Should I lift my TX Baja more?

I bought a 2014 T/X Baja series as my first truck used about 2 years ago. I do a lot of off roading, but mostly just forest trails. From what I’ve read, the Baja series has a 1.5” lift to it from Bilsteins, and 265/70r16 K02’s. Do you think it would be a bad idea to change some things about the suspension to get more lift? And fit 285’s? The reason I sold my small SUV and bought a truck instead was largely to be able to go further off-road, and now it feels like I’m missing some potential with 1.5” lift instead of 2.5-3”. But at the same time, everyone seems to say that the Baja should just be left as is. What do you all think?

 

You have two camps of people basically. Ones who have an opinion to modify and ones who would rather keep their vehicle stock.
There is no right or wrong. Just do what you want. It’s your Tacoma. Don’t worry about what other people like to do. Do want you want.
You’ll have a large crowd behind you either way and you’ll also have naysayers against you either way.
I’m understand both sides but my opinion is that it’s a pickup truck. Modify the shit out of it if you want. It’s going to look better and drive better with mods in my opinion.

 

Thanks for the nice words. I’m more meaning the question in a technical way, as in, is the TX Baja built well enough that if I mess with it and change things am I just gonna be ruining it? Will I end up with a worse, less reliable truck? Is the difference from 1.5” to 2.5” and 265 to 285 not worth fucking with the truck and spending money for?

 

You will feel a performance difference.

Are you high centering or getting stuck now?

 

Not yet. And my Taco kicks the ass of my previous SUV, but there are a lot of drives that my local Tacoma group goes on that I probably wouldn’t be comfortable trying to follow them on because my truck looks so much lower to the ground than theirs. Everyone says the Baja suspension is setup and dialed in so nicely, I get compliments on it from other Taco owners, but I don’t see how that benefits me very much if I don’t have the clearance to comfortably follow them on half the trails they tackle.

 

I think the consensus is to keep it at 2.5” lift and below you will be fine.
You can do that size and a little higher with just upgraded coilovers, rear leaf spring or blocks, and new rear shocks. You would also prob need to change out the UCA (upper control arms) if you go above a 2” front lift.
And believe it or not, you’ll get many different opinions on this too.

Make sure to cruise around these threads and use the search. You’ll find plenty of questions, answers, and ideas.
Good luck and welcome to TW!

 

I lifted my pro to 2.5” and I enjoy it.

here’s a coil seat spacer meant specifically for your front shocks if you like the stock suspension. Although if 1” of additional lift would give you the confidence to follow those guys sounds like new tires and some armor would be perfect. edit - I do not have this product, I put new coilovers on. If I’d known about it, might have went this route though.

 

Have you talked to your local group about their opinions on whether you'll clear?

It's really up to you and what you want to do. Big rubber will give you more confidence on the trails, but the trade off is that your truck's performance on pavement will suffer. Everyone here decides what balancing point between those two factors is right for them.

 

Your going to get most of your ground clearance from larger tires. You will benefit better approach angles with just a lift though. Larger tires often needs a lift and possibly modifying and cutting some of your front wheel wells.

 

More lift?

 

It sounds like you want to but are hesitant (on it being worth the money)? Is another inch of lift worth a 500-700 dollar lift kit (plus install, unless you do it yourself) for you? For many people it is worth it. Apart from the lift itself is the many potential complications of lifting your truck more which could mean more $$$. You can always keep your baja lift and put it back on if the new lift isnt working out for you. You'd take a small hit after reselling the lift parts. If you feel like your current setup is REALLY limiting you at this point, I say lift away.

 

Those spacers could be an option. But now that I actually look at my front coilovers, it doesn’t look like they are adjusted to their very tallest setting, because I don’t see any rings around the shock below the spring seat, which leads me to believe the spring seat must be in the lowest setting. If I was to just take the coilover off and move the spring seat to the tallest setting would that be okay to do? These coilovers are a TRD/Bilstein part that I can barely find any info on (part number PTR13-35120-AB) but I believe that would be a setting of 2.5”. Or would that require changing or adjusting something else to compensate for the difference? Would I have to get an alignment after making even that small of an adjustment? I’ve heard someone say you need to change UCAs if your coilovers get too tall? Or that could be totally wrong, I’m still learning how this works.

 

The snap rings that you are seeing are preset to offset the “Taco Lean.” The driver’s side(ending in AB) is set higher to accommodate the extra weight of the battery and gas tank, both being on the driver’s side. The passenger’s side(ending in AF) is set on the lower perch. This more or less levels out the truck. The reason you’re not finding much info on these Bilstein’s is because they’re discontinued. The Baja was made for 2012-2014 and the Pro(2nd Gen) only for 2015. Both Bilstein models are nearly identical, the main differences are the coil springs. The coil springs are made by Eibach. The Baja version has a 650lb spring rate while the Pro version has 600lb. I’ve driven both and much prefer our Baja version. I’ve spoken to a couple members here who have or have had the Toytec Baja/Pro Spring Seat Spacers and not one of them noticed a drastic change in ride at all. They kept their bumpstops as is, their OEM UCA’s, full articulation off road and had no issues whatsoever. If you want to get the rear to match, I recommend a full leaf pack versus a block or AAL

Edit: Here are pics to explain the side-specific Bilstein’s.

Driver’s


Passenger’s