Stock suspension mild beef-up?

Newbie here.

1998 Tacoma 4x4 SR5 extended cab, stock with most everything original. I am replacing my old stock shocks so they don't bottom out on these country roads with my 4 wheeler in the bed. What is my best option(s) for retaining decent ride but handling 600 lbs (+/-) without bottoming out.

Thanks in advance!

 

Leaf springs.

 

Yeah shocks will help you absorb those roads but for carrying that quad you'll need to add a leaf or helper spring or a new spring pack as stated above. At that age, new shocks should be quite noticeable in your truck's ride. I'm surprised how long these OEM shocks Toyota uses provide a good ride for. Do all Tacomas get bilstien? Or just the TRD package?

 

His truck should have just the basic black bodied shocks. There were others that came with yellow bilsteins and some with blue tokicos.

Im assuming he has factory leafs so those are probably well sagged out by now so hes better just replacing whole pack.

 

Were the black bodied shocks on 1st gen trucks also Tokicos?

 

Tokico makes a quality shock as well. I know the Lexus IS250 comes with em in their struts. I've swapped a pair for a customer. He had me put on the Tokico that goes on the F sport package. Bad @$$ shock for sure.
Anyways, I didn't know that some of the Tacomas got Tokicos, I'd be just as satisfied putting those on as I would a Bilstien.

 

Yeah as far as the 2nd gens go, the base models and sr5 models got tokicos, while the trd sport and offroad got the yellow bilsteins. I currently have 205k on my original tokicos, however, the ride is less than pleasant

Edited to add:
This is for the 6 lug prerunner/4x4s. I am unsure what kind the 5 lug second gens have

 

Yeah that's a lot of miles on a shock, lol.

Son of a gun, Tokico does have a front rear package for the first gen. I'd love to hear some reviews of it.

 

good call, i need to change them out, but just havent had time to get around to it. I too would be interested in hearing some of the reviews. Personally, i will be upgrading to 5100s, at least, but most likely kings when i change mine out finally.

 

I'm sure you were already aware that was a lot of miles on them, I wasn't trying to be captain obvious. I'm just surprised how many miles they go without actually failing.

 

Yeah, no worries, i didnt think you were trying to be. Im well aware thats alot of miles for the stock shocks. And im quite surprised they havent failed either, although about 175k of the miles on my truck are highway miles. This could have something to do with their longevity

 

Yeah, highway mileage definitely could factor into it. I have a 1998 Land cruiser with 275k miles still on original shocks. Well, I think they're original, I bought it at 220k or so from the 2nd owner who purchased it in 2000. He kept very meticulous records and always serviced at dealer, not that that really means anything, but never saw a shock replacement in his records. And I want to swap them for new OEM, because they aren't expensive and they're good quality, but they still have nice rebound to them and work correctly. I'll bet they are Tokico's now that I think about it. Cruisers are built in Japan and it makes sense to source where your factory is. I'm gonna dive into that a little bit now.
Edit: not that tacoma owners care, but yeah they are Tokico. I guess the 4runner guys like to use the rear springs and shocks from the cruisers on their rears, gives them a couple of inches of lift with nice quality OEM parts. Pretty slick deal for them. Anywho, back on track.

 

They arent tokico branded but you never know.

Believe they primarily came on trd and limited model dbl cabs.

 

A fresh set of stock shocks to control either an AAL, helper spring or airbag. Or a full spring set if you wish.

Springs handle the weight. Shocks control the spring motion.

 

I got Alcan leafs, which can handle up too 1,500 lbs in the bed (and tow 6,500 with ease). They ride SMOOTH, unfortunately they also raised the rear end by 3 inches (with the no lift shackels from Wheelers Off Road. I've since gotten the ToyTec Bilstein Coilover kit (5100 Bilsteins), with the SPC upper control arms, and they ride is beyond smooth. But I had no idea that the whole shebang was going to cost over $2K (had to also replace the steering rack), and I still need to replace the lower ball joints, and possibly the lower control arms bushings.

But, it still a 14 year old truck that has been incredibly dependable.

 

@The Driver

Whistle Stop.

 

Shoot, there goes the neighborhood! Are you in FL, or traveling the world? BTW, feel free to Fed EX me a grouper sammich!

 

Home for a while. Got some things in the works though, including another jaunt to Cuba.

Keep an ear out for the FedEx truck.

 

You must be running for Pinellas County Commissioner, I'm telling yer wife!