Fixing Driver's Side Lean

Recently, I upgraded my off-road shocks to the Fox 2.5 from TRD Pro. Love this setup overall, supple for daily driving, better handling, less body roll, etc., Very happy with the upgrade

Except: My stance is all jacked up now. For one, I have ~500lb less weight in the front of the truck given these shocks were tuned for a hybrid and I have a gasser. Not the end of the world but does have the front riding slightly higher than the rear overall. I can live with some of this, but....

The problem... I honestly didn't notice it when stock, but I can now see in photos that it was present. I have one of the Tundras that had nearly an inch of lean on the driver's side. The opposite side of the gas tank, which used to cause the infamous Taco lean in my previous truck. The result is that, on the driver's side, the rear sits 1" lower than the front... On the passenger side, its only sitting about 1/4" lower in the rear.

So while my goal was to level the truck, I now have a rear rake that's driving me bonkers. My preference would be to retain the shocks I have and use spring spacers or something to level it out. My goal is not to significantly lift the rear, but I would be ok with a slight 0.5" rake which would be offset when loaded with camping gear anyway...

In preparation for solving this issue, I did purchase a 1" TRD spring spacer as well as a 1-5/8" Westcott spring spacer which would mostly level out the left and right rear of the truck. However, I have not installed these as I'm concerned I'll end up with more than an inch of rake.

What would be the best way to maintain the incredible ride quality I have now, while raising the driver's side rear about 1" and the passenger rear 1/2" ? If I were to achieve this, I'd end up with about a quarter inch rake that would be barely noticeable while leveling the truck left to right...

 

In summary, I think I just need to find a 1/2" rear spring spacer for the passenger rear and use the 1" I have for the leaning side. I do not see any 1/2" spring spacers anywhere...not a common application, I'm sure as it's not much "lift"

Separately, should I plan to put any shims/spacers on top of the shock mount in the rear to maintain ride quality or is consensus that this is such a small "lift" that there's no real need to do anything beyond the spring spacer(s)?

 

I did discover that Cornfed has a 1/2" spacer for this very purpose. I have contacted them to see if they can send a 1/2" (Passenger) and 1" (Driver) as this would leave me with a minimal 1/4" rake vs. the negative rake I have today and address the driver's side lean.

Thoughts on the quality of the Cornfed rear lift pucks? https://cornfedsuspension.com/cornfedtundrarears/

 

Back in the '70s and 80's many Jeep CJs suffered from the dreaded "jeep Lean" to the driver's side. It turned out to be a defect in a batch of frames, basically the driver's side frame rail was lower in the rear.

AMC's recalled fix was to place a 5/8" thick shim between the rear passenger side leaf spring pack and the spring perch. That effectively pulled the passenger side frame rail down, and visually leveled the body side to side. That always seemed like a bandaid fix to me.

If my Tundra had a 3/4" lean to one side, I would want to know the actual reason for it and get it fixed. Spacing the springs differently side to side wouldn't sit well with me.

 

Same - seems to be very common, however. Westcott even has a video to get folks to measure before they order b/c so many have a driver's side lean. In the Tacoma, it made sense, given the lean was on the side where the gas tank was. On the Tundra the lean is on the opposite side of the gas tank so yes - I'm not happy with a lack of understanding as to the root cause of a lean on an expensive new vehicle either.

However, I did swap my suspension (albeit to another OEM setup) and, to get them to look at it seriously, I'd probably need to swap back to the stock shocks (which still had the lean) and I don't have time to mess with that back and forth on suspension swaps now. So, I'll deal with a bandaid solution due to lack of other options for now. If my ride quality is destroyed by this, I'll reassess.

 

I know it's pretty normal for the driver's side suspension to sag slightly more than the passenger side over many many miles, especially if you're a big guy who drives solo most of the time. Both my 2008 and 2015 Tundras had a little lean when I traded them in at 140K miles, but it wasn't bad. Both still had the stock suspensions.

But it would drive me mad if a brand new truck had the lean, especially 3/4". That's gotta be very noticeable from the rear.

Good luck.

 

https://eibach.com/product/e30-82-096-04-02?epsid=3511

 

thanks. Looks like these springs would just do a straight 1” on both sides which wouldn’t solve the lean. Though springs are a more elegant solution, Cornfed will custom cut the spacers that situate above the spring to get me evened out. Likely me best solution for now.

I think I just need 1/2” rear passenger and 1” rear driver and I’ll get rid of the lean and regain about 3/8” rake to account for hauling without being too nose-up

 

Dobinsons sells a 15mm rear shim
Part number
PS59-4035