Questions before I lift My 05

[scottB]

Tire size?
Does anyone regret getting 285s? I want 285s and have no reservations about trimming. I did the pinch weld mod on my last truck. My concern is with loss of power. In the searching I have done, everyone has reported minimal power loss. For me, this is acceptable.

Front suspension?
What is the situation on alignment issues? I have read Jon's post (spjonm) about not being able to get the desired caster angles. I plan on running DR coilovers. Does anyone w/ DRs have this issue? If you have another brand/type SAWs or spacer, please disclose brand and amount of lift you have. I am curious if the is a correlation with lift height and caster angles.

Rear suspension?
Ok, I know there are only a few 05's w/ deavers. I do not tow very often, and when I do its light. I will have 3 to 6 hundred pounds in the truck, including people and gear 2 or 3 times a month. Is this to much weight for the deaver leaf springs? I will email deaver and probably wheelers and demello also, its a 10 leaf, simular to the tundra design so i am thinking this set up will work for me. I might post this question over on the tundra section and see what they think.

I also want to thank all of you who post all this great info, and take the time share pictures.
thanks
scott b

note; i have a 05 DC offroad 4wd

[Phi Kai]

The donahoes up front and the deavers in the rear will be fine for you...I wish i had the money to afford that setup, but looks like ill be doing the toytec 3" spacers

I also plan on running 285s and dont really have a concern with them, most people get minimal rub, but i guess thats expected with big tires

have fun and good luck

Kai

[spjonm3]

Originally Posted by scottB

Front suspension?
What is the situation on alignment issues? I have read Jon's post (spjonm) about not being able to get the desired caster angles. I plan on running DR coilovers. Does anyone w/ DRs have this issue? If you have another brand/type SAWs or spacer, please disclose brand and amount of lift you have. I am curious if the is a correlation with lift height and caster angles.

Any lift on the front of any Tacoma will have an effect on the caster of the vehicle. Basically you want as close to 3 deg. of caster as you can get. Toyota asks for ~2 deg. with a stock '05 4x4 or prerunner. The most I've heard anyone getting with 3" lift is 1 deg. and I was unable to get any caster with my 3" coil-over lift. After installing the TC UCAs I now have 2-7/8 deg of caster

EDIT: The place I got my truck aligned said that another guy came in and he has a very similar setup to mine, COs and UCAs, but he had lager tires. The guy didn't bother to remeber what size tires he had, but because of the larger tires (or maybe it was just the mud flaps and the over fenders which I have cut) he was only able to get 1 deg of caster. Any more and the tires would rub. He said it also might have had to do with the off set of the wheels.

If you are in So Cal a good place to get an alignment is Dave's Frame and Alignment in Huntington Beach. . He was the first to guide me in the right direction about the alignment. I got it aligned at two other alignement/tire shops and they both said all is fine even though the truck was not within Toyota spec. The guys a Dave's also said that my alignment was off by quite a bit (maybe why I felt it needed yet another alignement).

Another quick note: They guys at Dave's gave me some info on the vibration issue. I told him that I had a small vibration and he asked what speed cause at 45-55 mph its a tire balance issue, and hat 62 mph it a problem with the wheel. He also said that vibrations issues are not caused by an alignment problem. He said that you can mask a vibration issue by adding toe (i forgot weather is was neg. or pos. toe) but you would be "scrubbing" the tires (they would look like this / \ or this \ / ) and would loose power cause you would have to push the tires along.

Originally Posted by scottB

Rear suspension?
Ok, I know there are only a few 05's w/ Deavers. I do not tow very often, and when I do its light. I will have 3 to 6 hundred pounds in the truck, including people and gear 2 or 3 times a month. Is this to much weight for the Deaver leaf springs? I will email Deaver and probably wheelers and demello also, its a 10 leaf, simular to the tundra design so i am thinking this set up will work for me.

I just installed the Deavers. I think you will be fine with 200 or 300 lbs in the rear. Although you will need to take it easy over bumps and dips, the truck will bottom out on the bump stops very easy. I bottom out fairly easy with 3 average size people in my truck with the Deavers. But if you plan to off road you can't go wrong with these things. I was AMAZED at how much difference they made. The rear was so smooth over the roughest terrain. I called Deaver and will actually be adding another leaf and raising the spring rate on my pack. I plan on loading some gear when camping and having up to 4 people in the truck. This will lift the rear about 1" and will add about 250-300lbs load capability over the "off the shelf" Deavers. If you want this option you can ask for it and they will do it before they ship, or you pick up, the springs.

Originally Posted by scottB

I also want to thank all of you who post all this great info, and take the time share pictures.
thanks
scott b

note; i have a 05 DC offroad 4wd

No prob. I think we are all here to help out!

