I'd say it depends on how much ground you want to cover per hour. The great part about "race" type shocks, is you can valve them to your liking, from Cadillac soft to rattle your teeth out stiff, all for about $20 in shims.
Tell me more about the UCA differences please. I often wondered. ..After watching hours of video (you tube) of guys spending days in the Australian Outback, having to drive for hours on rough "roads" or going down long trails to get to the next campsite, or even anything resembling a town, I determined that OME is probably the safest way to go for a suspension upgrade for over landing. I believe most, if not all, of the "utes" driven had the OME system. It's not made for desert racing, but that's not what I define as Over Landing. ICON, FOX, and KING also make great systems, but they are more geared for the high speed crowd. Don't misunderstand me, I'd love to have any of those three under my truck, but I cant afford the $3-4,000 for a full suspension kit. If I was doing a LT kit, I'd definitely go with one of them. Bilstien 6112s are new and look promising, but I haven't seen much research on them. What ever you go with, I recommend replacing the UCAs. After I installed my OME kit, I waited about 6 months for the UCAs. I bought ICONs tubular UCAs, and I can tell you, it makes a huge difference.
PleaseI'm going to x2 this. I have Kings on all four corners, and the ride is unmatched, even by my bosses fancy new Land Rover.
OME, although very very good, is still old twin tube technology. They will not be able to take a sustained beating like Bilstein 5160's, 6112's or a Fox 2.0" kit.
For example, I'd like to see an OME kit do this...
[video]https://youtu.be/-_yjShdbUMI[/video]
So while I've been researching this topic I have come up with a different outlook on a lift kit. My guess is that most of you all will disagree but I think I'm going to go with a drop bracket kit. Most likely the one that RCD makes which is a 4.5 inch lift kit. After talking to a lot of people and a few suspension shops it seems that if I want to keep my rig reliable I should either stay under 2.5 inches of lift or go with a drop bracket kit. Since the angles are usually what causes all of the problems with bearings, cv axles and some other issues the drop bracket keeps all of this to stock settings.
Of course with this kind of lift you limit your down and up travel. Typically it's closer to the stock settings with this also. I'm never going to go rock crawling or do any crazy off roading. I've also been told that the ride quality of some of these drop bracket lifts are better that some cheap 3inch lift options.
What are your thoughts on this? Make any sense or am I going in the wrong direction?
I'm confused. Why is it you need 4.5" of lift if you're not going to "go rock crawling or do any crazy off roading?" A 2" lift will clear 33" tires without any serious issues. Stock suspension has no trouble accommodating 32" tires. What are your objectives?
I'm confused. Why is it you need 4.5" of lift if you're not going to "go rock crawling or do any crazy off roading?" A 2" lift will clear 33" tires without any serious issues. Stock suspension has no trouble accommodating 32" tires. What are your objectives?
The main reason is because I want a lift and I don't want to decrease the reliability of my truck. Let me provide more info...So in the last few weeks I have been looking at adding a lift kit and 33s...Everything points to a 2inch lift or a drop bracket lift. Since a 2inch isn't what I'm looking for...
What's wrong with a 2" lift? That will clear the 33" tires you want to run. It seems looks/style are your primary concern; 33" tires will probably look a little funny on a 4.5" drop bracket lift.
Yes, you are correct. Looks and style are playing a huge roll in this decision. 2" doesn't look any different than stock from my eyes.
I understand, just remember this is a site where form often follows function so you'll probably get a lot of push back or rolled eyes.
Regardless, the only thing I would caution you about is resale. Many people would likely be hesitant to buy a used truck with its crossmember cut out to install a DB lift. If you trade cars regularly, that could be a concern.
On a side note, I don't know where they're at in the development process, but Front Range Offroad is working on a bolt-on IFS system for Tacomas that is completely equally on and off road. Give them a call for details.
Form follows function period. Not just here on ExPo.