Suspension Help

2.5 is plenty for trails - @KevinK runs 2.5 of lift i believe but has 37's He goes just about anywhere he wants without issues. But you're doing the right thing - asking for multiple opinions and figuring out what is best for you. Hopefully Kevin will chime in too.

 

I appreciate everyone's advice. I was thinking I needed at least 5 inches. Good thing I asked. If it makes a difference I have the double cab long bed so I have a pretty long wheel base.

 

Long bed as in the 8ft bed?

 

Yes

 

lemme catch up real quick...

 

Might just limit you on certain trails or making multipoint turns. A BDS 4.5 lift doesn't really give you any more ground clearance at the cross member because they have a drop bracket. Tire size gives you clearance there. You get a tad more at the frame rails but if you can't clear it with the front diff then the frame rails don't matter. Might help your break over point when going over a hill. I would suggest you hookup and tag along with a few groups that go off-road and check out the setups and how they wheel to see what works and what doesn't. What works for me doesn't work for every other driver and vice versa.

 

Thanks for all your help!

 

Well, got anything for me haha?

 

he is slow you have to give him time. He is probably 8 beers deep by now

 

@jdavenport hey buddy - great call asking the folks on the forum. There's a lot of knowledgeable folks here.

This is probably gonna sound kind of generic, but the best thing you can do is go drive the truck off road a bit and see if you feel like you're limited. Do yo come to a hill you don't think you can climb? Are there 2' boulders in the path you want to go down? Are you in a forest with trees on both sides closing in?

I know that seems useless, but the more you get out there, the more you'll see what kind of speed you want, and how technical a terrain you want to tackle. If you're in SoCal and want to bomb the desert washes at speed, you most certainly don't want a BDS-style bracket lift like @n2deep already said. They make the truck taller, but don't necessarily improve the performance handling. I may get a ration of shit from guys that do bomb their bracket lifts, but even they know a a proper suspension lift will outperform them.

What is a proper suspension lift?

A suspension lift consists of new coilovers or new shocks that utilize your existing springs. Pair that with a new upper control arm to get the alignment into spec, and you have a proper suspension lift, capable of 1-3" of lift.

Don't bother with new tie rod ends. I know exactly zero tundras who have bent them.

What about budget?

Do you want to get something fairly cheap now that will be a little better and let you fit bigger tires to get further down the trail with minimal 'performance' improvement? You can easily accomplish that for under $500 if you install yourself - or bring your buddy a 12 pack and make him help.

Do you have a large enough budget to go directly to the point you think you want? That can easily run into the $12-15k without breaking a sweat. A suspension in this range will do anything you ask except maybe blow you.

Here's what we did...

Bilstein 5100s on the top ring gave us about 1.5" of lift and a 1" block in the rear - ran that for a year.
Toytec BOSS coilovers in the front gave us about 2.5" of lift - ran that for about a year and installed 37" tires (some trimming is needed, but it's not that bad)
Icon Full Retard gave us about 2.5" of lift and we've had that for maybe 6 months? Our front has just about everything you can throw at it without actually going long travel. 3.0 coilovers, 2.5 bypasses, adjustable UCA, spindle gussets, cam tab gussets. We run with the LT guys all day long (although @n2deep may pull away from us if we ever did get a side by side race - he's a fuckin lunatic. I love him)

If all you want is bigger tires, you don't technically even need a lift. You can just run rims with the correct amount of offset and trim some metal out of your way (non of the trimming is visible from outside of the truck)

oh, and throw your sway bar in the trash right now along with those airbags if you don't tow. I'll wait. Go ahead.

more info is in our build thread if you click on the picture in my sig.

 

I've done some offroading already and I want more flex and less vibrations on dirtroads, I don't plan on bombing the desert. I want mostly performance on trails, rocks and hills. have a set of 5100s at home right now, debating on selling them and getting exactly what I want. That being said is all I need a good set of coilovers and ucas? Is there anything else I should add? I don't want to cheap out at the same time I'm not up for +8k in suspension.

Thanks for all the great info!

 

It sounds like a quality adjustable coilover with remote resis and UCAs would be what you’re looking for.

The remote reservoirs help for those long bumpy trails. It keeps the oil cooler so they can still function.

There’s a ton of different options, but for us since my wife still dailies her truck, we went with icon adjustable coilovers. They let us make it soft like a Caddy on the street and then we can tighten it up on hard fast trails to prevent bottoming out. Or if we’re running a lot of washboard or small bumpy shit, we can keep it a little soft to absorb the chop.

Let me know if you want more detailed options as you zero in on a choice. We have friends that run every brand and combination you can think of.

 

Perfect thank you, as far as ucas go, any particular one you recommend? And do the shocks give me the flex I'm looking for or do I need to do anything else paired with it?

I'm now looking at the camburg kit: Sku: CAM-310059
Any input on that? I would still need the leafs and shackles but it seems to have everything else. I see it lacks the remote res in the rear shock, would you recommend I get the res in the rear too?

Again appreciate the help so much.

