Suspension Suggestion, Looking to build my rig RIGHT

OK Here is a discussion I would like to have. I am wanting to do my suspension on my truck BUT do it right from the start. I was going to go with the bilstein 5100 leveling shocks but feel this might not be the best.

The Truck: 07 Tacoma 4x4 TRD double Cab, 110k on her. well taken care of all stock.

I have taken her off road and would be a one to 2 times a month weekend warrior. waning to do exploring have good looks on her but do it right.

I was thinking a 2-3 inch lift and I was looking at the ICON stage 2 or 3.

Street ride quality is important as well as being able to have that off street performance as well.

I look forward to your suggestions and comments.

 

Well welcome,
Congrats on your purchse of the truck. You might not get alot of responses to your thread. There is search button on the heading near the top of the pages to search for suspension info.

The subject has been talked about over and over so much that most will read what you have then just bypss and move on.

As far as suspensions are concerned there is such a wide range of options. I would diffenetly stay away from body lifts and spacer only type of lifts.

I would stick with something that is a complete suspension package and that was designed to work together.

You suggested ICON, (great company TOP DOLLAR)
I myself am looking at OME(old man emu) and Bilstein lifts. I am leaning towards OME.

Having said that as you progress in searching you will see that there are things that pop up after the lifts are done with some not all trucks after a lift is done. Vibes, VSC, ABS.
Now you say you have a 2007 so you have to research for that truck. I do not know what are the differences. I have a 2013. You may not end up with any of these issues.

These issue are something that may keep me from doing any lift because I dont want to take a chance and have to deal with all that stuff.

So good luck with your search there are alot of helpful people on here and alot of great info.

 

Thanks, I know there is a lot of posts about this issue and I have been going through them. I owned this truck since new and its been paid off for about a year and a half so it's time to breath new air into her and feel good about her again. Besides the wife enjoys 4 wheeling and going exploring so why not right.

I just want to have a good safe set up with out problems.

 

I can appreciate "wanting to do it right". However, as Tacozilla said, most people will read this once and move on, I almost did.

The main thing is read, then read some more. Then when you think you have a great plan, read some more. Then read some more. There is a small mountain of information to dig through. You might also want to look at the "regions" section of the forum and meet up with/talk with some people who have what you are looking for. This forum is a great source of information, but common questions are often over looked as they have been answered more than a few times.

 

Being its an 07 with over 100k, i would look into changing out alot. Factory front and rear springs are probably shot, along with shocks. Get a good lift like OME or King or Icon or Toytec. I'd just do it once and be done. Get some coilovers and uca's for the front and complete replacement leaf packs and shocks for the rear. IF you get new uca's, more than likely you will get to ball joints with them. You shouldn't have much to worry about other than maybe accelerating wear on front wheel bearings (which are not hard to replace) or maybe a u-joint. You may or may not experience vibrations after a lift, but use the search button on here, there are tons of solutions/explanations. good luck

 

In your case I would stick with icon stage 2 since you won't be off roaring a ton.

 

Thanks everyone1 reese I am with you and that's what I am thinking. I have been very fortunate and have had no problems with my truck. And when I build her I want to do it right.

Yea I know enough about builds to do research. Built out a corvette the wrong way all though it did turn out right.

I have a neighbor that built suspensions for a local shop and offered to help me install and he can get me the parts cheaper. Stocked on this.

 

have you heard of King shocks?

 

So a list you might need to start to replace would be:
-complete susp. Components
-brakes if you haven't done that already... Increased tire size with lift makes it harder to stop.
Front axle bearings
- check cv boots for play, along with condition of your boots(when you lift your truck the cv will be under more stress in off-road condition) cv is your weakest point in front
- check for play in your driveline. You might want to change your carrier bearing.
-ball joints as well as bushings.

Rear

Trash stock leaf spring kit and do not get an add a leafs or block, get a whole new leaf kit like Dakar or icon

Replace diff fluid


Can anyone add to the on going list or edit my post
Change u-bolts

 

Yes heard of Kings.

Spencer thanks! Good info that's some of the info I was looking for. Those are all things I will be looking at as well.

Not going to a big tire probably going to stick with the 265/70/R17's I have now. To many miles left on them. Front brakes were done at 80k.

Will I need to do longer brake lines?

Cosmetic stuff will be later.

 

If I add UCA wouldn't that take care off the upper ball joints?

How hard is it to do the carrier bearing?

 

Really not sure between doing the Billy 5100 with a coil, ICON, kings, or Fox extended travel shocks. With chaos UCA?

Bilsteins offer the cheapest route but the ICON, Fox, or Kings will probably yield me what I am really looking for.

Starting to lean towards front 2.5 Tacoma King Coilovers w/ Adjusters, Chaos UCA, rear 2.5 Tacoma King Shocks w/ Adjusters, Rear

 

If you don't want to piece together a lift & spend a TON of cash, look at the Toytec Ultimate Lift on their website. It comes with front coilovers, LR uca's, rear 5100's. Substitute the aal for a full pack. Its a decent lift. Good on and offroad. Also look at OME stuff, you can get dakar rear packs with their lifts aswell, you just have to get uca's. Obviously if you want top of the line stuff to do some more hardcore offroading, then i would go with King or Walker Evans.

 

While you're switching out parts, do yourself a favour and immediately switch out your drivers side needle bearing with an ECGS bushing. You're 90% likely to get the vibe with lift that the rest of us do. It's a cheap easy fix and if you've got all the other components off you might as well do it in one go.

 

Look up Downsouthmotorsports.com they have everything you need to properly lift your 2nd gen. Icon, king, fox all good just pick a color. Dakar springs are very nice and will not sag with added weight as others do.

 

Agreed. Down south motorsports is awesome!!! They know their shocks, and likely have what you need, in stock and ready to ship.

I hear 'pick your color' quite a bit on the forums. And I agree, they're all good shocks. What makes kings stand out from the rest is consistency. You can take apart a 3.0 triple bypass and it will look like an over sized version of a 2.5" coilover on the inside. Everything is pretty much the same, and in the same place. And the design is simple, you can use simple hand tools to take apart the shocks. King has a very simple standard for their shock valving too.

Other manufacturers make special Schrader valves, special flutter stacks, you need a special socket to take apart the shock to spring bucket adapter, etc. this makes rebuild/revalving complicated for no reason. And when you call to order shim stacks you have to figure out how they name their stacks.

Another benefit to Kings, you can custom order any shock, and you can kick around your design ideas with Brett King himself. They're big enough to be the king of all shocks, but haven't forgotten their roots.

 

True. That's why I went with King's on my build. It does not hurt they are only 10-15min from where I live.

 

Looks like I can get Kings non resi cheaper than Icon non resi extended travel. about $150 cheaper

 

You won't b sorry. Do it!!

 

Here is what my build is looking like so far:

Fox coil over remote reservoir front and rear
Total chaos UCA
Diff Drop kit
Method Racing wheels the 301's

Still undecided on the rear leaf. I would like to go with a new leaf pack but I don't want to go up to much more in the rear.