[TACODOC]

I've done alot of watching and waiting on this issue so...
If money were no issue and I could do it today I would run 285 Goodyear MTR's or BFG AT's, DR coilovers, TC UCA's, and Deavers in the rear. And an ARB bumper with a Warn up front while I'm dreaming

My wife would blow a gasket and my stuff would be out in the front yard, but my truck would be hooked up

...Doc

[TacomaOffRoadGrl]

Originally Posted by spjonm3

Any lift on the front of any Tacoma will have an effect on the caster of the vehicle. Basically you want as close to 3 deg. of caster as you can get. Toyota asks for ~2 deg. with a stock '05 4x4 or prerunner. The most I've heard anyone getting with 3" lift is 1 deg. and I was unable to get any caster with my 3" coil-over lift. After installing the TC UCAs I now have 2-7/8 deg of caster

EDIT: The place I got my truck aligned said that another guy came in and he has a very similar setup to mine, COs and UCAs, but he had lager tires. The guy didn't bother to remeber what size tires he had, but because of the larger tires (or maybe it was just the mud flaps and the over fenders which I have cut) he was only able to get 1 deg of caster. Any more and the tires would rub. He said it also might have had to do with the off set of the wheels.

If you are in So Cal a good place to get an alignment is Dave's Frame and Alignment in Huntington Beach. . He was the first to guide me in the right direction about the alignment. I got it aligned at two other alignement/tire shops and they both said all is fine even though the truck was not within Toyota spec. The guys a Dave's also said that my alignment was off by quite a bit (maybe why I felt it needed yet another alignement).

Another quick note: They guys at Dave's gave me some info on the vibration issue. I told him that I had a small vibration and he asked what speed cause at 45-55 mph its a tire balance issue, and hat 62 mph it a problem with the wheel. He also said that vibrations issues are not caused by an alignment problem. He said that you can mask a vibration issue by adding toe (i forgot weather is was neg. or pos. toe) but you would be "scrubbing" the tires / \ and would loose power cause you would have to push the tires along.



I just installed the Deavers. I think you will be fine with 200 or 300 lbs in the rear. Although you will need to take it easy over bumps and dips, the truck will bottom out on the bump stops very easy. I bottom out fairly easy with 3 average size people in my truck with the Deavers. But if you plan to off road you can't go wrong with these things. I was AMAZED at how much difference they made. The rear was so smooth over the roughest terrain. I called Deaver and will actually be adding another leaf and raising the spring rate on my pack. I plan on loading some gear when camping and having up to 4 people in the truck. This will lift the rear about 1" and will add about 250-300lbs load capability over the "off the shelf" Deavers. If you want this option you can ask for it and they will do it before they ship, or you pick up, the springs.



No prob. I think we are all here to help out!

What he said!

[UT Tacoma]

I have 285 60 18's on my truck with a 3" lift, love the look and did not notice power loss (i am sure there was a bit).

I tow with my truck on a regular basis (18ft boat appx 3500 lbs) - truck does fine but drinks gas while towing.

[tbrown78]

Originally Posted by spjonm3

I just installed the Deavers. I think you will be fine with 200 or 300 lbs in the rear. Although you will need to take it easy over bumps and dips, the truck will bottom out on the bump stops very easy. I bottom out fairly easy with 3 average size people in my truck with the Deavers. But if you plan to off road you can't go wrong with these things. I was AMAZED at how much difference they made. The rear was so smooth over the roughest terrain. I called Deaver and will actually be adding another leaf and raising the spring rate on my pack. I plan on loading some gear when camping and having up to 4 people in the truck. This will lift the rear about 1" and will add about 250-300lbs load capability over the "off the shelf" Deavers. If you want this option you can ask for it and they will do it before they ship, or you pick up, the springs.

Thats a surprisingly low amount of weight to bottom out with on small bumps. I have the Deavers installed as well and have carried a payload including me and my wife of approx. 600 lbs with no problems bottoming out. In fact I've yet to do it. The stock payload for the access cab is over 1350 lbs, and I estimate that I lost maybe 300 to 400 lbs of carring capacity.
I know Jungleman has carried a good load as well with his Deavers and he reported that he didn't have any issues with the weight and bottoming out. I contacted Deaver about this prior to my purchase because I wanted a payload of at least 800 lbs and they said the their taco 10 leaf packs are good for that. I wonder why yours bottomed out so easy.

I also have the D-hoes and have them cranked to give me 2" of lift. I lowered them just a bit from the box because at first I didn't like the nose high look without the back lifted but thought the ride was better at the lower height so I left them there. Also I'm going for performance more than looks and with 265/75 16 tires I felt the added height wasn't really needed at this time.

I'm not sure of my caster numbers but I had my local Toyota Tech do the alignment over 5 months ago and he said he was able to keep the numbers pretty close to stock, and on road there really isn't much of a difference in the steering or hi speed stability from stock.