 

I’m not sure how much flex you’re looking for, but the major manufacturers of UCAs (Total Chaos, Camburg, Icon) are all pretty similar. They each offer good arms that are serviceable and increase travel a little bit.

The front of that kit looks awesome. If you can swing it, opt for the DSC option so you can adjust the ride quality of the shocks. In my opinion Fox and Icon have put the most R&D time and tuning into their coilovers specific to the Tundra.

Those rear shocks will disappoint you. Especially if you’re loaded +600lbs on the regular. I’m not even sure why the manufacturers insist on still making 2.0 rear shocks for the Tundra.

If you can budget it, I’d match the rears to the fronts with the Fox 2.5 remotes with DSC. https://camburg.com/shop/suspension/fox-toyota-tundra-2wd-4wd-07-17-2-5-rear-shocks/

At a minimum get a 2.5” rear shock. And put a rubber boot over the shaft to protect it from gravel damage. They’re like ten bucks and will save you hundreds.

This is nine months of use.

 

Oh, and our front, because I’m a picture whore.

 

So I think I've found that the total chaos uniball has better reviews than camburg so I'm set on that. And fox 2.5 with res all the way around. Drop shackles and deavers leaf u742 or atlas expedition leafs. I have a differential drop already. Am I missing anything else?

 

Sounds like a good choice if it fits in your budget.

 

Looks like you’re gonna be set @jdavenport !

@papasmurf did you or someone else we know have the Atlas expedition leafs?

@n2deep did you run a dif drop when you were MT?

We took ours off since we’re only lifter about 2”. I’ve heard it’s not really needed until you hit 3.5+ lift and we like the extra clearance.

 

I know spvrtan runs the atlas expedition.
And I've heard mixed things about the diff drop. Most of what I read said 2.5in or more needed one. But it's not installed yet so I'm open to suggestions hahaha.

 

Another OC guy here!
I would agree. Just get some shocks w height adjust. Cheapest option are the Bil 5100s. You may need to trim a bit (from bumper plastic or skid plate)
You on stock wheels?

 

Currently stock but plan to go 17" rim to 35s

 

taking the front sway off the truck really do that much? I don't tow and have considered it, just haven't gotten out too far yet with the beast to see what limitations it may have.

 

Yeah skip the dif drop if you don’t already have it installed. If you stay at around 3” or below you’re fine.

Huge improvement. The sway bar is great for making you feel confident on the road in corners. As you turn, one wheel compresses it’s suspension and starts to go up. Since the sway bar is attached, it pushes the other side up in order to prevent an uncomfortable lean in the corner. That’s great on the road. It’s terrible off road.

Really it’s discomforting on the road too. Every little bump the left tire hits, also effects the right, and vice versa. A manhole cover under one wheel makes them both shake. After you take the sway bar off, you’ll feel much more connected to the street.

It will lean in corners and the first few will feel funky, but the truck will turn just fine even at freeway speeds and loaded up.

Off road you’ll get tons more flex and also a more connected ride over the little bumpy shit. Each wheel can now act independently like they were meant to do.

 

Awesome thanks for all the advice. I assume the same goes for a carrier bearing drop. And I tow a small 12 foot trailer 3-4 times a year at about 2500lbs. Is is simple enough to bolt and unbolt the sway bar each time I go to tow?

 

I can't actually recall if we have the carrier bearing drop. I don't think we do. You'll know you need it if you have drivetrain vibration under acceleration.

You should never need to put that sway bar back on. I have a few friends that tow travel trailers without the sway bar. Two in particular are lifted 7" with 37" tires and they still don't bother even when towing 7k trailers. Test it first for yourself to gauge your comfort level, but yeah, it's just 4 bolts.

 

Yeah I still have the diff drop - only cause i am too lazy to remove it. Its a lot of work to take all the skids off - plus I don't know where the original bolts are at this point

 

What about rear hydraulic bump stops?

 

Baller.

If you can swing it they really help with preventing bucking when you bottom out the rear. If you’re looking that way, you may consider bypasses. They take the expense to the next level, but the tuning ability is awesome.

Front and rear bypasses add a whole new level of complexity and cost, but the performance is top of the game. They allow the suspension to be compliant at ride height and smaller bumps, and then get progressively more resistant to bottom and top out over jumps and whoops.

Heavily depends on your use case. If you wanna bomb trails at speed, bypasses are the way to go. If you want to go pretty quick, remote adjustable resis and bumps is a great solution.

For reference, here’s us running whoops on Mojave Road at about 50mph. It’s hard to tell, but some of these hits are 2’ tall.

https://instagram.com/p/BdGfr3KhcTV/

 

Not really interested in the bypasses but I appreciate the information on it. I had a buddy tell me I would get a little more flex in the rear. And it would help with harsh bottom outs. Do you run bump stops and if so which ones? I see prices from 100 to 800 and not sure what warrants that price difference.

 

Spend the money on rear bypasses and skip the bumps. Not gonna give you more flex. They only keep you from bottoming out hard. Matt @M C M can get you a price on ADS rear bypasses and matching front setup. The rear bypasses give you a bump zone similar to bumps.