I want my tundra to handle like a lightning. Suggestions?

[JeffD]

Ok, well obviously my 4x4 TRD tundra is never going to handle like a lightning - but with close to 200K on the stock suspension my girlfriend gets carsick when she rides with me. The truck never really stops bouncing and swaying. My brother has an '01 lightning. She doesn't get carsick when I drive her around in that even though I am always in the boost and flying around corners like you wouldn't think a truck possibly could.


I have a set of the early fox/fabtech performance coilovers in the garage, but I wore out the bushings in less than 6 months of driving. I liked the way they felt with add-a-leaf's in the rear, but I am not interested in replacing bushings everytime I rotate my tires.

I don't want to lift the truck again, I already gave away my 33's, but I would not mind buying coilovers and leaving them around stock height, or lower to have a good stiff ride.

I have Michelin cross-terrains, and I also realize that those tires are very soft ride wise, but I think most of my car-sickness inducing motion is from the suspension.

Has anyone found any shock/spring combination that truly keeps the truck under control? I drive a lot of hard miles. Mostly on the road, and the off-road miles I do now is just driving through sugar sand in orange groves which I can do with street tires. I imagine a rear sway bar would not hurt that too much.

What shock/spring combination would work to make this truck sportier on the street. These tires still have about 25K left in them, so I am not going to replace them until november-ish.

My other option is to park this truck and get a 3-4 year old maxima SE to drive as my daily driver, and use the tundra for orange groves, and large trailer towing. But, right now I drive the truck every single day and nothing evey breaks. I am worried that if I start to let it sit it will become less reliable for when I need to pull a car across country with it.

Any suggestions?

[Genthar]

Originally Posted by JeffD

Ok, well obviously my 4x4 TRD tundra is never going to handle like a lightning - but with close to 200K on the stock suspension my girlfriend gets carsick when she rides with me. The truck never really stops bouncing and swaying....I imagine a rear sway bar would not hurt that too much...Any suggestions?

Well, if you're bouncing and swaying, your shocks are probably dead and gone. Replacing your shocks will help with the bouncing and swaying, and if you have 200K on the stock springs, replacing those probably wouldn't hurt either. The TRD's are what you had, you could go with the bilstein HD/TRD Red-blue shocks which are stiffer, but you might sacrifice a bit of the smooth ride. The rear sway-bar seems to be the ticket of choice for turning stability, and if you get some disconnects for it, you can unhook it for when you're off-road so you don't lose the axle articulation.

Wheeler's Offroad also offers some poly-bushings for the front sway, which people have said helps stiffen the front a bit as well.

Not sure if there are any sport coilovers for the Tundra yet, I have the TW-SAW's and they're excellent, but, you said you didn't want to lift again, and they work the best with some preload (i.e. lifting), though you could run them at stock height

[Rlockyer]

The Hellwig swaybar was the best $150 I ever spent on my truck.
Corners better than a Silverado now.

There's nothing wrong with the cross terrains, just run them at 35psi.

[SATundra]

Originally Posted by Genthar

Well, if you're bouncing and swaying, your shocks are probably dead and gone. Replacing your shocks will help with the bouncing and swaying, and if you have 200K on the stock springs, replacing those probably wouldn't hurt either. The TRD's are what you had, you could go with the bilstein HD/TRD Red-blue shocks which are stiffer, but you might sacrifice a bit of the smooth ride. The rear sway-bar seems to be the ticket of choice for turning stability, and if you get some disconnects for it, you can unhook it for when you're off-road so you don't lose the axle articulation.

Wheeler's Offroad also offers some poly-bushings for the front sway, which people have said helps stiffen the front a bit as well.

Ditto, I agree completely with Genthar.

Heres the link to Wheelers for the shocks and springs: Wheelers Off Road - TRD stuff

Heres the link to Hellwig for the swaybar: Hellwig swaybar

Heres the link to Wheelers for the front bushings: Wheelers bushing kit

I have a 2WD and added the 4x4 red/blue Bilsteins and 4x4 TRD springs to the front, also added the yellow/blue 4x4 Bilsteins, Hellwig swaybar and TRD add-a-leafs to the rear. The truck handles like a dream. No dipping, swaying or leaning at all. You can take corners like a sportscar AND hail around loads with this setup.

[Verndog]

Originally Posted by JeffD

but with close to 200K on the stock suspension my girlfriend gets carsick when she rides with me. The truck never really stops bouncing and swaying. Any suggestions?

Well, I'd say the cheapest thing to do is throw her in the back.

If she doesn't go for that, one great mod is the Wheelers leveling coil overs, it tightens up the front but still rides nice, and bonus, levels the truck!

