TacomaDude's Truck

I know everybody saw my other thread about the lift..just updating my builld thread with the same info.

I'm very thrilled to finally say that my truck is lifted!!! Man, did it ever exceed my expectations. I am soooo in love my truck!!!! J

I know the majority, if not most here, are not in favor of 4wheelparts, but I will give a little review of my experience with them as they are the ones who I went through to have the lift
installed. I set up the appointment a little over a month in advance and they told me they would be able to bust it out in a day, all of which they did. Dropped the truck off Friday afternoon as the lift was going to be installed the following day. The only somewhat negative part of experience with them was the gentleman who assisted me at drop off day as I could tell he did not to want to spend much time talking with me when we were going over everything. It was a little frustrating. To me, getting a lift installed should be a fun, pleasurable & exciting experience thus should be treated as such and made to feel that way by the employees. Kind of like how you would get treated at nice restaurant for example, but that’s just my opinion & who knows though, it could’ve just been almost lunch time or he was having a hectic day selling shocks to somebody. Anyway, other than that, everyone else who I spoke to & with over the phone with was very friendly and helpful, especially the tech that did the install which was great. He was super cool and very easy to talk with and said that everything went on great and did not run into any problems at all, no rusted up bolts or anything like and told me that he’s done several of these trucks. Even praised the lift package stating how it was a great setup. I asked his opinion just out of curiosity what the condition of the stock shocks where and he said everything had plenty of life left. He informed me the rear got a full 1.5” of lift while the front got a little over 3”. Nice. There is a slight bit of lean in the rear, bro lean, but the front may settle a little. It’s not enough to bug me though. Overall after crawling around underneath the truck and inspecting everything, I really couldn’t be more pleased with the install, he did a fantastic job job and it shows.
The lift definitely ended up being higher than I anticipated, but by no means in a bad way at all! It’s funny how you go through threads seeing peoples lift set ups with basically the same specs that yours is going to be and in theory get a good idea of what it will look like, but in this case it just seems to be taller, but every truck varies a little and actually seeing something in person is always a different story too.

I’m sure that you are wondering now how it drives. As I said before, I couldn’t be more pleased. It drives absolutely fantastic!! The front end definitely stays flatter in the corners than it did before with much less body roll. Going over bumps and everything, it feels more composed than it did and doesn’t get as “upset” you could say with a certainly much less squishy frontend. I was pleased to find that there are no vibes!!! Yes!!! One of the places that it really shines the most compared to before I’d say is on the freeway. It literally drives like a dream, straight as an arrow, with a super tight and smooth feel, you can just let go of the wheel and it just keeps going straight, it’s fantastic. It drove nice before, but often times if you got in one of those ‘ruts’ down the freeway, it would pull and you’d have to make corrections. I don’t know if the tires are the ones to thank here, but now it just handles those kind of things so much more at ease and is a lot more confident inspiring, it’s really a night and day difference there.

What you really want to know now is what I think of the 285’s vs. the 265’s that were on before and the noticeable differences. Ahhh yes, one of the biggest brought up topics on the site. Well, the biggest difference most of all that I can tell is that it definitely requires more stopping power with the 285’s. That to me is the probably upmost biggest noticeable difference for sure. Secondly, you can stay in the gears a lot longer, especially in first which I love. This is not for everybody though. To me, it makes it more street friendly in some cases as you can pull away further rather than having to shift so soon which I like a lot. Almost makes it feel quicker, especially in first gear. Power wise, it is definitely not as bad as I thought it was going be, but I can notice it a little while going up inclines. The truck seems to do just fine and have no troubles moving them, seriously. I do sometimes see myself taking the rpm’s up a little higher than I did before when I’m about to throw a shift, but other than that, it doesn’t feel underpowered and I have no complaints at all there. I think I was expecting it to be a lot worse, so I’m surprised by how little they affected it in that department; however I’m sure I’ll feel it a lot more when I’m pulling my motorcycle trailer over the sisikyous. I haven’t gone through a whole tank of gas to really get an idea of the difference, but within the past few days of driving, I have noticed that it is dropping quicker than usual. Again, I don’t know how much yet as I haven’t done a full tank yet to track it. Now regarding rubbing, there isn’t any!!!! No kidding!!! Surprise surprise, for sure, and couldn’t believe it when I turned the wheel full lock and pulled out of the parking lot when I picked it up. FYI, I already did the pinch weld mod and trimmed away some plastic in prep for these beforehand; however, the 1.5” Spidertrax wheel spacers may have really played a part in preventing that. The tech told me that there was just a slightest bit of rubbing on one little area of plastic on either side, so he trimmed it and it went away. Lock to lock, there is amazingly no rubbage at all, but I have not taken it offroad to test it when flexed so I cannot comment there yet. The tires themselves handle great and I am beyond glad that I went with the 285’s over the other sizes I was considering, they are just perfect with this package.

As you can tell, I am completely stoked and couldn’t be happier!!!!! Gosh I love my truck.

For reference, here are the lift specs:

-Bilstein 5100's on all 4 corners
-Rancho HD Coils
-Wheeler's 1.5" AAL
-(1) 1/4" Toytec driverside spacer
-285/75/16 BFG T/A's

You're probably going, Rancho coils, are you serious???? I purchased these coils used off of a member here and basically took my chances with them. I know. After purchasing the tires and everything else, I wasn’t really up for dropping more dough on springs, however I figured that anything would probably be better than stock so when these came along a week before I got the lift installed, I took ‘em as I figured I couldn’t go wrong and they were also good price. A compromise and almost like it was meant to be. Supposedly they are rated at giving some lift, and it definitely appears that they did a little in this case. All in all I am very glad I got ‘em and would do it again in a heartbeat, they ride great, a lot firmer than stock.
I have to give credit to Monte, Blackdawg, as he got them out to me in a rush because as I stated before, the lift was getting installed the following week. Thanks again man.

