Sagging suspension? And suspension + load question

Rookie questions here:

Breaking in the new ride on a long-ish front country camp trip this weekend. Got the Leer 180, fat-ass Tepui cap tent, 3 MTBs, and all our gear.

I noticed this afternoon that the driver's rear side seemed to be lower than the passenger side when looking dead on at the tailgate. Tire pressure is good, so I measured the distance from top of tire to bottom of fender. It's almost a full inch lower. Break in period? Or could something be sagging that shouldn't? I'm used to fiddling with MTB shocks, but am totally new to off-road suspension mechanics.

Follow-up question: we will typically have 500 - 800 lbs of gear with us if we have the hitch rack, all the bikes, jack, cap, top tent, etc. For getting max. perf out of the suspension, should I be adjusting anything to account for that weight? We have a 60 mi off road leg of a long road trip in July I want to be prepped for.

Thank!

 

500lb load is about all Tacomas can handle before they sag. Remember, battery and fuel tank are on the driver side...it will always be lower on that side.
I invested in these for about a $100 and they are great. They only took about 2 hours to install..and you maintain factory ride until you have a heavy load. Getting a new leaf pack with a good lift kit is another, but more expensive option. As are Airbags.

http://www.sdtrucksprings.com/hellwig-981-ez-990-helper-springs-toyota-tacoma

 

Taco lean, do a search on it.

 

Thanks guys!

 

Mine leans 1 1/8" in the rear with an empty tank of gas, 1/2" in the front, regardless of fuel level(both driver's side). I have an undercover ridgelander Tonneau, all aluminum 65lbs distributed. Completely stock. Only noticed the lean after the TSB for driveline vibrations and leaf replacement. They measured a '17 on the dealer lot and it was 1/4" off at the rear. Those numbers I can handle, the measurements I have no. Waiting to hear back from toyota, dealership opened up a case.

They'll probably blame it on the weight of my bed rug...all of 10lbs, if that.

 

@indevo: good call. I'll measure against home after I get the tent and gear out. If it's still that low, I'll do some more research and maybe take it to the dealer to take a look.

 

The look of the lean bothers me, knowing its center of gravity is off with the added weight of the fuel/battery/etc, even more. I would assume it's more prone To roll driver's just because of the weight, add the center of gravity change, even more likely.

We shouldn't have to worry about this stuff. It's our job to distribute the allotted weight and not overload, we shouldn't have to factor in "factory lean."

 

Get ride rite air bags, load whatever you want and level it out with more or less air.