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Newbie without a CLUE

Klein_b

2️⃣ Bronze
Joined
Aug 23, 2018
Messages
6
Reaction score
8
Location
El Paso, TX
2018 Sport DCLB Auto
Silver Sky
Hello everyone I am VERY new to all of this and have absolutely no clue about anything truck related or anything about over landing, just a helicopter doctor and wanna get out with my buddies. I have a 2018 TRD sport, long bed 4wd, absolutely EVERYTHING is stock, found a bed rack, a roof(bed) top tent, looking either at bfgood km3 or ko2, not settled yet, and with that all said also looking at a suspension upgrade to help level with both clearance and the extra weight in the bed. That’s really all I’m looking to get right now, if anyone has ideas or help for me that would be awesome. Coming back from overseas later this year and will be looking more seriously at upgrades for the truck when I’m home, just remember, I’m just about as dumb as it gets with all this so speak English for me. ??
 
Congrats on your 2018 TRD 4X4 Sport, and welcome to the forum.
 
Hey thanks man, ready to start the build and get after it ??
 
welcome.

my advice is to look at your budget and work backwards. recommendations can be so broad.
 
I recently swapped my tires for BF Goodrich KM3s. I love the look of them and the way they ride off road. They added almost no road noise until speeds north of 65mph (basically only noisy on the highway/interstate). I would recommend the KM3s if you enjoy wheeling off road or forsee yourself in the future. The BFG KO2s are a tried and true tire that have stood the test of time for many people, both as a great on road and off road tire. I have heard some rumors of the KO2s not being quite as good as when they first came out but thats just hearsay. Another highly popular tire brand is Toyo.

I agree with @Rob Daman that working backwards from a price point is a smart strategy. For suspension: what are your needs? Having a Roof Top Tent (RTT) mounted over the bed is a factor in regards to weight. If you add any additional weight in the rear, like a bumper or something, you may want to consider a Heavy Duty leaf pack. Are you going to be doing intense off-roading, or more casual off-roading. There are expensive options (brands) like Kings, Fox, Icon... and there are less expensive but perfectly acceptable options like Bilstein and others. @Mr. Nobody may be a good resource for suspension advice he seems to know quite a lot, definitely more than I do.

Hopefully this helps!
 
I'd be more than happy to give you some recommendations, but first things first you really need to start laying out an idea of your plans for the truck. Otherwise whatever you do may quickly become a waste of money as you'll inevitably replace it.

The truck is plenty capable as it sits right now so seeing as how you have already come out and said you have no idea what to get, my first piece of advice would be to not be in a rush. Take your time and do it right.

Next
is figure a budget and a plan for the use of your truck. No point spending $10,000 on long travel if you only plan to go out on the trails once or twice a year. If you're going to be overseas for a bit, that might be a great time to do some homework, save some cash, build a parts pile, and then install when you come home.

You've mentioned you plan to use the truck to get out with buddies, that you got a bed rack, and a rtt. That means you've started adding weight in the back. Once you start doing that you're going to need to think about beefing up your rear springs. Options range from an add a leaf to full spring packs and prices vary widely. I would stay away from block lifts as they don't improve performance and most of the time they place the suspension travel outside the designed range of most shocks, especially stock shocks.

Most people will recommend Bilstein 5100's as a cheap and solid upgrade for moderate off-roading, and they'd be right. Above that are Bilstein 5160's for the front and 6112's for the rear. A bit more expensive but definitely an improvement over the 5100's.
 
Thank you both for the advice, I really don’t want to get crazy and do any body work to the truck with bumpers. I really only want to casual off road, I don’t plan on trying to push the truck to its limits or try seeing how far I can push before I break things. I do not have a tent or rack yet, I’ve jyst need researching around for the last few months and reading up on certain gear and such and have narrowed my list down to a few that suit my wife and I’s plans. I didn’t want to spend any money yet as for we will be going on vacation once I get home but while I have the time I’m doing my research as said. I’m not in a very big rush to get the truck built up now but I would like to get an idea of what to look at and start getting an estimate as to how much I am looking at.
Thank you all for the help
??
 
A Bilstein setup front and rear is going to run you about a $1,000. An add a leaf is about $200 and is a cheaper way to add some height in the rear but doesn't really increase your weight capacity much, if any. If you do a full leaf pack, that's another $500 easily unless you find something used.
 
Hello all, was going to start a similar thread but found this one - figure I'll just hop on.

Just purchased a new 2019 Off Road, obviously everything is stock. My intentions for this truck would be light off roading on trails (nothing crazy), camping, and hitting the beach. I've thought about adding a rack and tent, but other than that, i'm looking at some surfboards. I like the bigger tire look and noticed that the largest tire on stock suspension would be 265/75/16.

Would it be worth adding a bit of a lift for what I want to do, or would I just be paying for cosmetics?
 
Hello all, was going to start a similar thread but found this one - figure I'll just hop on.

Just purchased a new 2019 Off Road, obviously everything is stock. My intentions for this truck would be light off roading on trails (nothing crazy), camping, and hitting the beach. I've thought about adding a rack and tent, but other than that, i'm looking at some surfboards. I like the bigger tire look and noticed that the largest tire on stock suspension would be 265/75/16.

Would it be worth adding a bit of a lift for what I want to do, or would I just be paying for cosmetics?


