Surprising Lift Measurements

It's been about 1.5 years since I installed my King extended length shocks and medium dakar leaf springs. I left the preload as it came. At the time I measured the ride height and droop before and after the lift, but I didn't write any of it down. Doh! I remember my front hub to fender distance being about 21" stock and 23" lifted and having about 3" of droop stock. I don't remember the other measurements.

Today I measured again and I was a bit surprised by the results.

Sitting level on the ground with 30lb skid, 150lb sliders, and 30lb in the bed.

FL 21.5"
FR 22.5"
RL 23"
RR 23.5"

Jacked off the ground by the frame:

FL 25.5" (4" droop)

All of these are +/- .25" because I find it unreliable to find the center of the hub and also keep the tape measure perfectly vertical.

I also measured my ground clearance at two points. I have 255/85R16 tires at 37 psi and the larger diff.

rear diff: 10.25"
front skid oil drain door: 12.5"

Conclusion:

It looks like I'm basically back to stock height in the front and have plenty of droop to play with. I might be doing some preload adjustment soon.

Can someone please post their stock measurements so I can refresh my memory?

 

If I remember rightly, its 21 driver front, 21.5 passenger front and 22.5 passenger rear and 22 on driver rear.

 

What are the measurement points taken from? Top of fender arc?

 

I measured from center of the hub to the edge of the fender flare directly vertical. When comparing to other trucks, this makes the assumption that all fenders flares are the same, which is something I've never verified personally. I have the stock OR fender flares.

 

Yikes. I have these numbers on 5100 w/885 coils.

 

Isn't a 885 a 2nd gen coil? It's short at 395mm, yes?

 

Not sure about 2 gen, but I gained 1.8" of lift and center of hub to the fender numbers are holding up at 22.5 (+-)

 

2/1" Bistein 5100 Lift, (stock front coils).

37" all around, from under black fender wells (Off Road Taco).

1/2">1" rear diff. ground clearance (265/75/16 Duratracs).

 

I measured again today and got slightly different results. I now think my error is +/- 0.5". Maybe I need to practice my tape measure skills? Part of the challenge is that the lighting in my garage is lacking, the fender flare is black, and I have old eyes.

Hub to center sitting on level ground:

FL 22"
FR 22.5"
RL 23.5"
RR 24"

I also measured ground to fender:

FL 37.25"
FR 38"
RL 39"
RR 39.5"

These look closer to what I expected. I have a ~1" lift in front and a ~1.5" lift in the rear. I still have some room to spare. I wouldn't mind adjusting my preload on the front, but I'm thinking that adding an extra leaf or block to the rear is not worth it; at least not until if and when I add significant weight to the rear. I do have tentative plans to add aluminum front and rear bumpers and a winch, no toppers, racks, tents, or anything of that sort.

 

My 2017 Tacoma sport sits 38" off ground front and back, with 275 r17.
What lift do I have?

 

You need to look under your truck at your suspension parts and look for labels. That or takes pics and upload them.

 

The trusty tape measure never lies. But I too find that 1/2" difference or operator error.

Perhaps the only accurate measurement time to take them is after it's been sitting in the garage overnight. Kind of like taking tire air pressures. It's like a moving target the rest of the day.

 

It’s measurement error. It’s difficult to hold the tape measure in the same place each time. Also, if it’s dark like in my garage. It’s hard to see where the (black in my case) fender intersects the tape measure.