Seeking First Gen Tacoma Lift Help?

[Yoter]

I know this is the wrong forum for Tacoma questions but thought I would try here before posting on another forum.

I am helping a friend lift his 2003 Double Cab PreRunner Tacoma, its going to be his daily driver and see limited off road use.

We are looking to achieve 3 inches of lift and keep the cost reasonable so no coil overs/UCA's.
From my research I am thinking of doing a 2 inch suspension lift and a 1 inch body lift to avoid alignment issues/drive line vibrations and to keep maintenance at a minimum (tire rotations and ball joint wear).

Just looking for any advice regarding this setup, as I have no experience with body lifts or with leaf springs.

The plan as of now is:
4 Crawler 1 inch body lift.
Front:
99 4runner front struts (should give 1 inch over stock) that have about 90k on them with a Wheelers 3/4 inch poly coil spacer.
Rear:
Wheelers 2" AAL and Rough Country shocks + brake valve bracket.

Does this sound like a good setup?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

 

[Hepar]

Have you done a lift on a 3rd gen? The front ends are basically the same. I had an '01 Tacoma. The rear leafs were pretty straight forward, but I didn't have to add a leaf. I swapped out the whole pack. Certainly far easier to change out the rear shocks.

 

[4Reak Show]

Seems like you got it figured out for the most part to be honest. Let me know if I can help. I'm in your area (northern Cali, so sort of). Not much lifting experience but a journeyman master tech and haven't met a problem I couldn't solve. If you need extra hands when it's time to get dirty I might be able to help out.

But overall from what I've heard it's all straightforward. Bolts out, bolts in. Make sure it's all tight. Simple enough right?

 

[Yoter]

Seems like you got it figured out for the most part to be honest. Let me know if I can help. I'm in your area (northern Cali, so sort of). Not much lifting experience but a journeyman master tech and haven't met a problem I couldn't solve. If you need extra hands when it's time to get dirty I might be able to help out.

But overall from what I've heard it's all straightforward. Bolts out, bolts in. Make sure it's all tight. Simple enough right?

Thank you for the generous offer! I have been away from the T4R forum for a while since my 4runner got totaled but this great community never ceases to amaze me!
I installed the lift on my 4runner so this should go pretty smoothly, I will be working at his home in SF so it would be a little out of the way for you.

4crawler offers an upgrade for the hardware to be upgraded to "grade 8" from "grade 5" do you think this is important or is the standard grade 5 sufficient? Thanks.

 

[4Reak Show]

Yeah no worries man, figured I'd offer. I also have access to my shop's lifts and such but having all the professional equipment does tend to take the challenge and fun out of it, and you guys would have to drive about an hour each way.

As far as 5 vs 8...well I'm not an engineer, but the way I look at it is value over headache. The truck came with 5 so those are likely to be fine, however, you are moving stuff around, adding additional torque and flex angles that weren't there before and weren't designed into the original suspension and body. If it were me, I would certainly overkill it and go with 8 if they aren't very expensive. But I'm willing to bet that hundreds of people have used 5 without any qualms

 

[ran]

will keep an eye on this thread, not that my wife will ever let me touch her 2002 4 dr PreRunner.
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2007 SE V6 titanium