New to Off-roading and Need Serious Help.

Hey Guys! First and foremost I want to say that I am mechanically inclined. I've been an avid adventure motorcyclist and have rebuilt and modified many MANY motorcycles for off-road use. I get the concepts of off road suspension and know the terminology but I'm trying to figure out a good lift setup for my new 2021 Tacoma. I ditched motorcycles and I wanna give overlanding a try. My Tacoma is a daily driver and a family truck. Needs to be pregnant wife and 4 year old certified. My thoughts currently are a 2" lift (maybe 3" with running boards/rock sliders) and as far as weight, its going to be light. 32" tires (275/70/r17) and i'm going with a 70 lb CBI Covert bumper on the front with a 65lb smitty built and then for rear weight i'll have a bed cover with some recovery gear and a bit of camping gear. I'm also thinking a roof rack. So in total i'll have 150 lbs. in the front, 300 lbs give or take a 100 in the rear and a roof rack mostly for a light stuff. What in the hell lift should i go with? What do I need? I'm thinking a medium EMU lift kit but i'm not sure what else i need. What should i buy, what concerns should i have? I'm hearing stuff about diff drops, upper control arms, add a leafs, ect ect. This is all a new language for me. Motorcycles don't have these things and i really don't know what i need to buy. Also if i installed a emu lift (seems easy i could totally do it) would i really need to get the tires re-aligned? Seems like alot of guys are doing it from home but the info i see onine says it needs to be re-aligned. I know this is alot but please, if you have time, dump your offroad suspension knowledge onto me. I would rather buy once, cry once, and not make any mistakes.

 

I'd call Accutune and discuss your needs. I did and they helped me figure out exactly what I needed based on the weight and future plans.

 

I'll give that a shot. Not sure if they sell ARB lifts or will ship to Alaska. Should have included that in there. I'll give that a try though. Thanks!

 

you don't NEED a lift to take your truck off the road.

Welcome aboard!

 

Oh believe me. I very much know that. Been Off-Road plenty That said, I plan on adding some weight and with the off-roading I do, an extra 2 to 2.5 inches of lift would do me good. In my mean time, me and my family are very much enjoying our new truck. I'm trying to get some research done and I feel way in over my head looking into suspension lifts. I must say, this is by far the most active and welcoming forum community I've been on. Ive asked a couple of questions and people just jump on it with kindness and knowledge.

 

I have a lift with high end 2.5 shocks with compression adjusters, and I love them. I can haul ass on washboard and maintain control, and then dial them down for a softer ride on trails.

With that said, I agree with the above poster, you don't need a lift to go off-road. By skipping the lift you also get to avoid the common issues that arise from a lift i.e. throwing a bunch of driveline angles out of whack and chasing down vibrations.

If I were you, I'd start with good AT tires, sliders and skids for protection, and whatever gear you need for camping. Once you encounter a situation or two when you could have used a lift, start thinking about it then.

There's a dude on Trails Offroad who takes his "stocko Taco", with sliders but no lift, on some pretty crazy trails

 

Drive it for six months stock. Research. If you offroad stock, you will figure out for yourself exactly what you need. Everyone has different needs. A Bilstein lift works for some while others need Icon or King. Plus, the truck is extremely capable in stock configuration.

 

Tires and driver skill are by far the two most important things to have. I've seen stock vehicles in crazy places with good tires and a skilled driver.

3" is just about maximum on the IFS front without drop brackets (dont do it!) anything past ~2-2.5 you will need new UCAs (Upper control arms) due to the angles of the joints being so severe. The CV shafts will start to wear quickly at those angles too (the boot bellows touch one another)

Avoid spacer lifts if you plan to actually go offroad.
Bilstein 5100s are ideal for most everyone
Avoid side steps if you can. Rock sliders will hold the weight of the vehicle, steps will just crumple and severely reduce breakover angle.
Skid Plates will help you get home
The weights you are talking about are nothing, a winch and a full plate bumper are common and many multiples of the weights you mention.

 

Ok. Great. I think I'll focus on tires, camping gear, ect. I'll move to lifts later in the process. This is my primary daily and family truck. My absolute nightmare is doing a lift that's problematic. The last thing I want is a lift kit that has issues, rattles, squeaks, or overall just isn't reliable. I'm not doing any crazy trails but i can think of one small section where a lift might be useful. I don't need a lot of lift. I'll have to research alot and try and figure this whole situation out. Appreciate the replies guys. Maybe i need to just take a step back and worry about getting some tires on the thing.

 

Lots of options out there ranging from hundred$ to many thou$and$. A lot depends on goals, skills, terrain, budget, etc. Tons of good info here in these threads and a lot of knowledgeable people who can advise.

I went with the basic Eibach system. It’s a lot of juice for the squeeze, American made, & has an incredible warranty. However, I don’t rock crawl or go bombing through deserts. I’m a forest ridge runner type guy.

