Stiff Suspension with King 2.5s and Dakar Medium Duty EL111R

Hi all, I've been researching for a few months now and am coming up a bit empty handed and conflicted. About a year ago I swapped my 2015 TRD OR DCSB suspension with a full King 2.5 reservoir setup from Accutune. I asked them to tune it soft for street driving only and described my driving style to them. I also opted to replace the stock leafs with some Dakar medium dutys. I am stock weight.

My truck is street/daily driven ONLY and is driven a bit hard. My goals were mostly to upgrade the feel of the suspension and lift the front about 1 inch, rear about 2-3 inches to give a slight rear rake. I have fully achieved my lift/stance goals but am falling out of love with the ride rather quickly.

I like to take corners fast, drive over speedbumps fast, and hit dips hard. It soaks up dips but speedbumps/ normal divets or potholes in the road jar the hell out of me and the truck. Feels slightly unstable when going over normal rough roads.

I have thought about maybe doing a 500lb front coil and maybe going with rear Deaver leafs in an effort to soften the ride. Or possibly removing one of the leafs in the dakars. But Im trying to keep the current lift height which is where my issues lay. Rather than throwing money at new parts and being disappointed again, I am asking for help. This is now the 2nd time I've replaced suspension and been disappointed. I am hoping the 3rd time is the last.

I recently hopped in a 2020 Tacoma with stock TRD bilstein suspension and good lord that ride is plush. Even driving the way I do, it took everything like a champ and kept asking for more. Its miles better than the '15 stock TRD suspension. As much as I hate to "downgrade" to stock 2020 bilstein from Kings, I am severely debating this option. The ride is exactly what im looking for.

It's easy for most to just say, go buy a set of take offs and call it done, but I really would like to keep my King 2.5s in and just solve the missing link. I'd like some thoughts on this from experienced members.

 

What kind of coil do you have? 600? 650? I see you're a PreRunner. Our trucks have even less weight in the front than a 4x4 so lifting and keeping a soft ride quality don't work with eachother.

 

Yeah I know lifting and ride quality are usually opposites. I believe the front coils are 600lbs. I was thinking of 500lbs to replace them or maybe 550 but still need to figure out the rear leaf situation.

 

is that your actual truck?

1. that appears to be a prerunner with trd offroad decals
2. those look like like bilsteins installed not Kings?

 

What you should've done was install a 2" aal to your stock leaf springs. Do your front shocks have adjusters?

 

Yeah its my truck. I dont have any recent pics with the Kings but thats the same "stance" or ride height I currently have with Kings. It was sitting on Bilstein 5100s before. Its a TRD-OR prerunner 2wd.

 

It’s Friday already?!

 

The front Kings are able to be adjusted. I thought AALs are a cheap mans lift?

 

From your description, my $1,300 Bilstein lift rides way better than yours bro. What tune did you get from Accutune?

 

Click them down to soft.

AAL are cheap, but no real reason to get Dakars unless you are going to haul stuff. If you just wanted it for looks, you could have saved a bunch of $ by getting AALs

 

Street tune. I had 5100s with Headstrong's 2in lift coils before this and it was way worse up front

 

Sorry I misunderstood Alien, they dont have ride quality adjusters. I sold my take off leafs a while ago. Wondering if maybe taking out the overloads on the dakars would help. I dont haul or tow so you're right the Dakars are probably overkill.

 

Add a 1000 lbs of armor and it will ride smoother.

 

LMAO is this for real?

 

Do the mediums even have overloads? I am not sure.

For the fronts, you are right, you could go to a lighter weight spring, or add some weight to soften things up. Maybe a skid plate. More protection never hurts

 

yea man.. this is the 2nd gen forum, not the 3rd

 

Put 5 40lb bags of gravel in the back between the wheel wells and it’ll ride a lot smoother. The Dakar’s with no extra weight is what’s messing you up.

 

Taking the overloads out won’t do anything for your ride except lower payload capacity and lower the lift a little.

 

Go jack the front up by something sprung (allowing the suspension to droop). How much down travel do you have in the front? How about rear?

 

I do think as it is right now, the Dakars with no extra weight is a problem. I heard Deavers ride softer but want to make sure before buying a new set. Thank you for clarifying on the overloads. Someone told me that taking them out could help but havent tried it yet.