Here are the pics!!!!!!!!!!!

First time seeing it!! It was so cool when I saw it from a distance a lot taller than it was before.




























Hahaha. You know, after looking at these pics I could forget all about mpg.

 

A couple pics from a local meet and greet with other members of the site. More pics of it can be found here, http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/north-west/167357-seattle-area-meet-4.html

 

how are your cv's holding up? ....are the fins touching?

 

They're steep. A diff drop from Toytec is currently in route and will get installed as soon as it arrives.

 

Got my diff drop installed today.

It came in the mail Thursday and as soon as I pulled the instructions out, it stated the kit was for '05 and up. Darn! I went on to Toytec's website and did some research to see what the differences were between the first and second gens kits, and everything seemed to be the same other than the shorter 6" grade 8 bolts that come in the 2nd gen kit and more skid plate spacers. I called Toytec up today and told them about what happened and they were helpful and apologetic and I had them confirm the length and size of the grade 8 bolt that I needed and that everything else in the kit would work, which it did. Luckely, Tacoma screw had the 1/2" x 8" grade 8 bolts needed in stock, so that was awesome and worked out great.

Installing the kit was very easy, much easier than I imagined it to be. I have read about people running into issues while reinstalling the skid plates and having to do some grinding, but everything pretty much went back on like it would normally other than clearencing one hole slightly bigger, but not really a big deal.

I'd say the kit was worth it for my case. It seems the general concensus on these kits is 50/50. My CV angles were steep, so anything was better than before. As you compare the two photos, it helped, but they are still what most would consider on the steep side of things I'm sure.

The first picture is without the diff drop installed. Second is of course with it installed...





No, the oil stain you see is not from the cv's leaking, it's from changing out the oil filter....

Also, I think I'm going to install a 1" shackle kit to raise it up some in the back. Right now, the front end is exactly 3/4" higher than the rear. I think the 1" shackle's will help level it out and give it a slight rake.

Does anybody know if an extended exhaust hanger is needed for a 1" shackle kit? If so, does it require welding? I'll have to call Wheelers and talk to them about it.

 

Just ordered up a 1" shackle kit from Wheelers for the rear along with an extended brake porportioning bracket. The 1" shackle kit should level it out.

I'm also going to have the exhaust cut so that the longer shackles can be installed without interfering with the exhaust.

 

very nice. few q's. one... where u live? we gotta go wheelin sometime considering ur n so cal too. 2, where u get the socal tacomas sticker? 3, where u find the trd skid plate??? cant find it anywhere

 

Thanks,

Yeah, I used to live in SoCal while attending college down there. I lived on my relative's ranch in Moorpark which is a beautiful area all around there and miss it dearly. I'm up now in Washington State working for my Dad, so I'm no longer down there unfortunately. I go down usually once a year, so next summer I will send you a pm and maybe we can get a group together to do a trail run or something.

I bought the sticker from a member here who I think started the site, socaltacomas.com. I believe his username is 'Socalman22', http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/33806-socal-tacomas-decal.html
I'm sure that you can also get them here- http://www.socaltacomas.com/

I bought the small 'skid plate' on Ebay from this seller here, http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/TOYO...r_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2eb770803c

Keep in mind, they are pricey for what they are so might be worth putting some want ads out there for a used one. Just make sure you get the two mounting brackets.

 

sick truck man, same step up i want

 

damn son def like the way your truck is sittind. makes me miss my first gen i used to have.

 

Thanks fellas!

 

Did u have trouble with rubbingwhen u installed the spacers? And did ur front drop a lil after? Looking to get 1.5s soon

 

Without the lift, yes, I did have a lot of rubbing when I first installed the 1.5" wheel spacers. I had to cut away a bunch of plastic and even do the pinchweld mod, so be prepared. With the lift and bigger tires, no rubbing with the spacers.

If you are referring to the clearence looking less between the tires and front fenders after the wheel spacers were installed, I think you are right and was something that I always noticed too. I believe that since the edge of the fender is lower than the inside, this is why it looked like there was less clearence after the spacers were installed because the tires were/are not sitting inside the wheel well as much where there's more height and clearence. That's theory as the suspension was still in check before the lift.

 

You really had rubbing with spacers?? hell i didn't and i have 1.5'' ones too..

 

Yeah, it was really bad before I did the clearencing. Maybe the 265/70's were/are a little taller than yours? Not sure.

 

were u running 16 or 17 inch tires?

 

Stock size, 265/70/16's...

 

They are the same as 31x10.5s right?? weird i guess lol

 

I think your truck had more lift than mine in the front with those coils.
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Anyway,

Here is a couple of updated pics with the new Toytec 1" shackles. I installed them this past weekend and the installation went great. My floor jack and jack stands weren't quite tall enough to get the truck raised to the install as you have to get the truck itself pretty high so that then you can lower the axle down a few inches to intall the shackles, so had to do a little creativity there. Overall, the shackles totally got rid of the bro lean and gave the truck 3/4" rake. It's a real truck again, lol!

Here are the before and after measurements:

Before:
40 1/4" in the front
39 1/4" in the rear

Now:
40 1/4" in the front
41" even in the rear

Instead of purchasing the extended exhaust bracket, I took it to Muffler King and had them shorten the tailpipe right behind the frame rail, so it is completely hidden and out of the way. I also installed a Revtek extended BPV bracket and I notice a difference right of way in braking power because of it.

I guess the last thing was doing the boot slide mod on the cv's.

Here's a couple of updated pics.





My 285's are starting to look small!

 

nah they look good