Looking for suggestions - 2005 Tacoma X-Runner Suspension Upgrades

Looking for suggestions on suspension system upgrades for my 2005 X-Runner. I'm not looking to lift (lower if anything) and not trying to break the bank. Ideally I'm looking for a kit or part recommendations that are bolt-on upgrades, I don't want to have to heavily modify anything.

I took my truck up to a shop recently due to some vibration and other oddities after a long road trip, had them check everything out. Quoted me $8k including parts and labor, and this is just for OEM stuff. Nah. Only good thing that came from their inspection and quote was getting it up on the lift so I can see the problem areas. I have... quite a few issues.

Pretty much anything suspension related with bushings or bellows is rotted out.
Stabilizer/Sway bar end links are shot.
Front struts/springs - prefer a whole assembly, like a quickstrut. bad experience with compressing springs.
Rear shocks
Inner and outer tie rod ends
Steering gear assembly - bellows are gone, leaking fluid
Leaf springs are shoddy.

Initially I posted this over in the 2nd-Gen forum but was suggested I post over here for more response.

Thanks!

 

Here’s a couple of links for you:

Info on coilovers for xrunners (and 5-lug tacomas): https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/5lug-coilovers.541417/

Pieced-together coilovers:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/height-and-ride-adjustable-front-shocks.717946/

Sway bar urethane bushing kit:
https://sosperformance.com/products/tr1521-energy-suspension-sway-bar-bushing-kit-fits-x-runner

Info on leaf spring options (check last few pages on adding 4x4 leafs from a 3rd gen Tacoma): https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...oyota-never-made.690223/page-20#post-30156296

The rest of the parts (tie rods, sway bar end links, replacement shocks for rear, etc) can be found by doing a parts search on rockauto.com for part numbers - you can source the parts there or any other online retailer (Amazon, eBay, etc) as they are not necessarily custom items. You can also check the 5-lug section of this forum as your xrunner falls under that category.

The second post I linked are the suspension set up I came up with, has parts links, and is budget minded. I’ve been running that set up for more than 30k miles without issue. I think Jegs sells comparable adjustable shocks/struts and they might be a bit cheaper. You can also install them without compressing the spring, and adjust them once they are on the truck. You’ll need to compress the spring though to get them out of the stock shocks.

I also added 3rd gen 4x4 leafs and they are working great so far, and you can probably find a lightly used set for cheap in your local classifieds.

Hope this helps some, lmk if you have any questions.

 

Thanks for the info, I'll probably hit you up tomorrow sometime. I've been on this forum for literally 7 hours now reading over all these threads.

Since I'm here...
Back in the day, QA1s were the popular shocks for the X-Runner.. But from reading on here, people seem to like the Bilsteins in more recent years (5100s?) - I was hoping to find a decent coilover assembly - not sure if my front springs are OK or not, a decent all-in-one would be ideal.

 

I think you can buy the stock xrunner Bilsteins (don’t know the series number) but at the time I put together my set, a new set were not that much cheaper than a set of Vikings, and they did not have any height or ride adjustability, so it was worth it to go with the Vikings. My truck came with bilsteins but I didn’t care for the way they rode (even when matched with the correct xrunner stock spring they were made for), which is why I started looking for options in the first place.

I’m not sure if they sell a spring/strut set; I only found them ala carte and the stock xrunner springs could only be found from Toyota, and they were pricy. Springs should last the life of the vehicle, so unless yours are failed, cracked, or rusted through, they might still be good to go.

Strictly street does sell a coilover set, but I think they make the set with Viking shocks. Feal also sells a coil over set, which I think some of the guys here are on running, but the set up I made was cheaper to piece together, so I went that route.

 

Have you looked at djm kits? How are your body mount bushings? I had qa1 on the rear of a base taco and it rode nice, and bilstein 4600 up front. Where are you located? I have a set of oem xrunner shocks I’m looking to sell cheap. I had them on the base truck I had but it rode to stiff, so I swapped for the qa1/bilstein combo. I was also lowered with the djm kit.

