3rd Gen Tacoma suspension option for a heavy full time load

[Rando]

I am waiting on the delivery of a 2016 Tacoma DCLB TRD Off Road and a Four Wheel Camper Fleet model to be permanently mounted on it. In the meantime I have been doing a lot of reading here, on Wander the West and Tacoma World (ugh) about how to beef up the suspension on the Tacoma. I have heard many differing opinions and options about the best solution, how ever many of these options are centered on maintaining ride quality when the camper is off, which is not an issue for me as the camper will be on the truck full time.

So I am hoping for suggestions and the pros and cons of the various suspension upgrade options. For reference, our average load will be around 1500lb, so over GVWR and near the combined GAWR. The use will be exclusively 'overlanding' in the basic sense of the word - 75% long distance highway driving of varying quality, 15% forrest service type dirt roads and 10% true four wheel driving. Optimistically, I would like to have the best of everything - great ride on road, no sacrifice in off road performance, cheap and improves fuel economy by 5mpg. Realistically, I am willing to give up the last two requirements!

Ideas so far in no particular order:
OME Heavy kit with Timbrens or airbags - Dakar springs with extra leaf in the back, OME Heavy coils in the front and Nitro Chargers all around.
OME BP51 Kit with Airbags - same as above but with the new ($$) BP51 shocks.
OME Heavy Springs with ICON remote reservoir shocks.
Deaver or Alcan custom spring pack with ICON/FOX/OME shocks.
Hellwig Tacoma spring pack designed for Four wheel camper ( http://www.hellwigproducts.com/new-products/4231/ )

Comments, experience, other ideas?

 

[Eazy.E]

Seems like the general consensus if your hauling that much of a load consistently is to have a set of leafs made. Tell dealer or Alcan the lift hight you want to achieve and the weight rating and they can make you a set. You should be able to balance it out with some heavier springs up front. Dakars are not rates for that much consistent weight and with timberens or bags. You would be riding on them a lot which will take away from your ride quality. Having said that, a fair amount of people are running Firestone bags with daystar cradles and like them.
Hope that helps!


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[Rando]

Thanks!

I put in a quote request with Alcan for a custom rear leaf - we'll see what they come back with.

Next question - are adjustable shocks worth it? It seems that this may help with my unreasonable expectation of a great ride on the the highway AND good off road performance.

Seems like the general consensus if your hauling that much of a load consistently is to have a set of leafs made. Tell dealer or Alcan the lift hight you want to achieve and the weight rating and they can make you a set. You should be able to balance it out with some heavier springs up front. Dakars are not rates for that much consistent weight and with timberens or bags. You would be riding on them a lot which will take away from your ride quality. Having said that, a fair amount of people are running Firestone bags with daystar cradles and like them.
Hope that helps!


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[Eazy.E]

Nice! Custom packs are definitely more but it sounds like it's worth it. One guy I spoke with carries about 1200 pounds regularly and had Alcan build him a set with 3" of lift and he's super happy with them.

As far as adjustable shocks go I can't speak much to them as I have just been running 5100's in the rear and OME nitro's in the front on my Tacoma. If it's in your budget it sounds like they worthwhile since you can really dial them in on models like the BP's, kings and icons.

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/140355-Another-Tacoma-Build-(Brian-s-2015-DCLB)

I think you'll find this build really helpful, nearly the same set up as you and he tried various suspension set ups and settled on a custom pack


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[Rando]

Thanks for the heads up on Brian's build - I have been following it here and on Wander the West and have learned a lot. Unfortunately he sold his set up before he had much time on the new spring pack to get a good review of it's performance.

Nice! Custom packs are definitely more but it sounds like it's worth it. One guy I spoke with carries about 1200 pounds regularly and had Alcan build him a set with 3" of lift and he's super happy with them.

As far as adjustable shocks go I can't speak much to them as I have just been running 5100's in the rear and OME nitro's in the front on my Tacoma. If it's in your budget it sounds like they worthwhile since you can really dial them in on models like the BP's, kings and icons.

