TRD PRO or not

Buy an offroad, spend $3k of the $10k you saved and two hours on a Saturday and you’ll have better suspension and a whole wad of cash left in your pocket. Suspension is the only thing that makes a Pro meaningfully different and it’s nowhere near worth the price you’ll pay.

 

Makes more sense to buy an Off-Road for a a lot less, because it has the locker and crawl control.

Sorry but sr5, is not as capable without them.

 

I've had both the TRD Pro and Offroad suspensions. The Pro Suspension was night and day compared to the yellow bilstein pencils the Offroad came with.

In addition as you can see in the video I posted previously I have taken the Pro Fox suspension through the desert at 50+ MPH, as well as through multiple off road parks with no issue. And contrary to popular belief on this forum, running a progressive AAL with them will not cause your truck to explode.

 

This is my last reply. You're making things up about me at this point. I offroad all the time. You cant sit here and tell me the shitty bilstiens that come on the OR (which they broke doing a review on a major car publication) are as good as fox IBP shocks, and you cant sit here and tell me more approach, departure, and breakover angle isn't better.

LET IT GO

 

Great let’s see some pics!! Let’s see that fox suspension blowing away an offroad suspension.

You can’t seem to grasp the concept of capability. Again I’m waiting to see a Pro do Anything the OR can’t do.

Let’s see a Pro use it’s approach angle on something the OR can’t do.

These are the same people with zero experience that think a ZR2 is better or more capable because it has a front locker, sounds good on paper until you get it on a trail.

 

To each their own, but the '17 and newer Pros have no exclusivity. It's just another model in the lineup. That was one of the main things that drew me to my '15. Only 1200 were made. It was/is the OG TRD PRO. If I was buying a new truck today, I'd buy a Sport or OR and mod to what I wanted. With no exclusivity, the PRO is not worth the inflated price. Just my .02 cents.

 

The breakover angle on a Pro is actually 4° worse than an OR according to Toyota’s published specifications.

 

Oh dang, skid plate causing that?

 

one more: for a guy who claims to know so much, the skid plate is at the front of the vehicle, and literally isn't even in the same region as where break over angle is measured. the pro having 4 deg worse break over angle isn't true. its more than the the OR.

Everyone knows this.

 

Sorry I have real skid plates. No idea how the Pro skid mounts or fits but curious that Toyota documents say it’s worse.

Keep telling yourself how much more capable your truck is though.

Edit: still waiting on these epic offroad pics.

 

I drove like that for hours.. there was a jump or two that sent me into brush a few times and some ruts I thought might've ripped the wheels off, but in the end everything held together pretty well. I have a shit ton of gopro footage, but its app is kind of crap and makes uploading/ editing a bitch. Not sure if the image stabilization on the gopro or the Pro Fox suspension not exploding was more impressive.

 

Yeahhh. I don't know why one would argue that a position-sensitive damper isn't superior to one that isn't. Beyond that:

TRD Off-Road comes with Bilstein 4600: 1.95" body, 46mm piston (1.81"), 14mm shaft (0.55").
TRD Pro Fox hav a 2.5" body (more oil = cooler running = maintained damping rates for longer periods), 1.83" piston (negligible, piston size increases damping area permitting firmer valving), 0.875" shaft (significantly stronger). The rears also have a 2.5" reservoir for increased oil capacity.

The main advantage to a position-sensitive damper is that you can have plush damping at ride height with progressively firmer damping as your progress through the travel of the shock. Many aftermarket lift shocks ride firm because manufacturers know that plush damping + suspension travel = nose diving under braking, a bouncy ride on rough roads and frequently hitting bump stops if you go offroad at any speed. The OEM TRD Offroad Bilsteins ride the too plush line very close. Test drive a TRD Offroad and a Pro back to back and give the brakes a good stab. I hear the TRD sport has firmer damping but haven't driven one to know.

I think the argument here seems to be more about lower speed, larger obstacle type off-road driving. While there was a post somewhere (TFL Truck 492 vs 468) showing that a Pro performed slightly better on an RTI ramp than an off-road, I don't think that translates into any real-world advantage in big, slow obstacles. An interesting note - the Pro got a better RTI score while having a larger front sway bar. Pretty clear something else in the suspension on the off-road limits travel slightly compared to the Pro.

As has been noted. For go-fast (or even go, not slow) type stuff. There should be no question that the Pro Fox shocks are superior to the OR Bilsteins. Add in the extensive testing Toyota does on the TRD stuff to ensure a great ride and they're really tough to beat (without going aftermarket bypass, long travel, etc).

(side story - Toyota changed the valving on the 2020 Pros do to lighter wheels. Who here has considered tuning shocks when changing your unsprung weight be a few lbs??)

Internet arguments are fun!

OP: I'm sure you'll love, and spend way too much $$$ modifying whichever truck you buy! I'm sure we can all agree on that.

 

Agree.

 

I don’t think anyone was really debating whether the Fox suspension was better or worse than the 4600. The Fox’s are certainly an upgrade though not a significant one.

