Newbie here - suspension questions

Hi All,

New member here, been lurking for few months doing my research. Read a ton of very informative posts and I am about ready to pull the trigger on a suspension setup. Looking for some of you to poke holes in my setup or help me confirm I'm on the right track before I drop some coin.

Found me a 2014 SR5 Double Cab during the lock-down and pulled the trigger. Was deciding between this and a 2016 TRD Pro. I really liked the look of the Pro, but couldn't sacrifice the bed space for dirt bikes so ended up going for the SR5 with the preconceived notion that I would modify it to get the look and ride dialed in for me. I tend to keep vehicles a while so looking at this with a long time horizon and also prefer function over form.

Live in Reno aka "The biggest little city" and while I mostly drive roads, I do venture into the desert for dirt bike races. Think 50-100 mile stretch of high speed dirt/sand roads with washboards your occasional G out, big pothole etc. Winter time up here does have some snow travel too with trips up to ski resorts etc. This is mostly mild snow driving, but occasionally the roads get gnarly as our city plow service sucks and the streets can turn into a mess of unevenly compacted snow. I rarely tow or haul heavy loads.

If I were to break down my driving I'd say 80% Highway/Street, 10% Desert Roads, 10% Snow

Ok so after lots of research here's what I'm thinking:

Fox 880-06-947 2.5 Adjustable Coilovers in Front 3”
Camburg PERFORMANCE 1.50 UNIBALL UPPER ARM
Fox 883-26-006 2.5 Adjustable Rear’s
Icon TUNDRA REAR EXPANSION PACK KIT 1.5”

Would swap out the stock 275/65 18’s with either


285/75 17 and go with method 701 wheels

Or

295/70 18


Thoughts, opinions, comments??


Oh here’s the before pic, for ya:

 

Welcome from SoCal...
H
I
T
E

 

Welcome from SoCal. I think you are on the right track!!! I have a 3/1.5 lift and wish I went 35’s and just did the BMC but I went 295/70/18 and they still looks good. The Fox 2.5 with DSC is an awesome setup. I had a chance to ride in a Tundra with the Fox 2.5 with DSC both on and off-road and they are impressive.

 

Picture for reference of the 3/1.5 on 295/70/18.

 

Welcome from NY.

 

Very nice, looks like you got good clearance in there, did you have to trim anything? Do the tires stick out past the wheel wells at all? I had thought about 35's too, so many choices...

 

No trimming required but I do have a very slight rub on the front finder liner but nothing crazy. My offset is +25. Here is a side shot to show how much the wheels poke out.

 

Thanks for these pics!!! I think I'm sold on the 295/70/18 setup as I don't want the tires to poke out much and it looks like your setup is perfect.

 

No problem @2planker . Feel free to ask away. I also have plenty of pictures to share if you need.

 

Dropping in 3,2,1......

 

Well order placed, but it looks like coilovers and wheels are on backorder till Aug... guess I'll be waiting a bit.

 

Howdy from DFW and nice truck

 

Welcome from SoCal.

 

...after a month of waiting the UCAs arrived.



Still waiting on coilovers and wheels #covidsucks

 

Wheels showed up today no word on coilovers yet, spring pack was damaged in shipping so waiting on new ship date

 

well after patiently waiting almost 5 months coilovers finally arrived, time to get these bad boys installed

 

Got everything installed over the weekend. Most of the install went pretty smoothly only ran into a few hiccups. Most challenging part was figuring out the instructions of the leaf spring pack. Icon sent 3 different instructions sets two of which were for the wrong pack, took a while to figure out we were working off the wrong instructions, ha.





I took some measurements before and after for comparison. Top of fender well from ground before was 37" in the front and 39" in the rear:


After install top of fender well from ground is 42" in the front and 42.5" in the rear:



I'm pretty happy with the outcome. Haven't tested offroad yet, but will report back after I do for now

Pro's
- Was able to get 5.5 degrees of caster with camburg UCA's and camber/toe to spec. Truck is no longer twichy on the highway and tracks true
- Leveled out the front drop, sits nice now
- Significantly improved cornering, no more body roll
- Significantly improved turn initiation under braking, no more nose dive
- Got rid of the grey wheels, one step closer to chrome delete

Con's
- little bit of rub on mud flap, might have to get rid of front mud flaps as it looks like there is an inch space behind them
- chrome lug nuts, come on Method I spent $$$ on wheels and you give me chrome lug nuts, jeez
- no dust cap for top of ball joint on camburg UCA's, imagine that's gonna get packed with grime

Haven't played with the clickers yet, but excited to get out and test on some desert roads.

 

285/75r17 Cooper AT3 XLTs?

 

295/70r18 AT3's

debated 17 or 18's but ended up going 18 for clearance on brake caliper, although i see some folks have got them to fit no prob.

 

Nice setup. Truck looks very nice now!

 

Here’s my setup on Fox 2.5’s.

Truck sits higher than this pic now that I got Deaver U748 installed this week.

 

i didn't like that olor until i saw it with the bronze wheels.

 

How do you like the Deavers? I have a Fox 2.5 DSC setup on order and am thinking about what to do with the rear. Why U748 over the K37?

 

Love it. Not only did I gain a few inches, it rides so nice.

The U748 is for constant loads. If you’re planning on adding +500 lb loads regularly, this pack is for you.

 

Thanks! Whenever I go off road it's usually fully loaded with camping gear so I think I'll likely go with the U748.