Well, finally got around to installing my lift this weekend, with some help from Kevywevy (Kevin), a local yotatech member.
Spraying everything down the night before with lube helped immensely, although getting the rear shocks off was a pain. A strap wrench on the shock body did the trick, but mangled the dust cover on the shock. As other people have experienced, the OME HD springs were mislabled:

 

I went with the HD springs and comfort shocks in the back. Up front, tundra-valved coilovers from Sway-away, plus a one inch differential spacer to help reduce the angle on the CV's. This is a picture of the CV's, before and after, with three inches of lift:

 

Oops, forgot picture:

 

Finally, here is the before and after picture of the front, with 3 inches of lift front and rear. The real noticeable difference is in the wheel well. A test drive shows that the SAWS really soak up bumps, and the truck give a much more secure ride than before, hard to explain, but it just feels more "solid." The valves on the SAWS were installed pointing inward to avoid the brake caliper breaking it off. Now my tires look way too small....

 

wow what a difference...very nice.

 

man, you rig is looking very nice! nice job!

 

Thanks guys! Its probably one of the bigger jobs I've ever tried to tackle, so its always nice when it goes smoothly.

 

Dave,
Your truck looks awesome! In only a few weeks you have done some major mods. You must be proud, enjoy!

btw, I installed my lights onto the TJM this weekend, so I'll get that pic to you in a day or two.
-Tim

 

Tim,

Thanks- I think the credit card is still smoldering, may try to take it easy for the rest of the summer, with the exception of the on-board CO2 setup I'm piecing together. The TJM pics are still tricking in from folks, so I'll be trying to put that together in the next couple of weeks.

 

I know what you mean about the smoking credit card. I've got to relax too. I need sliders and then I have to take a break for a while.

 

Lookin' good ese! I was going to put my diff drop kit in last weekend (along with a bunch of other stuff to be done) but the wife had other plans that interfered with my IMPORTANT stuff, and you know how it is, the wife needs something, well by all means drop what you are doing and tend to her otherwise you'll never live it down. looks good man, I still have to send you a better pic. I'll get that together tonight.

 

Yeah, you're right, the tires do look small!


Nice work!

 

That looks so sweet! I wish you people would stop doing this to me! Now I want a lift really really bad.

A lift, locker, load warrior...:cry:

 

The diff drop was maybe a 10 minute job, FYI. You know what I was wondering- why don't they make 3 inch diff spacers to completely return the CV's back to stock angles?

 

Looks great there David
For some reason your rig looks alot cleaner with the new lift
https://www.yotatech.com/attachment....&postid=113969

 

I didn't think anyone would notice, but it did happen to get a bath before taking the "after" picture

 

Your truck looks great!

About the diff drop, I don't think I could have gotten much more of a spacer in there on mine. There's not enough room without changing/moving alot of other stuff. If you have the time and energy to do some surfing, look at the 4 inch and 6 inch Tacoma lift lift kits made by Pro-comp, Fabtech, and Trailmaster. They use a structural memeber to drop the entire diff assembly away from the frame. Interesting stuff if you feel like reading up on it...

 

I don't think the diff would rotate down that far, not to mention the angle in the driveshaft would be quite drastic. it would also lower the front ground clearance quite a bit, that's why I don't like those lifts that replace the whole front crossbar/suspension assembly and basically drop everything, nothing gained, just looks. maybe I'll do that tonight if it's just ten minutes. you get an alignment yet?

 

No alignment yet, the camber is definitely off, the tops are cambered out, left to right is okay, which I guess makes sense. I've got a big trip this weekend, so I was thinking about trying to adjust the camber myself to get it close, then go in for the alignment after everything has settled a bit. BTW- should the caps on the SAW valves be screwed tight, or left a little loose?

 

yeah i got to "help" i mostly just watched and played with the jack a little bit. and told him when he was forgetting stuff. and for all that i got a free dinner!!!! thanks again for letting me come hang out and for dinner david