I have neither dropped nor bagged my taco. I've been considering it for a while, but it is my daily driver and I do some driving. I know that lowering is cheaper than bagging, but with bagging, there's a whole world of fun to be had. Maybe I could just bag the front. If I just replace the springs, is there a type of adjustable spring so if I plan on taking a long trip, I could raise the vehicle ground clearance? I know nothing of suspension, my forte' is audio. Any help with ideas, pricing, and installation would be much appreciated. Plus if anyone is in the Tampa area, I would love to see their set up. Thanks all.
Considering dropping the taco
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All I can say is go for it! The thing to keep in mind is to take it slow and do what YOU want with your truck..not what your friends want you to do..or what everybody else in thw rodl is doing. Customizing a vehicle (any vehicle!) is a form of self-expression.
Maybe start with the DJM 3/3 kit and go from there. Or..even less..maybe just a set of 2" blocks in the back and some lowered coils up front.
Maybe start with the DJM 3/3 kit and go from there. Or..even less..maybe just a set of 2" blocks in the back and some lowered coils up front.
I don't think they make any sort of adjustable springs for Tacomas. If you want to adjust your ride height for traveling, i hear air shocks are OK. I know the first step i took was to drop my Tacoma 3/3 with a DJM kit and then go from there. Air bags are in the future, distant future though.
3/3? What is that...I don't know too much. Is that a 3" drop both in front and back? Wouldn't know much about air shocks either. If you have air shocks, how would you go about adjusting the height? Is it some form of a crank? How much can you vary the height, like 5 to 6 inches? Also, hows the ride, stiff or bouncy. I'd love to see a pic of your 3/3 drop. Thanks for the replys guys.
I've been looking into the air shocks online, and I'm intrigued. I could go with a compressor on the truck, but it wouldn't be totally necessary. For the way I use my truck, I would only need to stop by a gas station or use my air compressor at home to change the level of the vehicle. I haven't figured out if I can replace both the front and rear shocks yet. Does anyone know if I'd need to do more than just replace my old shocks with new air shocks. Would I need to replace the springs as well. Where would the valve for the air go on the truck? This is just starting to get fun.
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If you're going to go with air shocks, I would highly suggest going with a compressor onboard. I had air shocks on the rear of my old D50 and it was a lifesaver for getting over speedbumps, etc.
Also keep in mind that it's more typical these days for people to use air bags instead of air shocks, although I'm still quite fond of air shocks for the rear, for some reason. Everybody has told me that they main advantage of bags over shocks is the amount of lift that bags will give you over shocks. Plus, I imagine it would be fairly difficult to make a set of air shocks fit in the front without some work.
Also keep in mind that it's more typical these days for people to use air bags instead of air shocks, although I'm still quite fond of air shocks for the rear, for some reason. Everybody has told me that they main advantage of bags over shocks is the amount of lift that bags will give you over shocks. Plus, I imagine it would be fairly difficult to make a set of air shocks fit in the front without some work.
Yea, a 3/3 drop in 3" in the front and 3" in the back. It's a clean drop too. When i get rims it will be even better. As far as the ride, when i first dropped it, it was bouncy as hell, and i scraped my frame alot. Then i put KYB shocks on it and that solved the scraping problem. With the new shocks the ride was way more stiff and kind bouncy as well. After about a month when the suspension settled, the ride improved greatly.
When you use the DJM 3/3 drop kit, you retain all of the suspension's spring geometrics. What I mean is that you don't actually change the ride quality. The only thing that you really have to remember is that your truck is closer to the ground and it is more likely to scrape or bottom out. The ride quality is pretty much stock. In fact, you can use the factory shocks because you don't change their positioning at all. I know most of you prefer to use stiffer shocks, but as far as I can tell it really doesn't make any difference.
As for air shocks and airbags... It's not easy to mount air shocks on the front because there's no good way to attach them. What I've seen is most fellas go with airbags on the front and air shocks on the rear. Of course, in my opinion, if you put bags on the front, you might as well go with bags on the rear, too.
What you might consider is using a "load helper" type system on the rear. This is where you use the lowering kit to drop the rear, and then have airbags mounted to the leaf springs to raise it if need be. That way the ride is mostly dependent on the leaf springs and not the air springs.
As for air shocks and airbags... It's not easy to mount air shocks on the front because there's no good way to attach them. What I've seen is most fellas go with airbags on the front and air shocks on the rear. Of course, in my opinion, if you put bags on the front, you might as well go with bags on the rear, too.
What you might consider is using a "load helper" type system on the rear. This is where you use the lowering kit to drop the rear, and then have airbags mounted to the leaf springs to raise it if need be. That way the ride is mostly dependent on the leaf springs and not the air springs.
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<font color=green>Actually, there's alot of coilover kits on the market (sway away and skyjacker being the top dogs), but most of those are for us lifted Taco's. Sway-Aways are set at 1" of thread showing for stock ride height, and can be cranked from -1" to 3.5" depending on what you want to do with them. They run $625 from Camburg if you tell them your with TTORA
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, otherwise they're $725.
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