Tundra coils are done!!!

[OldSven]

The coils are in and finally done. After 3 different setups with spacers and without I finally nailed it. This setup works great for a Tacoma with a heavy winch bumper. The Tundra struts are able to hold the weight with a very comfortable ride, but are just alittle to short to level out the front with a 3" lift kit in the rear. I tried running my old ToyTec spacers in with the coils but unless you have 3-4 winches up front this ride will kill you. So I removed the spacers and put them back to stock. Came across a spacer lift that I had looked at once before but had heard mixed comments on the product. Well without going to coilovers this was the last option. Installed the spacers on top of the strut and installed back on the truck and it was back up to height and kept the stock ride quality of the progressive rate spring. here is the truck with just the Tundra struts and then with the spacer added.

Instructions: -Tundra TRD (4x2 or 4x4) struts.
-Remove swaybar completely
-Switch Tacoma top plate over to Tundra pack.
-Compress back together
-Trim Tundra rubber isolator around top plate
-A 2" lift spacer from www.extremetrucktoys.com
-Ready to install.

The total price for me was about $300, I had access to a spring compressor through work so that part was free. And after removing the struts so many times I can do it with out even removing the wheels, hopefully this setup will allow you to only have to remove them once cause it gets old after 3 or 4 times...

 

[BajaTaco]

Congrats! Great mod.

... lots of play side to side

I'm not quite sure I know what you mean by this. Can you elaborate?

 

[OldSven]

When you are driving down the road crank the wheel back and forth and you get a lot of body roll.

 

[OldSven]

Pretty beefed up for a stock coilover.

 

[p1michaud]

Tundra lift

Well I finally got the Tundra coilovers on the truck today.
...It sits exactly where it did with the 3" spacer lift.

I have read about this lift combination over on Yotatech and TTORA and had pondered it when researching my front suspension set up. At the time there were only a few people who had done this lift and not enough experience with it so I opted for the OME instead. So you are sitting at 3" of lift without the top spacer? Pretty nice! Have you flexed out to see if you ge full travel. From what I read the guys that did this lift were getting full travel.

Good work. Once you have accumulated some miles let us know what your thoughs are on this set up.

Cheers :beer:,
P

 

[OldSven]

Well took the truck out yesterday for a run and found some issues with the lift. I have a few people here giving me some great addvice on a good fix. The truck sits about 1 1/4" lower in the front than the back. The verdict so far is to either install my Toytec spacer in with the coil or order up an AllPro 2" over the coil spacer. The winch isn't in yet so I will need the lift regardless. As for the ride of the coils they are great. They react to bumps at high speeds and holds the weight just fine. It just isn't high enough for the 255's under there at full flex. Just don't know if I want to screw up the ride with the "in the coil spacer".

 

[photoleif]

sorry for a quick hijack

lookin' good. what kind of articulation do you get with those now, compared to the original setup?

btw what's your tire size? 255 x ? on 16" wheels?

thanks

 

[OldSven]

Yep, 255/85/16 BFG's. The articulation is great. I also don't have the sway bar on which helps alot, but is one of the reason's for the tire rub. I'm thinking of putting it back on depending on how the spacers turn out. "To much flex" I never in 3 different Toyotas have I ever said I had to much but not enough, well I have said it. I hope they give me enough lift to forget about it, the overall ride was worth the pain.

 

[p1michaud]

"Top Load" Spacer

Well took the truck out yesterday for a run and found some issues with the lift. I have a few people here giving me some great addvice on a good fix. The truck sits about 1 1/4" lower in the front than the back. The verdict so far is to either install my Toytec spacer in with the coil or order up an AllPro 2" over the coil spacer. The winch isn't in yet so I will need the lift regardless. As for the ride of the coils they are great. They react to bumps at high speeds and holds the weight just fine. It just isn't high enough for the 255's under there at full flex. Just don't know if I want to screw up the ride with the "in the coil spacer".

The maximum spacer thickness I would recommend for the "Top Load" type is 0.5". The reason I say this is that I used a 7/8" top load spacer with 1" longer front shocks and at full drop, the upper ball joints would hit the coil. This is bad because you will be over extending the upper ball joint leading to pre-mature wear or possibly sudden failure. The other issue with too much drop (down travel if you wish) is that you may over extend you CV's causing the inner joint to come out of it's housing or ripping the inner CV boot.
I think your preferred route would be to install the Toytec spacer inside the coil pack.
Just thought I'd give you a heads up based on my experiences.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Cheers,
P

 

[OldSven]

The spacers are being put in tomorrow. I'm going to put them back on the truck without the little top spacer and see where it sits. I'm getting tired of taking these things out of there:ar15: Hope this works, I have it down so well now I can jack the truck up, wheels off, and struts out in 10min flat. That's not a good thing

 

[Dave Bennett]

The name of this thread is misleading, every time I see it I think the 07 Tundras are at the dealership... rngartis
Nice mod!

 

[OldSven]

Well they are in. Installed my old spacer without the top spacer. It sits perfect, nice and level with the rear. But it did kind of screw up the ride quality like I thought they would. It has some "spring in its step" if you know what I mean. The coils hold the weight of the bumper like it isn't there, maybe the weight of the future winch will smooth it out alittle. I did get a chance to ramp it at a nearby warehouse and it was awsome. I picked the rear wheel off of the ground and still there was no rubb from the tires. Hit a good speed bump at a high speed and it kind of jarred my teeth alittle but I can't see hitting the bump stops anytime soon Guess I don't have to worry about getting smaller tires, just some black steelies:hehe:

 

[Willman]

Can't wait to see them in person!!!! Sweet mod!!!!

:clapsmile

 

[OldSven]

The truck has alot of bounce to it now. The progressiveness of the springs is all screwed up. But I just got a set of 2" lift spacers that install on top of the strut. I guess I will give these a shot and if not go back to the other ones.
Here are the ones I got.

 

[OldSven]

They worked great today.