Advice on leaf spring upgrade for towing and a permanent heavy-ish load?

Hey everyone, my 2020 SR5 TRD Offroad crewcab is needing some suspension changes to address the 600-800-ish lb load I drive with most of the time and my 3500 lb travel trailer with a 690 lb tongue weight I drive with a couple times a month. I currently have Firestone airbags to address the squat but that's obviously not the right solution for all of this.

I mainly use my truck to help put on mountain bike races on private ranches across Texas and at bike parks (ski resorts) in the lower Rockies. No lack of rocky service roads but certainly not doing any real wheeling or anything. Pulling the trailer across TX, NM, CO is the most common road scenario. Those unkept roads and expansion joints are horrible with the current setup.

My RSI Smartcap, bike slide-tray, fridge, tools, and riding gear come out around 600 lbs and when I travel to boondock at races, I carry extra water and camping gear that adds another 200 ish pounds. I assume the 690 lbs of the trailer tongue adds on top of that

ANYWAY. I have quotes out from Alcan and Deaver as leaf spring upgrades seem crucial. Would love to have a 1-2" lift come out of this as well.

TLDR question... how would you all recommend handling all of these changes with so many unknowns, settling, etc.? Should I just get the leaf spring upgrade for now, live with it, and then go back and address front and rear suspension needs once it's settled? I'm not looking for anything too sophisticated but just want a safe, comfortable ride. I know it will cost me but don't want to go insane.

Thanks for any input. Just a lot to do and want to be patient and smart about it.

 

Nice setup. I keep looking at the SmartCAps. Going back and forth between a diamondack cover or a smart cap.

 

Thanks. Yeah, I love mine. It's not perfect but it transformed what my truck was capable of and solved a BUNCH of problems for me.

 

A similar situation, here. My constant, ‘static’ load is over 1000lb. I will detail the list if you want. I arrived at my final solution gradually, over several years and evolutions. Deaver and toytec were of absolutely zero help to me, and actually provided faulty and inept advice. Many people have had good luck with them both, so roll the dice.
I ended up with custom Alcan leaf springs (9 on the driver side, 8 on the passenger), 2” over CB shackles and a couple CB shims up front. The truck is level from side to side, has about an 1 1/2” rake, and rides silky smooth like a dream. When I am towing the boat or a trailer there’s no squat.
I am certain that if I were to remove the weight it would probably ride like an empty dump truck.

 

To each his own, but I've never regretted upgrading my rear leaf springs on any truck I've ever owned. I would think that a better rear leaf pack would allow you to relegate your existing airbags more for fine-tuning it all once fully loaded or when towing. I had the empty dump truck experience using airbags on an F150, and for that reason, I am not a fan of them as the sole solution (I suspect I'm in the minority on that opinion).

 

I built my complete rear suspension for lots of weight with redundancy for safety. Dobinson's HD leaf packs, yellow sumo springs/bump stops, Roadmaster Active Suspension HD kit, BDS traction bars to control axle wrap, Bilstein 5160 shocks w/res. Ironman greasable shackles and bushings. OME brake line relocate kit, Ironman carrier bearing drop kit. I can load over a ton on the truck with very little squat, and very stable towing. Plus with no axle wrap my u joints and pinion are happy.

 

That's great info. Sounds like you got it figured out. I want some of that.

 

I'm thinking I agree with you. It's not a very good setup for me right now.

 

That is a TON of info. Wow. Giving me a lot to research. Thanks!

 

Yep, I really love the tundra but need it to do what I need to have done! lol

 

I'm wondering if starting with custom Alcan leaf packs (800 lbs with 1" lift) and the shortest Coachbuilder shackles would be a solid start? Maybe move the airbags onto this setup and go from there?

 

The problem is you need taller bump stops to match the shackles, otherwise the longer shackle is pushing your springs into negative arch once it hits bump stops, ruining your springs, not a great idea in my opinion. Want the most bang for your buck, the answer is Roadmaster active suspension HD kit. You will be impressed, pretty much a guarantee to solve your issues for under a grand.

 

Totally open to all solutions but a quick question, would my Firestone airbags mean I don't need the taller bumpstops?

 

Maybe, just depends on wether or not the frame will stop dropping before the springs hit the negative arch situation. Personally, I would never use airbags, ever seen one burst on the highway at speed? Not pretty. That is why I have a redundant system. Like I said RAS is your best bet. I will send you some pics in a few.

 

Yeah, I was just reading about it. Really cool!

 

This is my truck...

 

Nice ride too!

 

You sure those Sumo Springs are yellow??

 

They were yellow, kinda got a mist of black overspray when I was rustproofing and toning down the gloss on all the new components. Try not to draw too much attention.

 

Interesting! They definitely look red.

 

Your right they look red in the photo, maybe something to do with the lighting. Rest assured they were lemon yellow December 2020. Kinda part of why they got a mist of black.

 

Does RAS lift the rear of the truck at all? How does it ride unloaded? Wondering if RAS would be an option for a little lift vs a shackle, and of course the added performance when loaded or towing.

 

I bought a set of rear leafs through Alcan to haul my FWC and they did a great job. I sent them the empty/loaded weights and told him I wanted 2-2.5" lift and they dialed it in perfectly.

 

Yes, you could get decent lift. Rides great empty. Much better investment than anything else. Hands down. Plus install is a breeze! EZ to remove and sell if you trade the truck or other. You can't lose with the RAS.

 

@2mchfun Have you found over time that you would have done anything differently, or felt anything was not needed? Given the redundancy, I wonder if any application is canceling out another. I pulled the trigger on the RAS and the SumoSprings, and have Toytec shackles, but still researching leafs. Additionally, what kind of lift did you see with this setup?

 

Surprised you didn't go with the Dobinsons shocks to match the springs. Also, what'd you do up front?

 

Front Fat Bob's garage Vated adj. coilovers 700 lb coils set at 3ish". SPC adj. UCA. will be adding Timbren active bump stops up there too in the near future just cuz I like the concept. Got some new rims last week, so now that is a priority and also a project. Either longer studs or larger bores for ext. nuts to get max thread engagement. Not decided yet. Probably increased bore dia. in wheel lug holes.

 

Why not the Dobinsons setup?

 

Adjustable and color preference, price was good too for what I received. So far, so good.

 

Parts ordered after much consideration. I'll update in a month or so when everything is installed and hopefully settling.