An empty tacoma shouldn't "w" on the stock springs as weak as they are.

 

That’s not what i meant. I’m meant more generally, why do you think a leaf spring with a w shape is abnormal?

For example, do you know of a published leaf spring inspection procedure that says replace the leaf spring if it has a w shape?

 

Looks like a front tophat spacer on stock TRD Offroad coilovers and rear block spacer on the leaf packs. Don't look like too big of spacers to cause damage to parts, a good idea would be to measure each so people here can give input on whether you are at risk of bottoming/topping out shocks or not and check over the shocks for evidence of leaking or damage to the mounting points to be sure the previous owner didn't push the truck too far with spacers on it.

Warn makes expensive winches that seem to be pretty good from what I read. If you can get more photos of the metal front bumper people can probably tell you what company made it if it has logo cutouts on it.

Rear leaf packs look to be flattening out (normal for these trucks) but perhaps a bit moreso due to the block spacers on them. Maybe 1" blocks, which is mostly ok, but I'm just guessing from the images. Long term a block will make leaves flatten faster and worse over time, especially if you run more weight or offroad. Maybe it's jsut the photo or dirt on it but the block installed looks like low quality machining work. Personally I replaced my rear blocks with a full leaf pack setup for the rear lift I wanted, and never looked back once I got over the price tag of it.

Wheels are aftermarket from Fuel, I don't know much about the company though. Tires are a Light Truck (LT) load range E, which are much heavier and stiffer riding than really needed for most uses of our trucks. If you want something quieter and smoother with less negative impact on your acceleration and gear shifting, you can probably find a Standard Load (SL) range tire in that same size since 285/70R17 is pretty common. I know for the Falken Wildpeaks I run you can get that size in SL, Load C, or Load E range. I'd look to see if a cab mount chop or other modification was done, but I wouldn't be surprised if the wheels rub when turning and/or articulating since the spacer lift doesn't give me a lot of confidence the previous owner planned that sort of thing out.

Overall looks like a truck driven by the sort of construction contractors I often work with (who seem to really like Fuel wheels), like someone focused on looks (spacer lift and load range E tires are not optimal for a Tacoma) before the functional aspects of mods (other than the Warn winch, which isn't cheap for sure).

 

FWIW...
https://www.suspensionspecialists.com/tech0004.html

 

The inspection procedure in that article is more along the lines I might expect and I don't see anything mentioning a visual inspection looking for a flat or W shape. They do mention measuring the ride height of the suspension though. Good read.

And @Rock Lobster, I don't mean to start a fight. You are one of the more knowledgable people on this forum and when you repeated what I suspect is an urban legend, I thought I might be missing something. I still might, I still haven't seen the smoking gun.

EDIT: the article also says, "Springs of modern design are usually nearly flat-under normal full load conditions. When springs are nearly flat, they are in a better position to endure constant flexing, and they also tend to act as straight radius rods and so maintain axle positions and steering alignments more accurately"

 

Nice truck! You have the same lift that 80-90% of lifted Tacomas have. Looks like a good bumper/winch setup as well. If it rides good and you are just out exploring USFS or BLM roads I wouldn't touch it. If you feel like you want a better ride on and off road, look at the Bilstein 6112/5160 setups. Good price and a big improvement over the spacer/block setup. Just my 2 cents.