Stock ride height rear suspension help

Here ya go…






Oh, and thanks for making me look… found this new gem…



yup, that’s a crappy chinezium wrench. Would love if it was a lifetime brand.

 

.so I have a fiberglass camper shell, decked, and about 250 pounds of tools inside the decked. Around 700 ish pounds. I went with wheelers 1.5 aal and bilstein 5100s. Directly after the lift I netted 2 inches. Last pic shows it with the aal and bed loaded with everything. It looks stock to me, slight rear rake (which is what a truck is supposed to have). Ride quality hasn’t changed. It’s either the same or slightly better. It was like $300 for the aal and shocks.

 

What AAL did you go with?

 

But more importantly it is a 10mm wrench.

 

they also have a 2 inch option , which in hindsight I wish I would’ve gotten.

 

I always error bigger, harder, or longer. Sumosprings says, you need Blue 1000lbs, I go black 1400. Seems everyone thinks you want "ride quality" when empty, I want stability and ride quality when full. OME said, you need regular, I go HD. Perfect. It is a truck.

 

It's my understanding that they're a 4600 with 1st gen Tacoma application specific spec'd valving. Let it be known that my "understanding" of things is periodically proven to be that I don't actually understand... This is not often the case, though.

 

aftermarket 4600 are bigger tube compared to stock, just same paint color. not apples to apples.
4600 much beefier with more internal oil. more oil doesnt warm up as fast, and internals dont wear out as fast. less fade and longer use life. I dont have the side by side from when I swapped, but its a pretty big difference.

you might struggle to get an aftermarket leaf that provides zero lift.
ICON RXT setting 1 with the constant load you run should only get you .5-1 inch of rear lift over stock.

 

Funny no one ever mentions air bags.

I am off road every week. I often have 800-1000 pounds in the back for longer camping trips.

Bilstein 5100, no lift.

If I put 800 pounds in the back, with the Firestone air bags I can get the ass end to sit up 1.5 inches higher than this photo. In the photo, the air bags are only at 18psi with max capacity at 150psi. I often raise the back end a lot as I am mostly on deactivated trails with a lot of bumper dragging through deep washouts.

Even with 800 pounds, I have never needed to inflate them past 35psi.

The unexpected bonus from the air bags was the major improvement in grip on corners. Prior to the air bags, the rear end would always lose it on loose gravel or even wet pavement when trying to turn into traffic. The air bags eliminated 90% of that issue.

Also, it drives much more securely at highway speeds. Prior to the air bags, I never felt safe in this truck going over 65mph. Too much wandering and instability. Now it is rock solid at highway speeds.