Baja

I have a 2014 tacoma with Baja package factory and looking at lift kits. Every place that I have talked with says that a lift wont work on the Baja version. Is there something different about the suspension that I dont know about? Any help would be great
Thank you

 

What kind of lift kits are you looking at?

The Baja/Pro edition trucks aren't built any physically different from the regular models and just come with different shocks and front springs. Any aftermarket suspension you can put onto a regular Tacoma you can put onto a Baja. But keep in mind that you already have some lift in the front so the amount of lift advertised over stock may not apply to your situation.

 

Pretty good explanation of what you have vs standard Trd trucks in this thread below.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/selecting-a-mild-lift-trd-baja-tx-pro-icon-aal.385619/

 

^ The 2nd paragraph pretty much sums it up.

You can take a look through here. @Island Cruiser has pretty much tried every major brand at some point or another, though I havent seen him around in a while
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/trd-pro-tx-baja-official-thread.360056/

 

I installed the Baja kit. The front does get raised 1.5' over stock, but they aren't multi adjustable up or down like generic 6110's are direct from Bilstein. The only way to get an extra 1' of lift with the OEM Baja is to install this specific spacer: Other than that, you'll need to swap out to a different suspension setup... Which doesn't really make sense as the Baja suspension is really good!

Personally, if you want more lift, get that 1' tophat and get a progressive HD 3 leaf pack (keeping the overload) in the rear and you'll have an awesome 2.5' lift (over a stock Tacoma) that's way awesome bro!

 

As in progressive rear leaf which ones are good to go with

 

I've been pretty happy with my Headstrong 3-leaf AAL (paired with my Bilstein Pro suspension). That said, I just found a good deal on some Icon RXT leafs so am going to upgrade to those. I was also considering the Deaver U402

What is best is HEAVILY dependent on what you're trying to accomplish. How much weight are you carrying? What sort of uses does the truck see (sand, snow, rock crawling, high speed desert, mostly freeway, overlanding...)? How much lift are you looking for?

There's no one correct answer to your question because everyone's situation is different.

 

Well i uave had truck since i got it off showroom floor and been stock baja suspension since. I was looking to get a 3” lift with front uppers and change wheels. Cheaper then new vehicle and only 92,000 on it so should be good.
I figured a 3 inch lift from a decent company may be better ride quaility then the toytec 1 in spacer and add a leaf in rear but i could be wrong.

 

Keep in mind that a if you use a 3" strut top spacer lift (1.5" thick spacer) you'll see about 3" of lift. But, if you get a regular suspension lift that advertises 3" of lift that is going to be 3" lift on a non-baja. With that suspension you'd see roughly a 1.5" lift because your truck is already 1.5" higher than a stock tacoma. (Note: a "strut top spacer" is NOT the same thing as the Toytec product which is installed differently and achieves lift via preload rather than physically lengthening the strut assembly.)

Also, general consensus is that 3" of lift (above stock Tacoma, not Baja) is approaching, if not over the threshold of what is "too much" lift. Meaning that you can start running into issues (like wearing out axle boots extremely quickly). Everyone's truck and situation is a little different but it's worth doing some research to see what you may be getting yourself into if you do a full 3" lift.

Personally, I wouldn't be looking to add the Toytec spacer simply because your suspension already has almost 100k miles on it. So doing that spacer would mean you're still running your old shocks. If you plan on keeping the truck for a long while then it seems logical to me that you'd want to install new shocks to help future proof your truck.

 

What's your reason for wanting more lift in the first place? By changing wheels do you mean putting on bigger tires like 285s? I think you should start researching more on this forum about bigger tires and that lift isn't the main limiting factor... Cab mounts are... (CMC).

Again, a 3' lift is taken from the context of a stock tacoma, not a Baja. Taking off your Baja suspension just to put on a Toytec "spacer lift" to get a 3' above stock, is not what you'd want to do. Your truck is going to ride like shit!

I have the 1' extra spacer on my Baja suspension plus the 1.5' progressive AAL. My buddy has the same truck but decided to put on the typical spacer lift and he says all the time how much he hates the ride and how much different (better) mine rides. With this setup, and a CMC, you'd have plenty of room from a lift perspective to run 285's with no issues.

As clenkeit said, you probably don't want to go more than 2.5' of lift before you start to run into other potential issues.

 

When running the 1" spacer on baja suspension and the 1.5" aal would I need to change the upper control arm for something like this

 

Nope

 

Correction, needing to replace the UCA's may be required if you are going to 285's to get your alignment set properly (others will have to chime in on that). But certainly not if you are sticking with 265/75/16, 265/70/17, 255/85/16 or 255/75/17...

 

I can highly recommend the Icon RXT for a Baja equipped model. It levels out the rear, and has the extra add-on leaf for those with camper shells or who haul frequently. My factory leafs didn't make it 5 years without sagging, after the PO put a cap on.