Fishtailing All the Time..

I have an 03 Tacoma with an LT kit up front and 1.5" spacers (rims don't clear calipers, just temporary), and 33" tires. Rear suspension is just deaver j59s with some 5100s. (Another heavy spare 33" under the bed plus a tow hitch under the bumper too)

I've been noticing a lot lately that whenever I am coming into a turn (esp when there's a bump or pothole) that my rear end wants to get away from me and it jumps up and fishtails so much its scary sometimes. I just want to know why its doing this.

I also started noticing this shortly after I installed my LT kit too..

 

Maybe the increase in body roll + you might be taking turns a little more hot without realizing... Tire tread is good I suppose?

 

Its possible, not going to lie, I'll have to double check what speed im coming in at. And yes the tire tread has about 70% life still left

 

When I lived in Texas it rained all the time and I loved street drifting lol, easy on the tires

 

Sounds like the rear shocks are toast.

 

I noticed with LT on that the rear tires will swing out more now VS the fronts loosing grip and pushing when it was stock width and with a sway bar. Especially in wet conditions.

LT changes the entire handling characteristic of the truck (isn’t that why we bought that 4-digit price tag metal in the first place ?), so you gotta account for that. I take corners slower now.

edit:
You could try moving the spacers to the rear when you get new wheels; increasing the track width out back will make it more stable as well.

 

My truck is stock height with blown shocks, and it was fishtailing too. My temporary solution is to throw 2 80lb. bags of sand in the bed closest to the tailgate. When wet, it soaks up water (weighing more) and gives me more traction. I haven't fishtailed since. I plan on changing my shocks this spring.

 

Theyre pretty new actually, only about 2k miles??

 

You make a really good point, never thought of it that way. And that's exactly what my plan is one I get new wheels. I'm hoping itll help just a little.

 

I put my spare under the bed and have a heavy tow hitch in the rear that I thought would help the situation a little lol didn't make a difference really

 

Maybe add an anti wrap bar to your rear axle?

 

Make sure your 5100s are installed upright. The interwebs will say they are monotube and orientation doesn't matter but Fu*k those blue hair suspension arm chair worriers, the billies are binary. If installed upside down they make your suspension want to buck.

Compliance can help with grip. When I would auto x the is300 I would go soft on the rear coilovers (flex with edfc) and stuff up front to give more grip to the rear otherwise it was very oversteer happy. You have a very complaint front and stiffer rear plus the truck weight bias, it's just going to be the way it is unless you go way softer in the rear suspension.

 

I have practically the same situation.
LT up front. J59/1500 rear. But I have my spacers in back to even things up a bit as @Sterling_vH111 suggested. My steering rack bushings are smoked and my rear shocks are probably just as well. It’s wild at freeway speeds. Super sketchy. Replacing bushings this week and probably gunna slap some fox 2.0s in for a bit til I can do something more permanent in the rear. Have you had the long travel installed for a while before you started fishtailing or did it start happening after you installed the kit?

 

You had me at 'auto x the is300' you got some pics of that bad boy? My dream 'go fast' car to build one day

 

Yeah that's what I plan on doing once I get new wheels, just move the spacers to the rear. Honestly I noticed it happening right after I put the kit on. My deavers have maybe 1.5k miles on them and all the suspension is in good shape bushings and all. I'm thinking it's just because the front is so much wider than the back it might be causing this issue but I'm just not sure.. Wanted to get a couple other people's input

 

Yeah theyre definitely installed upright lol I'll have to look into softening up the rear suspension. That might be what it needs because it does feel pretty stiff when it fishtails

 

Could your rear e-locker be accidentally engaged? I'm not having any fishtail problems with BIL 5100s.

This video was made was made with some low cost Nexen tires.

https://youtu.be/uHNvlpbv9HE

 

Sounds to me you need more rebound dampening in the rear. Higher rate springs than stock need more rebound dampening to control over extension after bumps.
When I installed ICON 2.0 with Dakar springs on my Taco I had the same issue you are describing. After I had the shocks revalved for 20% more rebound the problem complete went away.

I had Bilstein 5125 #33-230344 on a 89 Toyota 4WD Pickup and they worked very well. These shocks had 360 rebound/80 compression valving. If you know the part# of your 5100 you could look up there valving specs. IMO if your shocks have lighter dampening than 360/80, finding a solution with more rebound would be my try at a fix.

 

Def not axle wrap haha I tried it already

 

That's promising. I'll have to look into that! But do you know if 5100s can even be revalved?