Tacoma suspension (1 Viewer)

[Tigerstripe40]

My 2008 Tacoma is at 106k miles now (I put 52k of those on it!).
The suspension is getting a little tired, now, so I am suspension shopping.

I've run OME on my Land Cruiser and on my 4Runner, so I am leaning that direction.

This truck is my 'expedition overland' vehicle , and is also my Daily Driver. So I drive it to/from work with it completely unloaded, but I also heavily load it and drive out on adventures .

The truck is completely stock except for some CBI offroad sliders I put on it a few years ago when I bought the truck.

The plan is to eventually add:
ARB Bull Bar w/ 10k Winch
CBI offroad rear bumper with swing out (or fabricate my own ).
BudBuilt Skidplates (or fabricate my own).

Thing is, I need to replace the suspension before I can afford to get any of the above items.

Normally, the choice would be pretty simple, put on an OME light kiton it and be done with it, however, when I load the truck, I am taking a 'kitchen' box (100lbs), Camp Chef dual burner stove, Coleman Free Piston fridge, 10-15 gallons of water, 10 gallons of fuel, camp chairs, full camping gear (tent, sleeping bags, clothing, pads), 127mm aperture telescope andtripod/mount. I haven't figured out the total weight but I'd guess it's easily 500lbs+

I am not interested in replacing the UCA's unless there is a good option that retains factory ball joints. Reason for that is because while the Uniball's are stronger, I drive this truck in the winter (skiing, commuting, etc) and they salt the roads here. everybody I know who does Uniball UCA's ends up having to replace the uniballs every year or so. -I am not interested in doing that, therefore, no uniballs.

Primary uses are commuting unloaded, but also bombing down dirt roads in the desert at Mach:RETARDED while heavily laden.

I am thinking about getting the OME light kit, and adding a set of Firestone airbags.
Any thoughts on this?

 

[NYCO]

for suspension, i am really liking my Icon setup...i am built very similar to what you're looking to do...ARB up front with 9.5k winch, armored front to rear with a CBI high clearance with swing out...i also have a bed rack with RTT...roofrack...and load the bed with my ARB fridge and all supplies for our trips...

i have the extended length Icon C/O (without resi) with King 14x700 coils to help support the extra weight and allow me to run minimal pre-load. I have Camburg UCAs and Total Chaos stock length lowers. For bumps i run the Wheelers superbumps.

Check out camburg's UCAs that can use ball joints... Camburg Toyota Tacoma Pre/4wd 05-15 Performance Balljoint Upper Arm Kit

In the rear i have the Toytec Boss leaf pack to keep my COG down (2" lift application) along with an ATO shackle flip (gives me 2.75" total rear lift). I have Timbren bumps in the rear which i HIGHLY recommend for our applications. I ride on them a lot on my trips and provide a great ride and protection. I am in search of a company to build a good set of leafs for my application as i like the 2" lift option the Boss leafs offer, but would like something that can handle the weight better.

 

[Tigerstripe40]

I am in search of a company to build a good set of leafs for my application as i like the 2" lift option the Boss leafs offer, but would like something that can handle the weight better.

Thanks for the response.

I see that you're n Colorado, have you looked into having Alcan make you some springs?

 

[NYCO]

Thanks for the response.

I see that you're n Colorado, have you looked into having Alcan make you some springs?

was. in VT now. but me and a buddy were at one point looking at them. after these I was going to go with them or Low Range.

there's a shop here that does custom packs so I'll see what they can do most likely.

 

[jtwopark]

look up deaver springs out here in cali!

 

[crikeymike]

I like your own idea, light suspension and add airbags.

If you got rear springs to suit 500+ LBS, you'd kill yourself when you're just daily driving it.

2" lift, and don't touch the control arms. People go so overboard with that stuff.

 

[gpfj40]

My set up on my 08 taco double cab long box with a canopy (bought it new) has evolved to include:

Front-rough country 2.5" lift spacers, bought them years ago to clear larger tires and they made the truck ride much rougher. This year I added camburg ball joint ucas cause a upper ball joint needed replacing, the front ride improved a lot but that may just be due to freshly greased bushings. I plan on adding 2.0 icon front shocks in the future when the stock shocks give out. I'm at 210k km now.

Rear-started out with firestone air bags cause the stock set up could barely handle the wait of the canopy. This set up worked well for 7 years, we really load it up when camping and the air bags take the weight well. At about 200k km a rear leaf broke so Toyota reaplaced both packs under a corrosion recall, nice touch, I probably didn't deserve that cause I treat my toy like a 3/4 ton when camping. In got sick of manually filling up the air bags so I added a air lift compressor, gauge and controller to adjust on the go. This was handy cause I needed to run 10 psi just to tack the canopy weight. This fall my rear shocks needed replacing so I upgraded to icon 2.0 shocks and their ad a leaf. This is the best ad on yet. It takes the weight of the canopy with out the help of air bags and rides awesome.

For reference, my camping spread includes a fridge slide, xl tepui rtt, 10 gal gas, 7 gal water. Likely 1000lbs with the canopy. Here is a link I posted in expedition section:
Taco Fridge Slide

After all of this my recommendations are: air bags are a must, icon ad a leaf and shocks are nice and worth the $, save the camburg ucas until you need the replace an upper ball joint cause it will be cheaper than stock 1 piece ball joint ucas.

 

[SIZZLE]

My truck is used similar to yours with most of the miles on the road. Everything you do is a trade off so since I daily drive the truck I leaned that way with the set up. I'm running OME 885 and Dakars with a leaf removed. It rides great on and off road when lightly loaded. It still rides good when loaded down but the rear will bottom out occasionally. Overall I've been happy especially since it was relatively inexpensive. But I'm thinking I'll add the leaf back in.

You'll need UCAs if you want it to drive nice on the freeway but there are a few options with ball joints.

If you've run OME before and liked it, I bet you'd like their set up for the Tacoma.