What "small" lift is the best for the truck?

Pretty new to the Tacoma world, done a lot of looking and reading on the topic, mostly looking for opinion and clarifications if I'm incorrect. What is the safest, and best method to lift a Tacoma around 2 inches and level it. From my reading I've been finding a lot of people adding 5100s on front and rear and just preseting them to level and raise the truck. I've heard blocks and leveling kits are bad for suspension and other components such as the drive shaft in the long run.
I'm looking to raise for a bit more clearence, but mostly for looks. Please enlighten me!

 

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The best? Coilovers. Just changed Bilstein 5100s to FOX 2.5, feels so good now.

 

Bilstein 5100's will probably be the "easiest" and even most affordable if you're looking for that too. Plus it's probably "best" too unless you're trying to spend more.

 

Seriously, lock the thread.

He has given the best answer!

 

I think that you need to stop doing this in thread after thread after thread.

The whole point of coming to a forum is to share information with the community. If you continually push this, how are other people going to learn as well?

 

http://www.bilsteinus.com/fileadmin/user_upload/user_upload_us/pdfs/Bil_LevShks_WebArticle.pdf

The above link will give you a good start in suspensions.

"leveling kits" are industry buzz words designed to sell you trash that will destroy your truck. The Tacoma is "level" from the factory in every literal sense of the word. If you are 'lifting' your truck for looks, and not performance reasons, don't do it. The honest truth is you cannot cut costs on your suspension, and a reason so shallow as 'looks' will guarantee lead you to making a bad decision . The suspension is a "system" in your truck that works in conjunction with all the other major parts, and is arguably the most important 'performance' feature on an 'off-road' vehicle, and should be treated accordingly. READ ALOT, and take your time.

BEWARE of any anecdotal evidence you will get like: "I know John Doe and he has spacer lifts on his truck and hes just fine and drove 1000000000 miles on it." or "If you drive (this way) or (that way) you will be just fine with spacers, because its not "hardcore off roading, just mild" or mental gymastics terms like "for my needs i did spacers" because there is no "need" for a shitty lift over doing a job right. Good luck.

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply! this was the inclination i was beginning to form about blocks, spacers and other cheap ideas of lifting the vehicle. Now my other current dilemma is that if i DID want the truck to stand a bit taller, and i was going to replace all 4 corners with 5100s,and possibly new coils, would i be doing any harm to my vehicle. Also, it seems that if im replacing these parts that it might be smarter to get an SR5 and make these mods, instead of paying for the OR and replacing part of the reason i spent more money in the first place. thoughts? and again, thank you!

 

Bilstein 6112s up front. 5160s in rear with new leaf pack or Add-A-Leaf in rear. ~$1500

 

TRD models like the OR and the Sport, retain far more value than non-TRD models. Future value may be a concern for you(?). Its is also likely that the TRD-OR is only marginally more $$$ than an SR model, once you actually get to a dealership. From what I saw during my shopping (before I bought my 17' TRD-OR nov-2016) TRD-OR were going for only slightly more $$ than SR5's and I was puzzled why the SR5 trim level cost as much as it did.

If you do both front and rear suspension correctly, and include any periphery parts that you may need (upper control arms, u-bolts, rear leafts etc..) and you DONT max out the 5100's to the tallest setting, on the tallest spring you can buy, you will do zero damage, and increase your trucks performance and value. If you buy 5100's and you set them to the conservative height settings, you may also need fewer accessory parts that drive the cost up.

 

The whole point of google is so we as a community don't have to reiterate the same exact response to the same exact question posed 5-10 times daily. I didnt join the forum and post "Hi I have a Tacoma how should I lift it thread?" I lurked for a full year and read countless pages of bs and sorted through the stuff I wanted. It's kind of annoying that you point the finger at me when my response was actually super helpful. I had over 20 replys from head strong Offroad with regards to set ups and they were the only shop outside of ADS that let me
Volley questions that they truly had time
To answer. So in doing so I'm actually helping the "community" by a) plugging a reputable company and b) stopping the opinion of everyone else telling op how to spend his money with typical shit. Maybe he's got $1000-$10000 to spend who knows but I can gauruntee headstrong will be fair and a wealth of knowledge.

 

Your PDF on the 5100s was perfect, do you have any good sources for reading up on what else is required or smart to change out when you move to the 5100s? i would plan on only a .85 or 2nd level setting on the 5100s on front, no plans to max it out. what else would need to be replaced?
Also, from what ive seen its 33 before tax for the SR5 and 37ish for the OR and sports? am i missing some calculations in price or is that about right?
Another side question, opinions on the Tech package fromt the OR? seems to be a lot of money for not too much substance.

 

Good info was thinking the same thing

 

After you narrow down your choices, give the headstrong folks a ring. They will help you narrow it down and give you the best prices usually.

 

Unfortunately I do not have any more of the manufacturer PDFs, but I wish I did, This place needs a sticky about it.

Really in any suspension lift, aside from the shocks and coils, the other 2 most significant purchases will come in the way of Upper control arms (UCA's) and Rear Leaf springs. Thats where I would focus my next Chapter of suspension learning on.
Other items may include: Extended brake lines, U-bolt kits(part of rear leaf), differential drop(used in higher lift heights,unlikely in your case) and various other hardware pieces.

That may be Toyota msrp, but Just google (your city, Toyota Dealership) and browse their for-sale trucks on-line. I would bet you will be suprised to see what SR5 vs TRD-OR's go for. Once the Trucks actually hit dealer lots, the pricing goes all over the map, and you may find the difference between the two is not much. Browse your closest city, and other cities within driving distance of your home. LOTS of price variation you will see. I am in Indianapolis and no shit saw 2 dealers that had "specially equipped" SR5's that were going for more than TRD-OR's. and many of the SR-5 I saw were within $2k or less of non-tech pack TRD-OR's.

 

Have any specific evidence to support this or is it just hyperbole? Dealer will give you the same market value or trade value on a stock truck as they would one with 5100s. In 95% of cases these type of mods will not increase the market value of the truck. In fact as a private buyer I'd rather buy a stock truck that hasn't been lifted, abused, raced or god knows what else. This advice that such mods will increase the resale value of the truck is misguided at best.

 

I am an engineer, and I have designed some very serious suspension systems. I can say with certainty, This could not have been stated any better. OP pay attention to this.

 

i think if you bought the SR5 and built it up you would be fine and pay a bit less

 

Read this.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...by-toytec-lifts.395798/page-156#post-14094992

 

And no shit "mods dont increase value" in dealer-market resale. A base model truck with well-done after market parts will be a more valuable asset to the owner though. And that value is exacted through performance.

Please, please go back to whining about your howling differential or calling your lawyer about squeaky leaf springs in one of your complaint-containment threads and stay out of the general discussion here. You literally add nothing of any value to any discussion, ever.