Kevin

[TRDKEAU]

new shocks (mild to wild itill make a difference)

coilovers will I think be softer if left lower, you can set a little less than 1.75 and be firm.

rears and leaf packs

sway bar (helwig=cheap and effective. hotchkis=$$ but will have a front and rear setup)

New bushings great buy, load those polys up with lube so theres no squeak!

Drive a little better.

[keiphers]

Originally Posted by TRDKEAU

sway bar (helwig=cheap and effective. hotchkis=$$ but will have a front and rear setup)

Hotchkis has an anti-sway bar kit for our trucks?

[03TundraTRD]

Check the Thread "Lowering Trucks Check in" above and there is a sportcoilover system coming out soon it will drop the front end bout 2''. I also have the Hellwig anti-sway bar it REALLY helps in cornering.

[TRDKEAU]

http://www.hotchkistuning.com/cgi-bi...oyota%3BTundra

Still about 90 days out, but on its way, theres another application for the front and rear made by addico in florida. But they will not fit 02 and below

[JeffD]

Thanks guys!!! I am always driving the truck a bit rough, but when she is with me I try to be very smooth. The truck still just kind of wallows. The other thing is that all the roads here are under construction, and instead of just dropping when the pavement drops, the truck kind of rocks front to back a couple times.

I guess I will probably go for the rear sway bar, and check with hotchkiss to see if there is a front one available bigger than stock. I had done the poly bushings before, but took them out because I could not keep them from squeeking for very long. I thought maybe it was because I had greased them.

I will probably also try the red/blue HD bilsteins. If they don't work wonderfully I won't be out much cash.

[chrislloyd]

i had 50someK miles on my tundra.... it also bounced and leaned far far more than new. i have a TRD model. it was nice in the beginning... but quickly faded. i just added the fabtech coilovers, fabtech rear shocks and add a leafs. before i adjusted the fronts up, i was SOOO impressed with the ride. i drive the same way to work everyday. therre are 4 speed bumps. i went right for those after the installation. i tried them slow and fast. it was AMAZING how much better the truck felt. after adjusting the front upwards... it still handled great. the speed bumps were a bit more harsh, but far better than the factory setup.

the first offroad trip was truly amazing. the things handled better that i could have imagined. it is more fun to drive now that ever before. if i do get a new DC, the first thing it will get is new suspension.

[DevinSixtySeven]

jeff-

with 200K on the truck, new shocks & springs and you'll probably be just fine. the stock rear springs are very floppy to begin with...you regularly tow/haul? theyre probably getting pretty bad. if you plan on keeping the truck for a long time, look at alcan, deaver, and nwor rear spring packs. if you're going to sell it soon, just get an add-a-leaf to pass the time.

there is nothing wrong with your front swaybar. seriously...it's just fine. try better shocks and some new springs--see if you can get a set of take-offs from someone with a new truck who recently bought coilovers, and put 'em on new shocks.

the rear swaybar is a must . one of these days, i'll put mine on .

-s

[v8Toilet]

200k on original shocks, man you need new one! The shocks job is to control spring oscillations (bounce). This should be your first modification.

[JeffD]

Ok, so I am going to get the rear sway bar, Bilstein HD shocks for the rear, and some springs/shocks for the front. I have a new set of oem/TRD rear springs here already. where they came from is a long story.


Now my question is. If I am going to buy Bilstein HD front shocks, and TRD front springs from wheelers, and rent the spring compressor - would it be better to buy the bilstein coilovers and run at stock height. If that is better, would running the SAW's, or Donahoe coilovers at stock height be even better.

My definition of better would be a stiffer, more controlled ride on the street with less swaying. I am sure that all of these options would prevent the topping/bottoming problems I have in the dirt.

So I would be looking at $500 for the front using Bilstein HD's, and OEM Springs, to a max of $1000 for donahoe coilovers.

Do you need to run Limit Straps with the Bilstein Coilovers?

It's hard to justify spending over $1000 for shocks/springs/swaybar when the truck already has so many miles on it and may die at any time. On the other hand it still looks and runs like new, and I still drive it a thousand miles a week average. I spend almost that much on tires and brakes every so many miles. I spent a bunch of money on the Fabtech/P setup - any of this stuff would surely work better than that. I still enjoy driving it and have been considering putting the S/C on it. And I only have to justify it to myself.

I would say the front springs are worn out. Before Cornfed came here on the site I machined myself a set of spacers for the front springs, except I put them between the top of the spring, and the spring seat. basically adding a bunch of preload to the stock spring. Not realizing exactly what the ratio was, I made the first set 2" high. Once I managed to get the springs/shock back together, the truck rode totally topped out. I realized what was wrong, and cut them down to about 1 inch. That worked well, I ran them like that for a bunch of miles. Having taken the spacers out, the truck now sits lower in the front than anyone elses tundra that I know of. So I am pretty sure I need to replace them.

[tundrabrad]

Buy an MR2 if you want something that handles and can make your girlfriend really sick!

Brad