Like any hobby, you can get a “stupid” amount of money wrapped up in this and be left wondering if you should’ve just bought a used trailer and side-by-side that will out perform most setups off-road. Welcome to the insanity.

 

From the reading I’ve done… Bilsteins are probably the route you want to take. Give headstrong a call and they’ll hook you up.

While Icons are nice… expect them to need to be rebuilt every couple of years. I can’t be without my truck for a couple weeks while they’re getting rebuilt. Bilsteins on the other hand can last for 100k.

 

All shocks should be replaced at wear intervals like 70k, depending on wear and frequency of usage (heating them up)

I replaced my emu at 85k, and they were tired.

 

I've actually considered a TRD lift kit. Its a 2" factory lift kit that gets wrapped into your warranty and is installed by Toyota. Its 2" in the front, 1" in the rear, bilstein. it removes a majority of the headache and if any issues arise (it is a family truck after all) Toyota would cover it. The thing that pushed me away from the TRD upgrade lift that i really want and caused me to make this post is people telling me that the 70lbs CBI Covert Bumper and the 62 lbs smitty winch was way too much for that suspension. Which would also mean that combo would be too much for a stock suspension. Somebody tell me these people are crazy so i can buy the TRD lift i originally wanted XD Reviews ive seen show the lift is better over stock in nearly every way. Not a huge leap in performance but better and gives better articulation.

 

Yes the OME (emu I think your talking about) it's very good quality and IMO the best way to go for your needs. I've had that lift on my wifes double cab for some years with no issues. I went with with the heavy springs all around and then she didn't want me to put a truck box back there so empty all the time it's like a lumber wagon.
No one on here seems to mention Low Range Offroad on here but if I were you would certainly take a look at their website. They will assemble the front coils for just the cost of new top hats which is cheap. With those pre-assembled it's easily a job you can do in a day with help of a friend. And you will most surely need an alignment afterwards.
You can spend a ton more money on suspension that will require rebuilding from time to time but...whatever.
Another note is that the front driver side differential/axle bearing may need to be replaced but I had 40k miles of lift on it before I did that.

 

Welcome!

And I will pose this question to you: Why use a 17" wheel if you are planning on offroading the truck? The extra 1/2" of sidewall provided by a 16" wheel gives a a superior ride and contact patch when aired down for the trail. Being a dirtbike myself, I will say it's like the difference between running a 110/90 rear versus a 100/90.

Just my opinion, but to me the absolute most important part of any offroad vehicle is the point that the vehicle interacts with the terrain.

Good luck, and enjoy your new adventure!

 

True but Icons service interval is 15k. I know I couldn’t go without my truck every year for a week or two.

With that said… I’m sure they probably preform great. If the Taco is a 2nd vehicle or you have a beater daily driver, and you need that extra performance benefit… more power to ya.

 

OME is slipping in quality lately, I'd not consider them the best.
TRD lift is far more expensive than a Bilstein 5100 lift (like double or triple) why bother. If you need heavier duty springs on a bilstein lift there are lots of options (650lb/in and 700lb/in spring rates)
17" wheels are the most common size for larger tires... Do some comparison between available styles and prices between 16 and 17 tires, not to mention available wheels in those sizes. beware that 16" wheels are typically narrow, and 17" wheels allow the most common larger tire wheel widths. There is a great thread on "Skinny tires" and their benefits, but there are very very few large skinny tires on the market.

Beware of the "Advice" you get here. People from all walks of life, with very different goals thinking their way is the best way. Read a lot, take the aggregate, make your own decisions. I've seen multiple threads with dozens of comments, with everyone agreeing... yet everyone was dead wrong, or giving horrible advice. I've been wheeling and wrenching for 15+ years now. TW has a lot on info, lots of it is horrible, lots of it is good.

Welcome to TW

 

I would recommend keeping the lift to 2" or less and getting some good leaf springs and UCA's for the front. Every inch you lift is lost down travel. Hard braking over rough pavement while running out of downward wheel travel will result in loss of tire/road contact and longer stopping distances, which is exactly what you don't want in an emergency braking situation. Off road the benefits are significant when the trail camber is inconsistent. once one wheel is off the ground, it's useless. Without going to a longer travel setup, lifting is a compromise between clearance and suspension articulation. Also, keep in mind that absolute clearance is a factor of your tire height only, the lowest part of the truck will always be the rear axle/bottom of the rear diff and the only way yo lift that is with a taller tire. Suspension lifts are useful, but they don't increase obstacle clearance overall.

 

It is not too much weight. I've installed the TRD 2" OEM lift (with 2" Torch AAL in the back). My Slimline bumper and Harbor Freight winch weigh 142 pounds. I lost maybe half an inch in the front.



Gratuitous pic of a portion of the install.

 

Just quit thinking you need a lift. Buy some tires only. Then take it offroad for several months in that configuration. You don't need a winch. You don't need a bumper yet. Drive it.
You would be surprised at how many build their truck twice. Once when new and they thought they knew what they wanted and once a year later when they knew what they needed. Don't be that guy.