Suspension advice

[ANDYROO]

I'd like some input/advice on the rear suspension of my 2010 Tacoma DC. When driving slowly over bumpy but relatively mild trails, I often hear a thud that seems like the rear is bottoming out against the factory bump stops. I have OME standard set up shocks with an All Pro add a leaf. The suspension is 2 years old, with approximately 40k miles on it and has been used on light to moderate terrain. It also has about 15k miles of towing a Sierra 4x4 trailer. The truck has a Snugtop topper, Yakima cage, All Pro rear bumper, Engel 45 Fridge and other camping gear when off road so obviously has a few hundred lbs of weight on the bed. The truck hasn't any issues on the road and the ride feels great. Any ideas? Do I need to add heavier rear shocks, add helper springs or is this normal? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Andy

 

[Zac808]

Maybe look into a full leaf pack like Dakar or All-pro Expo. They are designed to handle the extra weight. The shocks should be fine as they OME's.

 

[Seeker]

Check Deaver as well. If you send them the rear wejght of your vehicle they can set you up custom for a price thats not extreme.

--Allen

 

[downhill]

I'd like some input/advice on the rear suspension of my 2010 Tacoma DC. When driving slowly over bumpy but relatively mild trails, I often hear a thud that seems like the rear is bottoming out against the factory bump stops. I have OME standard set up shocks with an All Pro add a leaf. The suspension is 2 years old, with approximately 40k miles on it and has been used on light to moderate terrain. It also has about 15k miles of towing a Sierra 4x4 trailer. The truck has a Snugtop topper, Yakima cage, All Pro rear bumper, Engel 45 Fridge and other camping gear when off road so obviously has a few hundred lbs of weight on the bed. The truck hasn't any issues on the road and the ride feels great. Any ideas? Do I need to add heavier rear shocks, add helper springs or is this normal? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Andy

How much travel do you have to hit the bumps? Are the bumps hitting before the shock bottoms? What is your true rear axle weight (over a scale)? You should not be hitting the bump stops on a regular basis over moderate terrain. Your suspension needs to be heavy enought to prevent that. The bumps are for overload situations. You can smudge the bumps with lipstick and then check after a "thud" and see if any was transfered.

In a properly designed suspension, the springs are supposed to compensate the static and dynamic loads of the axle. The shock is supposed to dampen and control the action of the spring. The more spring you have, the more dampening you need. Suspensions that are undersprung and over dampened, or visa versa, will have handling and ride quality problems. You used to see that a lot when the multi-shock craze hit.

It's pretty hard to diagnose over the internet, but my guess is that you need more spring at least, possibly more shock. The lipstick test will be a good place to start.

 

[TEJASYOTA]

My link on suspension

http://www.ttora.com/forum/showthread.php?t=94262

The bump stops on our trucks are just hockey pucks.
Check out Timbren or airbags...I have links on the subject.
Note I own Timbren and they are great.

 

[ANDYROO]

Thanks for all the advice.....really appreciate it.