Let's see your first gen - photo thread

Yup, lot on the south side. If you like beer, you probably know Halfway Crooks is about two blocks east of here. A guy started out his chicken sandwich pop-up in there. Well, now he has his own small shop on the block diagonal (SSE) from Halfway Crooks. It's called "How Crispy". Dude who owns it is awesome, and their "LPW" (Lemon Pepper Wet) sandwich is, like, stupidly good, I can't get enough, it's worth the trip. The yucca fries are great too. They just started offering breast meat options for all the sandwiches, but I still think dark meat is the way to go. LPW and the classic are great. There's nothing else like it out there.

I like Guthries, we have none near us now. Their dipping sauce is one of my favorites. I'd eat it often also.

 

Yessir. Here's before/after AAL. Like @FirstGenVol I probably would've liked a little more. Even with the overload I'm only sitting a little over a half inch higher in the rear. I'd prefer an even inch of rake, just personal preference. But I like the look now as it is. Will see how it settles out.

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I'm still convinced Icon is selling the 1mm thinner Tacoma AALs to y'all.
Whereas I have confirmed Wheelers is selling the 1mm thicker Tundra AALs to Tacomas
Even without the overload, my tundra went up a decent bit with the Wheelers AALs. Not as much as my Tacos did with the overload and Wheelers AALs though

 

The Icon AAL kit for our Tundras is the Tacoma kit. The leafs are definitely thinner, at least 1mm, but looks more like 2-3mm thinner. I can whip out the digital caliper and measure if it's interesting for you.

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That explains a lot.

 

Don't get me wrong though, if Wheelers wasn't such a joke with their shipping, I would've ordered their kit. But if you're making me pay double what a valid shipping price would be, I'm not buying your product.

 

I called that shit, what two years ago when you installed yours?

 

Do you recall what the total for shipping plus AAL was from each?
I know back when I purchased my last AAL from Wheeler's, theirs was cheaper at first but the shipping equalled the prices out. Of course I was exclusively shopping at wheelers. They do infact carry both their own and Icon AALs. But I believe you purchased from a whole different supplier iirc.

Either way I get your frustration with the shipping on wheelers AAL. It's something that has always bother me as someone who's purchased three sets myself.
But I stand by their quality products. Their bumpstops are awesome and so are their AALs.

 

Over 4 years now. I also tried telling everyone not to buy ICON. The only thing they help with is when I'm loaded down for trips. The rear doesn't sag a lot.

 

Ballpark $200 for each. We're talking within pennies, a dollar or two at most. Big difference is, one was going to arrive in time for me to install (Icon, ~$185 + free ship via Summit Racing), the other wasn't (Wheelers, ~$130 + $60 ship via Wheelers direct). I paid an extra $20 just to be 100% sure the AAL would get here on time, I couldn't do that with Wheelers either - Wheelers was like $60 for standard shipping, $120 for 2-3 day shipping, the price doubled similarly for every step up (one shipping option was more than $300).

I'll probably be picking up bumpstops here in the near future, for up front. Was looking at Duros, but you're saying Wheelers are equally good or better?

I'm not unhappy with the kit, I just may end up drilling my overload so the rivet on the AAL pack has a place to sink into. But generally speaking it gave me *exactly* the lift I needed to get where I wanted to be. Had you not mentioned about leaving in the overload, I'd have been disappointed for sure.

Thing is, I definitely still use my truck for hauling stuff, mostly mulch and gravel. So having the overload in there is something I wanted...

 

I can't speak on which bumpstops are better. But iirc the wheelers superbumps are cheaper and mine have been put thru their paces and haven't falled apart or anything.
One thing I do need to mention, is I had to buy Taco superbumps because Wheelers didn't sell any specific to our trucks, but like I said I had no issues so far. It's been 5 years and a lot of off road trips. Install was easy.

I left the front-rear bumpstops stock and only upgraded the front-front ones. Wheelers told me the taco ones that would fit and that I only needed the one set. I also had their rear superbumps on my leaf springs, but since upgrading to Alcan leaf packs, they came with a u-bolt flip kit that has integrated bumpstops.

 

I'm game planning my lift and keep seeing these AAL kit comments and there is always a comment about an "overload" (I think it is one of the leaves on the stock leaf pack???). Can y'all inform me what that is?

Lift looks great @shifty` . I'm with you on rake. I want to keep an inch or so on mine when I do it.

 

Flat fatboy on the bottom here is the "overload" spring. It prevents the other leafs from bending beyond flat when carrying heavy ass loads and potentially prevents twisting also:

Edit: Honestly, it potentially adds 1/2" of lift by virtue of where it resides. You would lose a little height by pulling it out.

 

If you truly want to lift the rear, you may be disappointed with an add a leaf. What are you goals with this?

 

So I have a DC 4WD and want about 2-3 inches of lift in the front and want to maintain inch or so of rake so probably and inch or so of lift out back. I have no shell, but do have a toolbox as you can see in my profile pic. Not super packed with crap usually though. Maybe a set of emergency tools, jumper cables, ratchet straps. Don't plan on adding a shell or other armor. I want to keep the ride mostly street-oriented. I'll probably do some light to moderate off-roading here and there and farm work with the truck but its my daily. Not much towing. I think I need to replace the leaves though - I'll post a pic sometime. Last guy towed boats and the leaves have 180k on them. Have thought about the ATS HD leaf pack, but I'm worried its gonna make the ride too rough.

 

I can't stop laughing at that avatar.

