Ride Quality Questions for others

Hey all. I have had my 2020 for a 2 months now and have C load KO2's 265/70/17 and TRD PRO/Bilstein 6112's at stock height in the front and 5160's in the rear. Have not changed rear leaf springs but have rear icon add-a-leafs to add.

From the others that are similar mods or stock does your truck reverberate through the frame going over frost heaves or sharp impacts. I dropped my tire pressure from 40/38 to 36/34 F/R and it seems to improved it a bit but still quite noticeable. Am I missing a vibration dampener or something else that needs to be addressed by the dealer or is this just normal with the truck and tires?

 

What do you mean reverberate?

 

there's this thing referred to as the "Tacoma jitters" coming the rear of the truck. you can 100% fix that and get a very strong rear end with this: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/tacoma-hammer-hangers-soa-sua-archive-garage.519625/

for the fronts, there's a few considerations like your tire pressures as you've mentioned, but also your alignment can play a part. i have also added Marlin HD frame braces to totally eliminate any of that crud: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/marlin-crawlers-upcoming-hd-lca-frame-brace-kit.610921/

but if you're jittering over small bumps mostly in the rear, then I'd check out that first link above. many very satisfied customers including me.

 

Ya it is a jitter type issue mainly coming from the rear end.

 

read up on that. i think all your q's will be answered there.

 

I think your tire pressures are too high, these trucks have lousy suspension damping parameters which yield even worse ride quality with heavier wheels and tires and with stiffer dampers. On my '20 with stock suspension and stock 16" wheels and tires, I reduce the rear tire pressure to 28 psi to reduce the bed shaking due to the large chassis flex (open C construction) and the 28 psi pressure helps some. On your truck with a much higher load-bearing capacity, the pressures should be lower than the recommended pressure shown in the sticker in the driver door jamb.

 

The open channel frame is horrid on these trucks... unfortunately, you, as am I, and many others, are sensitive to the wiggles that come with the design.

As mentioned above, stiffening the rear shackle hangers is a good start. The factory even made a decent attempt at controlling it on one of the past 2WD models. There are some very nice replacement hanger kits out there, they have an involving installation (relatively).

Boxing the frame, all of it, is the true solution. There are kits for the rear section. Ultimately, a nice whole frame brace that bolts on would be a nice solution for many.

 

rear boxing is on my to-do list for next round of work after this shutdown. actually the last round of work was interrupted by it. is there a kit you like for it? my builder jets his own pieces but wondering if there's a kit you like for starters.

 

Yep. Its also a secondary effect from stiffening the metal used in an open channel design. When GM went to the GMT-800 platform in 99.5, they found that out especially with the 2004 updates. New, hydraulic body mounts were their half-assed "cure". Its not a cure, it just hides it.

OP: I mean this in the most non-dick way possible, seriously- try to remember, and I'd feel good that, despite it being such a comfortable vehicle, it still is a real truck under all of that. Being bouncy
/jiggly without weight in the bed is part of that. It goes along with the people on here that whine about the manual transmission's 1-2 shifting or the highway RPM. When I was shopping for my taco, I was so damn excited when I found out it had a 4:1 first and a 4.30 axle ratio! It'll be able to be worked like a truck when I need to!

Also, Jowett: It's crazy to see someone from little ol North Adams on here. I'm from Adams and have a bit of family up there, Cheshire and North Adams. If you spend time on Greylock in the winter, you probably knew my uncle. Seems like everyone did.

 

The cross tube option for the hammer hangers from archive garage enough of boxed solution?

 

Eric at Archive says it helps another 10-20% more beyond the basic hangers themselves. i want to do it but haven't committed to a spare relocation plan yet. but that won't take care of the flexy frame stuff he's referring to.

 

I picked up a rear boxing kit from another member, don't recall the manuafacturer. Still may build my own, definetly doing something for the main section.

@Doobfucious What's the name? I was up Fachini's Farm, Bellows Pipe and the Glenn yesterday. My father was at the high school from the 70's through the 90's. North Adams is coming back, lots of transplants and folks investing money... still have the old issues but it's amazing to watch things slowly gentrify.