Rough ride after installing 3” adjustable Bilstein lift on 2007 TRD tacoma

Hey guys, new to the forum. I need some opinions on a lift issue. I installed the 3” adjustable Bilstein lift with toytec springs and the AAL in the rear.

Toyota aligned it, but it’s still a pretty rough ride from about 20mph-60mph. Maybe they didn’t align it to lifted specs? Also the truck has developed a vibration at pretty much all speeds. Needle pin maybe?

Let me know what you guys think, thanks!!

Has 285/70/r17 nitto ridge grapplers if that helps any.

 

What's the air pressure in the tires? The AAL is also from Toytec?

 

5100S don't ride that nice to begin with. but you could lower your tire pressure to compensate

 

My bilsteins with toytec 600lbs springs set at zero ride fine.

 

@replica9000 yes they’re the 2” toytec AAL. Tires are right at about 40 psi.

 

You probably need UCA’s to get the caster correct.

 

@QuicksandTaco do you recommend a specific brand and model?

 

Total chaos, icon, camburg, dirt logic are a few off the top of my head. I don’t know models just search for your Tacoma year.

 

Does caster effect compression characteristics ( softness stiffness of shocks?) .. thought it just made steering feedback more pronounced?

 

It could cause alignment to not be in spec which would cause a bad ride. It’s hard to say what op considers a rough ride compared to anyone else though. For all we know it could ride fine and he’s just not used to a lifted truck with mud terrains.

 

40 psi in the tires would do it. Try lowering that to 35 and see how you like it.

 

@QuicksandTaco you are probably right. I’ve never owned a lifted Tacoma so I’m new to the feel. But I do know that the vibration that is happening isn’t normal. I’ve read the threads about the ECGS bushing and some of the issues it can fix and it seems to explain what I’m feeling (the vibrations at least). Simply just trying to get some different opinions before I go tearing into anything.

 

@DriverSound i will try that out and see what happens, thanks!

 

I’d drop the air pressure to 35psi..

What load range are your Nittos? they do make them in a 12 ply/load range F. Which would probably suck on a Tacoma.

Might consider checking driveline angles. Changing them can cause driveline vibrations.

 

Try the bushing. Did you have axle shims installed? A lot of people have luck adding 2 degree shims under the leaf pack to adjust drive line angles.

 

Just because you over hear your girlfriends friends saying that to her, doesn’t mean it’s sound advice for other people.

 

@Greenedmc i dropped it, about to take a drive and see. And I didn’t get the 12 ply tires lol, didn’t see any reason for that. I’m looking into the driveline angles right now.

@QuicksandTaco i didn’t do the shims, but I did just look at the OME shim kit and it looks promising, and cheap. I’m going to try that out and see what happens. Thanks for the input

 

Let us know if lower tire pressure works.

I ran my Ridge Grapplers at 34 psi. Made a big difference in the roughness of ride.

 

Lowering the tire pressure definitely improved the ride. I think I would still benefit from UCA’s just to get a more specific alignment. Ordering the shims now to see if that helps with the vibration. I will update this thread once I get them under the truck. Thanks again y’all for the input

 

Just btw. The shims you need will be based on what your drive line angles are and how many degrees are needed to correct it. There are multiple options.