I feel like my AAL was substantial. I actually think I lost a half inch when I swapped in the Alcans. Sad thing is the specs I gave them should have gained a half inch.

 

I feel like, with leaving the overload in, I got at least what Icon is advertising. Granted, I have no cap or other significant weight in back, so it's what I expected.

That said, I got more lift up front than I was expecting. While the numbers scaled back a little after shakedown, I'm not sure my initial measure was right when looking at others, I think I may've gotten more like 2.5" out of the Toytec coilovers. When I suddenly realized this could be my reality, I scrambled like a MF'er to get the AAL kit last-minute. My "before" numbers were basically ~1" of rake (which I like), and that 9th inning slap in the face came ... "Oh crap. These coilovers are for 2-3" lift ... Uhhhhhh. Dammit Beavis, you're gonna be draggin' ass by an inch or more!"

@TXTundraGuy23 first thing you need to be doing, sooner than later, is to take "before" measurements on your truck while on flat ground. The most important one to take is from the center of your hub to the edge of your fender, on all four corners. Maybe for S&G also take one from the floor to the edge of the fender, but to properly determine lift, center of hub to some fixed point above it is ideal. Once you have those numbers, you'll know roughly where you want to hit on things. Get an idea of what you want up front, then you'll know what to buy for out back to hit the heights you want.

Protip: Also jot down how much fuel you had in the tank when measuring. Gallons of liquid do add up to a lot of weight, and having a reference is useful.

 

I've measured a few times, just never written anything down. I think I have right at 2" of rake between front and back CL of hub to fender as it sits now. I've been trying to figure out If I should lift the front or back alone, let it settle for a few weeks, then measure it and figure out how much I need to lift the other end to get the amount of rake I want. Seems like the predicted lifts don't always land where the manufacturers say they will. Is that a stupid plan?

 

I mean ... I wouldn't call it "stupid", because that's what I was planning to do, until I looked back on the numbers and realized I only have about an inch of rake, and the Toytec coilovers are supposedly a minimum of 1.75-2" lift so I was basically stuck one way or another...

I was fortunate, I had pretty good control over my camber because I used SPC uppers, and they have a slot for the UBJ to ride back/forth in. Made dialing in my wheels pretty easy so I wasn't wearing hard on an outer edge, although I'm sure it's not perfect. I could've driven for a while w/o alignment like this.

 

I thought you only got .5"? ICON advertises 1.5" and that's without the overload in place. No one gets close to that. I got essentially zero lift. Their claims are bullshit in my opinion. My theory is that since they designed the AAL over a decade ago, it's no longer in spec for 20 year old leaf springs that are worn out. Maybe 10 years ago people were getting a lift but not now.

 

I dunno, my truck has 75k miles on it. Here are my numbers throughout the process. I did have an issue with flipping driver/passenger numbers which I'm not sure I reconciled, but ... the numbers are what they are.

Before suspension mods (gas ~1/4 tank):
Front D: 20.5"
Front P: 20.75
Rear D: 21.75
Rear P: 21.5

After SPC UCA, Toytec Aluma Boss 2.0 coilovers, Suspension Maxx extended links, 5100s in rear:

Fresh off the jacks (gas ~3/4 tank)
Front D: 23.25"
Front P: 23.5
Rear D: 21.625
Rear P: 21.5

After shakedown (gas ~3/4 tank)
Front D: 22.5"
Front P: 22.75
Rear D: 21.625
Rear P: 21.5

With Add-a-leaf, after shakedown (gas ~5/8 tank)

Rear D: 23.375
Rear P: 23.25
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I mean, even throing in throwing in for a margin of 1/4" on error, if we cut out 0.5" for the thickness of the overload, considering they're saying 1-1.5" without it, I think they hit it on the head for me. 21-5/8 => 23-3/8 (+1.75") on the driver side, 21-1/2 => 23-1/4 (+1.75") on the passenger side.

Just to put that in a better format:
Before > After > (Change)

Front D: 20.5" > 22.5" > (+2")
Front P: 20.75" > 22.75" > (+2")
Rear D: 21.75" > 23.375" > (+1.75")
Rear P: 21.5" > 23.25" > (+1.75")

 

I was going off what you said in this post.

We should probably stop clogging up this thread.

 

But it's what we're good at.

 

My 2004 Tundra out where it belongs camping in Bears Ears Nat. Mon. in Utah.
238,000 miles now, paint is bad, rubber rotting, but runs well. Lots of clunks and rattles underneath, trashes the front tyres so probably looking at ball joints.
175W solar panel supplying a 206AH lithium battery and inverter in the bed. The thingy on the rear roof is a Starlink router, Dishy is off in the bushes.

This is not only the best vehicle I've ever had, I think it's probably the best thing I've ever bought.

 

Make sure you go OEM with the lower ball joints. Don't make the mistake too many others made ordering other brands.

Welcome to the forum!

 

Yes, thanks. I just read your long post on all things 1st gen. I don't wrench and live in very rural Utah so I'll probably have to buy the Toyota dealer in St George a new yacht. (200 miles from home!)

 

I concure, my tundra is my best purchase I've ever made

 

sorry for bringing up and old post but are those wheels the Tacoma trd replicas on eBay? Or do you have a link or shop you bought then from?

 

Doesn't look like @Lupe has signed in since July, so maybe me tagging him will alert him and bring him back.

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Check in this thread:

https://www.tundras.com/threads/lets-see-1st-gen-with-toyota-rims.40487/

Luke is the OP, and I'm pretty sure he posted what they were in there.