New lift ordered I put together for my 15 DCSB 4x4

Hey guys, I've been a very quiet member for quite some time. Finally pulled the trigger last week on a Tacoma.

This tacoma will be used as a mall crawler, deer lease vehicle, wheel at local parks, and drive long distances for work. It took quite some time deciding on a kit and I've read post after post.

I'm going to list what I bought and y'all let me know what you think

-didn't wanna run 35's due to the amount of miles I'll put on it.

Radflo 2.0 extended coilovers with 600# springs $850
Tuff Country Uniball UCA's $440
2.5" lift top spacer with diff drop and sway bar drop $78
*to keep from cranking too much preload in the coils to gain lift
Sdtruck springs 2" aal with tip pads $55
Bilstein 5100's for rear 0-1" lift $140
Toytec rear 5100 shock spacers $14

Pro comp 7039 20x9.5 flat black
Haven't decided on a 33 yet

I've got a big racing background and have a great deal of knowledge in geometry.

Does anyone care to comment on my setup to give me any info I haven't thought about?

Thanks for all the help thus far, y'all are a great group

 

Seems like a lot of mix and match to me rather than just going with a complete system from one manufacturer. I don't have any personal experience with any of the parts though so I can give much info other than what I have generally read on here. Those findings include:

1. differential drop can cause more damage than its worth.
2. any type of spacer lift is going to give a less comfortable ride (not sure how this works on top of a aftermarket coilover but I would imagine the same thing applies)

The a rear add a leaf for 2" and a shock absorber for 0-1" dont seem to mesh well but I don't have experience with 5100's and have never heard of the Sd truck springs. The front though is where I see the major concern. If it were me I wouldn't buy $850 extended travel coilovers just to put a spacer on top of them, I wouldn't think you would need that especially since you are only lifting the rear a couple inches.

 

Basically I built the Ultimate kit with Radflo coilovers that toytec sells for $400 less

I've got a buddy that is a dealer for bilstein and we compared collapsed and extended lengths and that's why I'm putting the top spacer on the studs of the shocks.

 

Deer lease vehicle is used to go off road to fill feeders and get to the stands. Nothing paved

 

i have to agree with this.
there are a thousands of people with hundreds of thousands of posts about what works and what doesn't. it's your money but i sure wasn't willing to go outside what has been proven to try something that hasn't been.
hopefully its all a good fit and finish.

 

It's not set in stone to run the top spacer. It's just there to play with. Not sure how I'm reinventing the wheel?

 

i never said you were "reinventing the wheel", i guess i should have specified. i haven't heard of SD truck springs either.

 

Haven't seen these on their site?

 

Very last product on their 2nd gen tacoma products page

 

This hodgepodge of crap is basically the same products as the build your own mid travel kit on downsouthmotorsports.com, toytec, and bilsteinlifts.com.

Why is the diff drop bad?

 

the coilovers should have some preload in them. what do the radflo's list as ride height over stock with their factory preload setting? putting the spacers on top is just going to push everything down, knowing about geometry you should realize this is not preferred for the front end components. if you are set on running a top plate spacer to avoid too much preload in your coilovers i suggest you run toytec 3/4 spacers.

search this site for the diff drop and you will find all kinds of information. it is not a popular item.

why would you run shocks for 0-1 inch of lift, these are stock length. adding shock extensions screams you do not know what you are doing with this. your buddy that is a bilstein dealer should know better also.

never heard of the add a leaf you are looking at..

 

You could ask a vendor that doesn't do packages like that. Chas has helped a lot of people like you to narrow down the selections and you can rely on that experience to help you to save time and money. Message chas or I if you want to discuss what would work best.

 

Try wheelers offroad!

Sounds good to me. glad you have uniball UCA's on there, Ball joints are lame

P.S. I have never had any issues with my diff drop, less stress on the cv's

 

It would appear you are trying to gain too much lift out of your truck.

So the spacers are not a good idea and I agree with most on this. I suggest sticking with 3" of lift at the most. This can be done by simply adjusting the COs a bit more. I know you don't want the added preload on the coils, but if your plans are to go over 3" of lift you might as well do a Drop Bracket kit. People can bash these all they want, but when your focus is on lift a decent DB kit will suit your needs better than taking from all you’re down travel like you are planning to do.

As for the shock extenders for the rear shocks, you really don't need them since the extended length is sufficient for a single AAL. Almost everyone on this forum is so confused by this topic. Rather than trying to understand how an AAL achieves lift and how it alters the factory set-up they just go by what the shock is labeled to support. The problem in doing this is it really depends on the lift you're using (AAL, block, leaf pack) and how much further down that lower mount is expected to go after the lift is installed. With a single AAL the only additional extension needed out of the shock is about ¼” and the 5100 can support that just fine.

The whole diff drop thing, so many are misinformed on this as well. Basically it’s a tradeoff, you’re providing little improvement on angles and taking from clearance/protection. For those who do very little offroading the kit is a more worthwhile purchase.

 

I've got a 5100 just like is being talked about in here at Bilstein for warranty right now. All I've got is a single 1.5" aal, and it overextended the shock. As compared to the stock TRD shocks, the 5100s aren't but about .5" longer.

 

The shocks for these trucks serve as limit straps since the leaf packs are able to droop out further than the extended travel allows. So in understanding this if you plan to do hard core off-roading or attempt to catch air in your truck you will continue to fuck the shocks up. They did not design these shocks for that type of use nor to support this type of abuse. That said if you plan to do this with your truck I would suggest getting limit straps to eliminate full extension of the rear shocks. This should be done with any shocks regardless of length.

People really need to understand how their suspension works. The 5100 rear shocks will easily support an AAL, just don't think that because you have 5100s and AALs that your truck is suddenly a race truck and can beat the shit out of it.

Remember knowledge is power

 

Yes OP, buy the regular 5100s and keep the knowledge in your mind that your truck is set up improperly. Especially when people who have experience with it are telling you what could and has happen before.

And Salty, I'm not rough on my truck. Do as search on here and see how many people have had issues with this.

 

Are suggesting I don't have experience with these shocks

You over extended the shocks while offroading and eventually damaged them (likely the case and you would have done this with or without the AALs) OR you got unlucky and ended up with a bad set of shocks.

For those who are unaware of what's going on back there I was simply providing useful information.

Bottom line is if you want to use all the down travel in the rear, install limit straps to protect the shocks. This isn't rocket science. You want to run longer shocks that's fine too, but the collapsed length will need to be considered and you'll still need to run straps to prevent from over extending the packs, drive shaft, and the brake/e-brake lines.

I repeat, knowlege is power