Water Tank on the Bed

I'm planning to use my truck for my Auto Detailing business and I have a 60 gallon water tank on my bed along with a generator, pressure washer, vacuum, air compressor, and all my cleaning supplies. I just filled the water tank yesterday and my whole rear end dropped probably like 2 inches. My question with all that weight in the back (probably around 400+lbs.) will it damage my leaf springs and suspensions? I'll probably be driving it everyday and plan to keep everything on there when parked overnight.

Some of my friends suggested I should just buy a trailer. But I really don't have anywhere to store the trailer and can't see myself paying for storage right now.

 

Are you still stock? If upgrading suspension, what's your price range limit? Want a lift? Need more details.

 

Airbags or upgrade bump stops

 

Yes I'm still stock. You guys think I should get the rear end lifted? I really don't want to spend too much probably $500 or less.

 

Lift won't really help unless you're upgrading to heavy duty leafs. You can get airbags cheaper probably

 

The answer is yes. Ask me how I know.

 

Just get airbags. Then you can change it back to stock quickly and refill for work.

 

I had my klr650 in my bed, drove 2000 miles round trip and did some mild offroading with the bike in the bed and my truck is fine.

 

How do you know? I want to know?

 

If you guys recommend Air Bags is there a certain brand that you guys like or have used with no issues?

 

I carry steel around quite often. Usually not more than 600lbs. Within the first 6 months my leaf springs were ruined and my truck had a permenant squat.

 

Oh wow, thanks for letting me know. You think Air Bags will prevent this from happening?

 

I bet your closer to 550#

 

Yup.

 

Yes they will prevent it. If you were driving all the time with a full tank of water I'd say get stiffer springs. (NOT A LIFT KIT). But since I'm assuming you won't be driving with a full tank all the time, air bags are a far better bet, since you can add / remove air depending on load. In airbag selection, you need to determin if you want off-road articulation or not? If you do, then you want an airbag that "floats", meaning it's only attached to the frame and has a pad on the axle it lands on. (This is the most expensive option, and usually will require custom work). If you don't care about of-road articulation then Firestone ride-rite is a decent cheap option. It will attach to both axle and frame. Depending on vehicle, you may have two options, either one long bag or one that donut shaped. (Former is shaped like a large cup, later like 2 donuts stacked onto of each other). The large cup style will usually give you more travel without ripping the bag and in your application would be my personal choice, the 2 donut style will restrict travel more but is stronger.
Quick search of firestones site, they only list the donut style for the tacoma.

BTW, airbags take very little air and since you are on a budget I'd forget about on board air, gauges, auto-fill and all that junk, a simply / cheap 12v tire pump will fill them easily.

 

Sumosprings would work great for you

 

I would buy a trailer and figure out the storage issue.

 

Since we are in this topic, would you kindly expand further on this? Is there a product as such you could buy? Or a build here someone might have to check ?

 

60gal of water is 501lbs plus tank, generator, pressure washer, vacuum, supplies etc. I would bet you are 700lbs all in at at a min. Capacity for a dbl cab v6 4x4 is 1175lbs. So you are carrying 60%+ of your max all day everyday including being stopped overnight.

My opinion is get a trailer. While you are at it take the time to figure out your ACTUAL weights. Theoretical weights mean nothing especially when your actual water weight (60gal) is higher than your estimated total weights (400+). by 25%.

 

Picture is worth a thousand words. I'm not sure if anyone makes this kind for the Tacoma, but there are a number of vendors for other vehicles.