Advice on parts for 03 Tundra SR5

[skywhitney]

I can muddle my way around a truck and am learning tons as I go along. I've reached a point where I was hoping all the awesome people here could help me out though. I'm looking at the Tuff Country 4.5" lift along with some new Deaver springs for my 03 Tundra SR5. Does anyone have any experience with these Tuff Country kits?

http://www.4wheelparts.com/Suspension/Lift-Kit.aspx?t_c=1&t_s=38&t_pt=3533&t_pn=T/C55900

I was also thinking about the Kings coilover kit but wanted to see if there was any feedback on these as well.

http://www.4wheelparts.com/Suspension/OEM-Performance-Coilover-Shock-Kit-for-0-3-5-Lift-Kits.aspx?t_c=1&t_s=90&t_pt=3306&t_pn=KST25001-138


I just used the links from 4WP since they were the easiest for me to find, I'll be doing lots of shopping around if it comes to purchasing anything.

Thanks in advance for the help! :bowdown:

 

[Cletus26]

A set of extended travel kings or icons with total chaos or camburg UCA's will give you more useable and reliable lift (won't look as high though) I've heard of problems with the tuff country busting at the BJ spacer.

 

[character zero]

Have KINGs front on my 05DC, love them...

 

[skywhitney]

Thank you guys for the replies!

I will be the first to admit that I do not know much about suspension systems at all. Now after doing a ton of reading I am thoroughly confused as to if I am going in the right direction with the type of components/kits that I listed above or if I should be going another route altogether.

Ultimately what I am looking to accomplish is to increase the articulation (not crazy but enough that is useful) and gain a lift on the truck of ~4-5". I won't be doing anything crazy other than mild to medium intensity trails and getting to some of the off-the-beaten-path areas for camping, I really don't plan on doing much of anything in the desert if that matters. Since this is pretty much my DD, I would like it to perform decently on the street as well. I know that there will be give and take in making this what I want so I'm pretty open to looking at any option.

Currently I am running Bilstein 5100s all the way around and a 1" block in the back. The wheels are Pro Comp 7069 series (4.75" BS) and the tires are 285/70R17 KO2's. I also have an ARE DUC cap on the back.

I am putting it out there and asking that you all with more experience help point me in the right direction if nothing else. Thanks everyone in advance!

 

[JLee]

IMO for lifts, go as low as possible. You're going to have the same clearance from your axles/differentials to the ground regardless of how much lift you have, and the higher you lift the worse your handling gets.

This is stock suspension on my last rig. You can go many more places than you might expect with a stock truck - from what you've described, I would stay stock height until you find an actual reason to upgrade (i.e. shocks wear out, or you find that you require more height for the places you go). If/when you do lift the truck, I would go with a high-end coilover with 2.5" shocks (with remote reservoir if you do high speed washboard, etc). King, Icon, Radflo come to mind offhand. I would stay in the ~2" range to keep your CVs happy. Drop bracket lifts don't make any sense to me at all (that's what you need for a bigger lift on an IFS rig).

I had Alcan springs on my first Tacoma and Old Man Emu Dakar springs on my last Tacoma - I liked them both. I am not sure what options there are for Tundras, but I would get away from the block lift.