Just bought a 1st gen Tacoma?

jimdentoniv

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2010
Location
Newport, TN
I just bought a 03 double cab Tacoma with a 3 inch rough country and a 1 inch body lift, and 285x70r17's. It rides horrible, my spacer lifted Geo tracker on 31's rides better than it does. So I've got a couple of questions because I've had a couple of Toyota trucks in the past but never a Tacoma (but I love the electric locker :rockon:).

First I plan on selling the wheels and tires that are on it now and going with a 33x12.50r15. Do I need that one inch body lift to clear those tires or will the three inch suspension lift by itself clear them? And I will be taking it off road. Nothing too extreme but it probably will get flexed completely out from time to time.

Second, what is a better front suspension that's not too expensive I can put in besides what I've got to help it ride and perform better and I probably will add a winch and winch bumper in the future.

Any help would be appreciated.
 
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Go read through my build thread for my taco if you can find it. Should answer some questions.

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12.50 tires will need 3ish inches of backspacing to clear. Will need to trim the fender liner and pinch seam Most 15" wheels need a 1.25" spacer to clear the caliper, mine did at least. OME is your best bet for suspension. There shocks with 882 could rode great. Also ditch the front sway bar when you lift it, it'll ride way better.

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Chris_Keziah said:
12.50 tires will need 3ish inches of backspacing to clear. Will need to trim the fender liner and pinch seam Most 15" wheels need a 1.25" spacer to clear the caliper, mine did at least. OME is your best bet for suspension. There shocks with 882 could rode great. Also couch the front sway bar when you lift it, it'll ride way better.

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Do what to the front sway bar?
So 16 inch wheels with a 33 would be better?
 
It probably is more than you’re wanting to spend but I can’t say enough good things about the Camburg tubular upper arms and coilovers (by Swayaway for Camburg) that I had on the front of my 04 double cab. Combined with some junkyard mixed spring packs and some application specific Fox shocks in the back it was by far the best riding truck I’ve ever owned. I lived in San Antonio when I had it and the roads out there are terrible. That little truck just floated across all of them. It was a blast on dirt ranch roads too. I can’t really say on tire size because I planned on wearing out what was on the truck before stepping up but ended up selling the truck before that happened. I wish I still had it sometimes. I found the front end setup on eBay of all places from a junkyard. I think I paid $800 shipped for all of it. Couple bucks for new bushings and uniballs and it was awesome. I’d gladly pay full price for the same stuff if I ever get another Tacoma.
 
Bilstein 5100's w/Eibach coils up front and Light Racing upper control arms, Wheelers progressive AAL in the rear. Personally, I would want to keep a 16" or 17" wheel on it. The 15" tire selection is getting thin.
 
I plan on running cooper stt pro's and I found some quarter inch spacers that I'm going to put on in order to run with 15x8 steel wheels. I just don't like a wheel size being greater than half the size of the tire. From what I've seen when you have to big of a wheel there isn't enough sidewall to flex enough when going over rocks, you lose tread depth with a tall wheel, and you don't have enough sidewall to protect your wheel. With 35's or bigger a 17 inch wheel doesn't is fine and I don't plan on running anything bigger than 33's. Just my opinion.
 
Will be easier to run 16 or 17” wheels than to find and install lug studs long enough to allow room for that 1/4” spacer. Other than that, I’ve got nothing to add that hasn’t been covered above. Bilstein + Toytec - swaybar is a solid combo up front that doesn’t cost a lot. I’ve ran 15” steel wheels with minor grinding on the caliper, my 97 actually had 15” aluminum wheels factory.
 
Well I haven't been able to sell my 17" wheels so I've just decided to keep them, and I'm just going to keep these 285 Hercules trail diggers (that suck) until they wear out. My question is is that these 285's don't scrub at all but on the frame just a little, even at full flex, can I run 295/70r17 stt pro's without scrubbing with the 4 inches of lift I have? If I have read correctly they are just a quarter inch maybe a half inch taller and a half inch wider.
 
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