 

I'm in Texas.
Which DJM kit did you use?

Looking at those kits now - Specifically this one https://djmsuspension.com/product/2005-2014-toyota-tacoma-complete-3-inch-upper-lower-control-arms/
I don't think that kit explicitly lowers ride height. Which I'm fine with. I'm comparing this one to Mevotech parts from RockAuto - both manufacturers have the balljoints already pressed and include grease fittings. Mevo doesn't include bump stops and use rubber bushings. DJM uses poly bushings going off of the photos. The DJMs are twice the price of the Mevotechs

Looks like this front control arm kit is specific for front lowering https://djmsuspension.com/product/2005-2014-toyota-tacoma-complete-3-inch-front-lowering-kit/

Then there's this kit https://djmsuspension.com/product/2005-2014-toyota-tacoma-complete-3-inch-4-inch-lowering-kit/ - don't think I want to use this one. As much as I would love to lower the truck all around, I don't want to have to notch the frame, which apparently you have to do to use the rear kit. And axle blocks always seemed janky to me.

Trying to avoid anything that requires a press - mine got stolen a few months ago

 

That’s the kit I used, I did notch my frame too, some guys weld the notch.

 

So the first kit I linked, that one does in fact lower the front? That's the kit that is included with the third one I linked (front and rear lowering kit)

Was looking over the thread mentioned earlier that had some info on leaf springs - which ones are you running?
Looks like one dude installed leaf springs from a 2019 trd pro 4x4 double cab 48210-04871 and 48220-04511 and these did not affect his ride height.
And another guy installed some leaf springs from a 2016 tacoma double cab trd 4x4 48210-04840 and 48220-04480 and they lowered his truck 1-1/8in but he didn't like the way they rode. Said they were flatter than stock x springs

 

I have new Delphi branded UCA and LCA for sale if you're interested. $200 for everything plus shipping.

 

Unless they have added to their product line (which I don’t think is likely), my understanding is that all of DJM’s control arms lower the front end by moving the mounting point of the ball joints up.

I have part #s 48220-04492 and 48210-04812 leaf springs from a 2022 TRD Sport. Unfortunately it’s hard to say what you’ll actually see as I haven’t found a definitive answer in the differences between the base model leafs (which I had and swapped out) compared with xrunner leafs. Supposedly the xrunner was 1” lower than the base model from the factory; my guess is that the base model leafs are more arched, but slightly softer.

The 4x4 leafs do ride stiffer, but I occasionally use my truck for loads so I’m ok with the trade-off.

 

Yea the djm kits lower the truck. what about just sticking to oem parts? New shocks and bushings all around, stay out of the rabbit hole lol

 

I'm honestly considering going that route and just overhauling with new OEM stuff. It does turn into quite a rabbit hole. My line of thinking is always... If I'm spending the money and my labor time, I'd rather those resources go towards an upgrade.

When I rebuilt the transmission in this truck a few years ago I spent weeks on research and obtaining parts. Since this is my daily driver, I don't really have weeks to spend. I should have done this during covid quarantine when I worked from home for 2 years haha.

Here's my current heights, from top of tire to fender well

Drivers Side Front = 3-1/2 in
Passenger Side Front = 4-1/8 in (is this difference what they refer to as the Tacoma Lean?!)
Drivers Side Rear and Passenger Side Rear = 5-1/4 in
I think the DJMs would drop things a bit too much... 1/2 in clearance in the front after the drop?! That wont jive in my driving conditions.

Definitely need new bushing all around - I saw that Energy Suspension has a master bushing kit (818118G) - $400. But I may just go with new components that include bushings.

I'd like to get better shocks than the stock Toyota Monroe ones at least - My area of Texas has bad road conditions, lots of potholes.
For the front shocks.. If doing OEM, need to compress the spring? Not sure what happened to my spring compression kit. Think I loaned it to a friend and never got it back.

 

Yes you will need those “widow makers” to compress the spring, not sure but I think the energy stuff might be really stiff