Stock Leaf Springs with Extended Shocks, No Lift.

Can you run extended shocks on stock leaf springs? Will the stock leaf springs allow the shocks to reach their full extension, or will the shocks be "bottomed out" inside the reservoir the whole time because of lack of lift from the leaves themselves? For the rear shock options I am torn between the 0-1.5" and the 2-3" Fox Elite Shocks. The 2-3" shocks the site states that they require a 1" Bump Stop Spacer, I was already planning on doing a U bolt Flip kit with new bump stops, would the bump stops be basically just riding against the frame the entire time with the 2-3" kit while on stock leaves? Would I have to run the Icon Mini leaf pack with factory overload out to achieve full travel without lifting the truck? I see no reason to change my leaf springs and lift the rear of the truck, but having more flex is appealing.

Sorry if this comes off as a "noob" post, the Tacoma is my first truck after 15 years of tuner cars, so truck suspension is pretty new to me.

Here's why I am asking, I picked up my Tacoma a year ago and have been squirreling away parts since the fall to make it the ultimate daily/weekend warrior. Currently have CBI Sliders, Steel Skids, Covert Bumper and a winch that need to go on, but I need to upgrade the suspension in order to handle the weight, and well, I just want to put some badass suspension on it (who doesn't). I have decided on the Fox 2.5 Performance Elite 0-3" series as the kit I want to run (along with some new UCA's) over the other version for the additional .5" of extension, and I'll be able to keep my factory ride height thus not changing the geometry of the driveline. I do not want to lift the truck at all at this current time, I enjoy my gas mileage and the fact that I know I wont be prematurely wearing out my driveline components. Yes, I'm well aware I'm going against the grain here but lifting the truck is not worth the additional "ground clearance" (subjective), alignment headaches, and I'm perfectly happy with my 265/70R17 tires. I am purposely building my truck as a "buy once cry once, own until gas stations don't exist, daily driver/weekend warrior" I never have my bed loaded up, at most its just light camping gear, I'm not gonna slap a huge overland rack on it with a tent and a bunch of rotopax just so I can look cool for "the gram" when I go on at most 10 camping trips during the summer, and I'm not the type of guy who sees a huge boulder and says to himself "I wonder if I can get my truck on top of that thing"

Okay so that's why I don't want to lift the truck, my reasoning for getting the extended travel shocks is so that the truck is able to Flex better, I mean, It's the same price for either set, so why not have the longer ones? Also, years down the line when the ole girl is no longer my daily maybe I'll change my mind and want to lift it and slap bigger tires on it and only have to rebuild/refresh the shocks instead of flat out changing to a different set. I have seen friends trucks and jeeps flexed out on trails and one wheel just spinning away, but if it was an inch lower, things would have gone much smoother for them. I feel like the entire extended travel portion of the "lifting" conversation is never talked about enough, my friends don't seem to have much knowledge on the matter, and after searching and searching I was unable to come up with a solid answer for the rears, so instead of just emailing Accutune (who has a wealth of knowledge on their site) I decided to post this as I'm up for discussion and want to get the word out there for anyone else who may have the same question down the line.

This got ALOT longer than I thought it would, so if you made it this far, Thanks, looking forward to learning more from you guys.

 

I’ve never heard of anyone running fox/king/icon/etc shocks with stock coil springs. I don’t think they are designed for that. I’m not even sure such shocks will fit inside the stock coil inner diameter. If you are spending that much on shocks, why not save yourself some hassle and buy assembled coil overs with the spring rate of your choice?

FYI: I have king extended travel coil overs with SPC UCAs. The extra ~11% travel was important to me. I know some think it is a gimmick.

You might find this YouTube channel informative.

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC6XtYxepOgzORaxKt1d-8Lg

 

no no, not the coil springs, the leaf springs in the rear. The front fox coilovers will work fine for me.

 

As far as I’ve read, it shouldn’t be a problem in the rear. I’m not sure what you are concerned about.

 

If you plan to keep your stock rear leaf springs and never add any lift, then getting the 2-3" rear may not be the best idea. Yes, you would need to run a 1" bump stop spacer since the overall collapsed length is longer than stock. We we need to make sure the bump stop hits first before the shock does. So right off the bat you will lose 1" of up travel. Also, I'm not to sure your stock leaf pack would allow that additional shock travel. Meaning, your leaf springs may limit your travel, not the shocks.

"my reasoning for getting the extended travel shocks is so that the truck is able to Flex better, I mean, It's the same price for either set, so why not have the longer ones?"
Just bc you have a longer travel shock, doesn't mean you will be able to use all the travel and "flex" more. What you are describing sounds like a shock setup for more rock crawling. Competition crawlers typically have like 1-2" of up travel and the remaining 14" of down travel. This keeps their center of gravity low and stable. For Tacomas, that is NOT what you want. Limited up travel will make it an extremely rough ride at speed. You need/want up travel so you can hit bumps at a faster rate of speed. Up travel is your friend, "flex" is over rated.