If you like the look, I'd say it's worth it. That said if you plan to just do some simple fire roads on the way to surf spots you may be good with a simple Bilstein 5100 setup like mentioned above. Depending on how high of a lift you want you could likely go with the same add a leaf setup mentioned above. Simple, relatively cheap, and an upgrade over stock capable of most of what you might explore off-road.
 
good deal. Any where in particular that I can go to read and get smart on suspensions besides a simple google search? add a leaf means nothing to me lol. Like OP, I'm completely new to all this
 
good deal. Any where in particular that I can go to read and get smart on suspensions besides a simple google search? add a leaf means nothing to me lol. Like OP, I'm completely new to all this

First place I would start is right here on Tacoma3G! A lot of the questions you have and the ones you don't know to ask yet have already been asked in this very suspension forum. Have a look around and see if you find what your looking for. Research really becomes huge on decisions like these as so much money can be involved and you want to be sure you get it right.

I know that puts the ball in your court to find the stuff you need, but also don't be afraid to ask of you come up with any questions. There are plenty of people here willing to help out and share knowledge.

Also you bring up a good point that a basic terminology, and varying levels of suspension setups thread could be really helpful to the T3G community.
 
did some research tonight, got some more questions.

- Looking at bilstein 5100s, it looks like the front shocks range from 0-2" and rear 0-1". Would a 1" lift in front and rear be efficient for 285s on 16" wheels without any other mods to the body?

- some websites offer blocks to add to the rear shocks. pros and cons to these?

- There's no way i'm doing this myself - what's a typical cost of installation for labor if i supply parts?

- If I understand correctly, i could just get front shocks installed and an add a leaf. how much height does an AAL typically add? is there a single size for an AAL that adds the same height or do they come in various sizes?

- and finally i'm assuming any modification to the suspension would void any warranty that i have on this new truck. do most wait the time of the warranty before making after market changes?
 
did some research tonight, got some more questions.

- Looking at bilstein 5100s, it looks like the front shocks range from 0-2" and rear 0-1". Would a 1" lift in front and rear be efficient for 285s on 16" wheels without any other mods to the body?

- some websites offer blocks to add to the rear shocks. pros and cons to these?

- There's no way i'm doing this myself - what's a typical cost of installation for labor if i supply parts?

- If I understand correctly, i could just get front shocks installed and an add a leaf. how much height does an AAL typically add? is there a single size for an AAL that adds the same height or do they come in various sizes?

- and finally i'm assuming any modification to the suspension would void any warranty that i have on this new truck. do most wait the time of the warranty before making after market changes?

285's are pushing the limit of what you can fit, primarily in the front. A good alignment with o er 3 degrees of caster will help you out with more than just the lift.

Pros to a block lift, it's cheap. Cons are it does not give you any increase in performance and technically could set you up for issues since the shock may be sitting in a range that is over extended. You run the risk of the shock over extending more and failing. Better to get a proper shock and leaf setup to match.

Plan anywhere from $60-100/hour and easily 6 - 10 hours labor. Just a guess.

Add a leafs vary in how much they add but each leaf will be a small amount. 1/2" etc.

Warranty issues are tough. It really depends on your dealer but the reality is if you start to mess with the truck, be aware you may have issues with warranty items in the future.
 
Couple questions I wanted to add onto this.
When would you recommend a heavy duty leaf pack versus an aal ?
Do you need to get new shocks when leafs are installed? Or just more cost effective to get them both installed at once?


Just got a bed rack and RTT, only have minimal offroading (fire roads and PA potholes) planned but noticing that I have some sag in the back end. I'm more concerned with having the truck properly supported than having a big lift since I'm just a weekend warrior and spend more time loading a mountain bike onto the truck pad

Thanks for all the support!
 
i plan on ordering the trd pro 17" wheels and put some 265/70/17 on them. allows me the opportunity to do more research on a lift and upgrade from there!
 
Nice thread here, looking for a lift also wasn’t sure about doing a AAL or Leaf pack, if i just put a lift on the front and upgraded the rear struts would that be possible? would it look stupid not to sure but it was a thought of mine!
 
Couple questions I wanted to add onto this.
When would you recommend a heavy duty leaf pack versus an aal ?
Do you need to get new shocks when leafs are installed? Or just more cost effective to get them both installed at once?


Just got a bed rack and RTT, only have minimal offroading (fire roads and PA potholes) planned but noticing that I have some sag in the back end. I'm more concerned with having the truck properly supported than having a big lift since I'm just a weekend warrior and spend more time loading a mountain bike onto the truck pad

Thanks for all the support!


I'm looking for a suspension setup to fit just about the same needs. Bed rack, RTT and mountain bike. After searching around here i'm leaning towards Bilstein 5100's with OME 888 coils, a full leaf pack and UCA's to help with alignment if i get bigger tires in the future. But it seems like the more research i do, the more questions i have lol...

Have you decided on a setup or have an eye on something yet?
 
Haven't picked a set up just quite yet, was leaning towards the Icon RXT leaf springs set at option 2 but maybe 3( I plan on leaving my rack on all the time and possibly running the tent 9 months or so) and bilsteins all around, maybe 5160s in the back and 5100 up front.

Wasn't sure how the garage I'd used feels about me bringing my own parts so I need to talk with them first. I'll be sure to update with what I end up doing.
 
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