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/140355-Another-Tacoma-Build-(Brian-s-2015-DCLB)

I think you'll find this build really helpful, nearly the same set up as you and he tried various suspension set ups and settled on a custom pack


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[Eazy.E]

Thanks for the heads up on Brian's build - I have been following it here and on Wander the West and have learned a lot. Unfortunately he sold his set up before he had much time on the new spring pack to get a good review of it's performance.

no problem, I think your going the right route, good luck!


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[Benc]

I would go with the ome Dakar's and bp-51s .
You may need to run air bags as well, I don't have many pics of my old set up and but I had dakars and custom airbag set up on my first gen, I bought universal air bags and built custom mounts so they were only attached at the frame end and had a rubber landing pad on the spring side. This way I didn't take the chance of tearing the bags during articulation. The bags were very nice for leveling the rig as well!
I would think a set up like this paired up with the adjustability of the bp-51 would be the perfect setup!
I currently have the dakars and bp-51s on my 16 Tacoma and love them but I don't carry much weight as most goes into a trailer, so I can't really comment on how they do with a load on the 3rd gen.


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[Rando]

I am leaning toward BP-51s with a custom Alcan leaf pack in the back, spec'd for the heavy load. How do the coil overs on the BP-51's work? Are they the standard OME springs (886, 887 etc) or something different? How much lift did you get with them? Given how heavy we will be, I am not looking for any real lift, just to avoid loosing clearance with the extra load.

Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[Benc]

I am leaning toward BP-51s with a custom Alcan leaf pack in the back, spec'd for the heavy load. How do the coil overs on the BP-51's work? Are they the standard OME springs (886, 887 etc) or something different? How much lift did you get with them? Given how heavy we will be, I am not looking for any real lift, just to avoid loosing clearance with the extra load.

Thanks for the suggestion!

They come preset for about a 2.5" lift with a winch and bulbar, I do have a winch and dissent offroad bumper but I would say it's at least 75lbs lighter than the arb bull bar, keeping it at the preset preload I ended up with closer to 3" of lift. They are a adjustable coil over so you can set them at what ever height you want.


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[paranoid56]

i would go with the custom rear spring pack, you might want to also check out getting a rear swaybar setup. the adjustable shocks will be nice to dial it in exactly what you want, as with that setup you may need custom valving no matter what.

 

[Rando]

i would go with the custom rear spring pack, you might want to also check out getting a rear swaybar setup. the adjustable shocks will be nice to dial it in exactly what you want, as with that setup you may need custom valving no matter what.

I am going to try and hold off on the rear swaybar for now, as I don't want to reduce articulation any more than necessary - but if the handling requires it, I will certainly look into adding one.

 

[Rando]

On a related note - anyone know what sort of lift you get out of the BP51 on their lowest setting? I realize it will be load dependent, but I was wondering if anyone had an idea for a stockish setup?

 

[bat]

886, 887 etc

886s will be pretty stiff without a bumper and winch I have the 887s with Ome setup and it perfect

 

[Rando]

Just to close the loop on this discussion - I ended up ordering BP51's, an OME Dakar's with an added leaf, ride rite airbags and daystar cradles. I will install it all over the next couple of weeks, and report back on how it handles the weight after the camper is mounted next month. I am still thinking about eventually getting a custom leaf pack, but wanted to start out with the Dakar's (which are relatively inexpensive) so I have the actual axel weights to give Alcan or Deaver in order to get the custom spring pack built correctly the first time.

 

[Benc]

Just to close the loop on this discussion - I ended up ordering BP51's, an OME Dakar's with an added leaf, ride rite airbags and daystar cradles. I will install it all over the next couple of weeks, and report back on how it handles the weight after the camper is mounted next month. I am still thinking about eventually getting a custom leaf pack, but wanted to start out with the Dakar's (which are relatively inexpensive) so I have the actual axel weights to give Alcan or Deaver in order to get the custom spring pack built correctly the first time.

I still love my kit but one issue is they still have not corrected the spring squeak! I thought for sure they would have corrected it by now but they said they are still working on it. Make sure they send you 2 spring liner service kits so you can install those when you install the extra leaf.


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