"I see no reason to change my leaf springs and lift the rear of the truck, but having more flex is appealing." "Currently have CBI Sliders, Steel Skids, Covert Bumper and a winch that need to go on" - If you plan on adding more weight with accessories, you should consider upgrading your leaf pack.

 

Thank you so much for the explanation, this is exactly what I needed! I'll probably go with the 0-1.5" version and a new leaf pack to compensate for the weight.

 

0-1.5" version is a good option with stock leaf pack. If you are adding lift with a new leaf pack, then you can look into the longer shocks. Basically you should be matching the lift height to shocks.

 

I know this old but I'm doing research on this same issue. I currently have the icon 3 leaf aal and the eibach pro shock in the rear. When empty the rear is a little jarring over bumps going slow. When I put my camper shell and other weight on the rear sags a little. So I'm wanting to upgrade. I'm looking at the icon rtx pack or the ome leaf pack. Then for shocks the new eibachs with the resi's, fox 2.0 with resi's bilstien 5160, or something else in those price ranges. Do you have any advise on this?

 

Probably best to just send us a message about your specific setup. DM inbound.

 

That jarring is horrible on snow w/ no weight in the box.
My solution was a stiffer shock than stock (OME) and a heavier tire. 265/70 to a 265/75.
Firmed it right up

 

I have the icon RXT leaf pack. What shock length would be ideal for a 2” lift overall?

 

So since you don't want to lift the truck.

The stock leaf pack doesn't droop or flex as much as aftermarket packs. If you get too tall of a shock in the rear with no lift then you can damage the shock if the bumpstop isnt extended much more. Then you are loosing up travel too. I would stick with the 0-1.5" shock unless you are putting in a 1.5"-2" or more rear lift.

For the Front if you run "extended travel" Fox Elite shocks but only have it at stock height then there is the risk of the factory UCA hitting the coil at full droop bc the coils are a 3" outside diameter.

If you run an aftermarket UCA to avoid them from making contact then you might need to go with SPC and only set it at 0 or 1 degree of caster so that you are not bringing the tire closer to the body mount area for tire clearance. Most fixed arms have 3 degrees of caster and this will move the tire closer to the body mount. Might still be fine with stock size tires but if you go up a size then Just a few factors to consider.

 

Put some rear airbags on to stabilize your load with the camper and raise it back up while towing. I have the ICON RXT but I think that Deaver and Dobinson are a little better because the round pads at each end of each leaf are thicker and will prevent leaf pack noise. I had to upgrade mine to Dorman pads. A full leaf pack will also reduce bodyroll which is nice for towing too.

Ditch the Eibachs and do a Bilstein 6112 / 5160 combo instead. Or if you want a little softer ride then Dobinson IMS because they have progressive valving. If you have shocks with no downtravel left then it will make it jarring feeling, soo too much lift with shock length not matching well will cause this.

 

I have 24.8" long rear Fox shocks and 1.5" lift General Spring leafs. The shocks are 15.2" compressed, recommended for 3-5" lift, so you need longer total bump stop length than the stock 2.5" from the top leaf.

Where is gets tricky choosing length is bump stop compression amount and at what weight/force, so the bump fully stops the frame coming down before you run out of shock compression stroke. Durobump provides their numbers, others don't. I cut my total length down to 3.5" from nearly 4" and I still have 3" gap before engagement and 3/4" before absolute shock bottom.

This is too tight for some, ok trade for me.

 

The OP asked extended shocks, stock leafs, no lift means. I say no. But blocks under stock leaks makes it possible because there is shock extension. Shorter bumps stops in that case are needed. The geometries of leaf arc and blocks under spring are different.
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If you are going with Fox, then stick with the shocks that are designed for 2-3" lift. For example: FOX-985-24-117

 

Accutune,
Without accounting for valving differences and the DSC, the Elite 2.5 series for 2-3" lift have a slightly greater compressed length than the 2.0 for 3-5" lift rec. Are there other factors involved with differences in the range rec?

 

You're correct, those two shocks share the same lift height range, yet have different shock lengths. Just need to make sure the shocks are long enough for the taller lift and be sure to have the correct length bump stop so the shocks dont bottom out before the shocks do. Ideally you could take measurements for shocks with new leaf springs & weight added, but thats not usually an option for most so you will just need to make a educated guess. Up travel is your friend, so the shortest compressed length you can get while still allowing full travel is ideal.

Fox 2.0,

$274 985-24-117 Reservoir Shock CD Adjuster

985-24-117, Comp: 14.70 Ext: 23.80
Fox 2.5, 883-26-113, Comp: 15.35 Ext: 24.90