The main debate was capability, to your point it doesn’t really translate directly to real world application.

Having pushed my truck further than 99% of 3rd gen owners, by that I mean putting it in situations that break CVs, Driveshafts, smashing body panels and generally off-roading the heck out of the truck on dedicated trails either through Utah deserts or dedicated crawling trails in CO and Moab, there has never once been a situation where I was like wow if only I had a Pro I could do this or if only I had 1-2 more degrees of approach or departure angle. Likewise with the shocks, if only I had IBP shocks, ya the shocks would be more comfortable but I’m still doing the same things.

I have however been in situations where I wish I had a solid axle front or front locker.

When it comes to straight capability the limiting factor is just the fact that it’s an IFS truck not whether it’s an offroad or a Pro. That being said the most significant difference in offrod capability is the locked vs non-Locked Tacoma’s.

My truck no longer has the stock suspension but I ran the heck out of it and upgraded simply because I’m way beyond what an OEM or OEM aftermarket suspension can do.

To my earlier point the ZR2 has a crazy suspension and dual lockers but they aren’t outperforming Tacoma’s on trails, they aren’t. However Jeeps will and that’s just simple design differences.

 

I had a 2006 TRD Off-Road and purchased my 2019 TRD Pro in August. No comparison when it comes to ride, it’s very similar to a Ford Raptor. The Pro’s 2.5-inch Fox® Internal Bypass Fox Shocks give you a a plush, predictable ride that blows the OR model away. Don’t forget that you also get TRD tuned rear leaf springs with the Pro. The best part is that the Fox suspension is under the Toyota factory warranty.

With the heavy discounts on 2019 Pro’s right now it was a no brainer for me. I got an amazing deal and could not be happier. My Pro is at the PPF shop right now getting XPEL protective film applied to the front end. Go TRD Pro!!!

 

Also going back to the OPs original use for the truck, the Pro fits all needs.

If you want a pro that sits a little higher, a half inch spacer and rear 3 leaf AAL make it sit higher and ride like a Cadillac.. if you have the Fox Pro setup and dont have the AAL in back.. without that non Cadillac ride killing overload leaf, you're missing out..

 

Not quite. For lower speed, larger obstacles. Stock for stock. I agree, no real-world difference.

For higher speed, smaller obstacles and street use. Massive difference. This is also closer to the use case for most Tacoma owners. Or at least the use case representing the majority of miles they drive. As you say - you push your truck beyond what 99% of people do. I don't want to make any assumptions, but I suspect you mean more toward the rock crawling end of the off-roading spectrum (your descriptions of what you've broken and referring to IFS as the limiting factor suggest this).

More comfortable yes. Also more controlled (still comparing to stock), especially at speed. Also less likely to be damaged or allow other damage (because the last inches of travel act like a bump zone slowing down the suspension before hitting the bumpstops). Going the same places, yes. Probably not as fast as you could have been with position-sensitive damping.

ZR2 suspension is an interesting marketing ploy that seems to be working. So far as I know the ZR2 is the first and only use of spool valves in an off-road application. The primary benefit of a spool valve shock is the ability to get very specific (different units, but think mm vs cm accuracy) damping rates. This is super useful if you're on a track and a bump is a pebble or the candy cane. Much less so in applications with more travel, tall tires, wildly varying road conditions. It also means that you can more reliably model the performance of a shock - leading to reduced test time. The ZR2 shocks do provide IIRC 2 damping zones for a bypass-lite like performance. But if I had to guess they were chosen mostly because Chevy wanted to get some of that sweet Raptor/TRD Pro sales action at a lower cost (Chevy already had deals with Multimatic to provide road car shocks, and modeling is always cheaper than testing).

But with all I've said above... What's true about 99% of truck drivers not going on crazy rock crawling adventures... Is also true about most peoples use going fast off road, or even their ability to identify a properly damped vehicle. I'm sure the vast majority would be blissfully ignorant and love the way a TRD Off-Road (or sport, or limited, or SR5, or SR) drives. Nothing wrong with that. Last I was told, I'm blissfully ignorant of what constitutes fine art or good music! We all have our things.

 

I do a mix of everything. Happy to jump the truck as much as rock crawl but I find more enjoyment from crawling.

Unfortunately your day to day shock performance is judged through subjective handling. Some prefer the Pro while others prefer the sport or OR.

My Kings ride the same as the OR shocks on the road but vastly superior Offroad and are equally vastly superior to the Pro suspension but just because it feels the same as the OR doesn’t necessarily mean they are equal contenders. I know you know this but agreeing to your point most people are perfectly content and most people honestly have no idea what differences there really are in shock performance.

Most are too timid to truly push their suspension and components. It’s like the Raptor, it’s an offroad truck that Ford engineered to be driven primarily on road. I’m sure the Pro is no different, they expect most to stay on road, it’s mostly marketing.

I think these trucks in stock form would blow most people away when put to their limit

 

Any issues with fitting the spare under the truck with 285/75/16? Any cons with putting these on stock TRD Pro?

 

@cemented should have a better answer