2002 Toyota Tacoma + Finch FWC. What rear springs?

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Hardcastle

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Joined
Sep 14, 2014
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Location
Ogden, UT
Hey Guys,

I've been lurking on this site for a while now but this is my first post. I've owned my Four Wheel Camper Finch model for ~1 year and have really been liking it. I have it on the back of my 2002 Toyota Tacoma double cab. It has the 3.4 v6 motor, auto trans, 4x4. I have a helper spring in the rear but it's just not cutting it. Any small bump and i'm hitting hard. Body roll is pretty major, too. I'm wondering if anyone on here as the same setup and knows what rear springs work well. I've talked to a 4x4 shop i trust but their expertise is in 4 wheeling, not camper load carrying.

A few more details if it helps. I have the shell model with furnace. I obviously load it up with camping gear that may include bikes, kayaks, extra fuel, the works. I've taken some frame strengthening precautions but i still want to avoid timbrens or airbags due to the extra stress they cause. Right now unloaded my truck is higher in the rear almost 2 inches. When loaded it sags 3/4". I'm leaning towards the Old Man Emu rear heavy springs but i wanted to see if anyone has recommendations.

Here's my truck to make this post more interesting.
 

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I have 2003 tacoma 4x4 TRD SR5 that I bought back in april to replace my 1992 toyota pickup. I had a Phoenix popup on it that I moved over the tacoma. The camper probably weighs about 1100 lbs loaded. When I tried it on the Tacoma, the rear end dropped 3 inches. I took the camper off and then added Wheeler's heavy duty 3 leaf progressive add a leafs. They raised the back of the truck 3 inches (without the camper on). When I put the camper back on it, back of the truck dropped 3 inches. So now I am down to the original height of the truck with the camper on. I was trying to keep the height down so I can get the truck and camper in the garage.

I haven't had a chance to really try them out off road but on the pavement they seem to be fine. If they don't work out I was looking at getting a set of old man emu's with an extra leaf. But I figured the add leafs where only $150 so thought I'd try them first. I had put add a leafs on my old truck and they worked fine.

Wheelersoffroad.com is a good place.

When you come up with a solution that works for you please post.
 
P.S. wheelersoffroad.com has free shipping until Jan 1st
 
Thanks zoie. The helper springs i have seems similar to the one Wheelers is offering. I'm hoping to firm things up a bit more than that. The downside will be when the camper is off. I'll likely have a pretty firm ride and a stink bug stance.

You mentioned Old Man Emu with an extra leaf. With those springs is an extra leaf necessary?
 
When I talked to Wheeler's offroad about getting the add a leafs they recommended that instead I get the old man emus and add the extra leaf for the weight I was carrying about 1100lbs.
 
oops, relooked at webpage more carefully and wheelersoffroad only has free shipping on trail gear products. The show free shipping in large print with a tiny asterisk and in small print the asterisk refers to trail gear products only. Quite misleading I'd say.
 
I use to have a very similar setup. The most versatile option (esp. if you use your truck without the camper) is using ride rite air bars with the bottom detached with daystar cradles. Before going with the air bags, I would make sure the leaf pack is still in good shape. If not, I would get another standard, heavy duty leaf pack as well. You can easily inflate the air bags using a bicycle floor pump. Good luck.

Jim
 
Here's a link with more info on buying or making a bracket to re-position the proportion valve. Pretty easy to make a bracket.
 
I've been running RideRite airbags on my 08 Taco since putting the Finch on my truck in 2009. I also had the Toyota 4 leaf TSB added to the truck. I have never had a single problem with this set up since installation.
The install was easy if you have a basic set of tools, a floor jack, some beers, and a little patience. The airbags are usually "no drill" depending on the year of your truck. Which means you dont need to drill a hole in your frame. It was EASY.
When I have the camper on(80% of the time), or if Im towing my 6000# boat, I inflate the bags to 50psi. It keeps the truck level and rides just fine. The only "roll" you will feel is when you are trying to take a turn faster than you should be with a 1000# camper.
Otherwise, I take the camper off and keep 5psi in the bags to keep them exercised.
I did add some FOX Shocks with reservoirs since I tend to do a lot of dirt roads and off-roading. If you add a big leaf package, the truck will probably ride real stiff in the rear when your camper is off. I believe I paid $325 for them. Why not have the best of both worlds with the airbags..?
 
Thanks for all the replies. I think I'll be going with the OLd Man Emu HD setup. I'm trying to avoid the air bags but it sounds like it's the best option.
 
If you plan to remove the camper between trips, air bags are really the way to go. Any leaf spring setup sufficient to level the truck with the camper on it will be absurdly stiff without it. We have stock Tacoma springs with Australian Boss air bags and adjustable Boss shocks on ours. With the camper off we can deflate the bags and dial down the shocks to regain a reasonable ride.
 
Just wanted to report back in case anyone else has the same question. Like many mentioned above i think the airbags were a good choice for my setup as i don't keep the FWC on full time. If I did keep it on full time i'd probably go with a custom spring sufficient for the load. I used the Firestone bags with the Daystar cradles. Super easy install and I went a head and replaced the hardware with grade 8 stuff to avoid failures that I read happen frequently.

With Camper
The ride is more stable and it leveled out the truck. I went on some pretty bad roads and it was an ok ride. You definitely know the bags are there and your suspension travel is limited. I'm used to no camper and going fast so it's an adjustment. Overall i'm happy.

Without camper
I keep the bags at 5 psi when unloaded. The ride is a bit firmer on bumps but i'm driving a 13 year old pickup so it's not too concerning. Time will tell how the bags hold up to the salty winter roads here in Utah. I am losing about 1 pound of air a week in one of the bags and i can't seem to find the leak. The other bag stays perfect. I've read the supplied air lines are less than desirable so if anyone has recommendations on what's better let me know. Thanks.
 
I have a1998 extra cab with same motor. I have a Falcon and I put on the Old Man Emu rear springs. I only had 1" clearance before I would put the camper on and it dropped 2" so I then installed the Timbren bump stops and this is a sweet ride now. I also haul a drift boat around and there's no more drop and still nice ride.
 
HardCastle,
I went to a local truck spring shop, said I needed to support 1500 pounds and bought a custom 5 leaf set for the 1999 Tacoma, X-cab 4cyl, 4WD.(about $600). Our Eagle shell weighs 1000 pounds dry. We mounte the Shell full time.

Additionally we had a Helwig sway bar and 31x10.50 R15 LT tires. Other than the no performance over 60 MPH.issue the Truck easily handled the load and sat flat filled with gear, food, water, etc for a week off the grid.
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I'm reporting back on this again. I ended up buying OME supsension. I went with the full kit. 882 coils up front and the standard leaf pack in the rear. The un-loaded ride height is perfectly level and considerably better than my old worn out suspension. I kept the air bags on to help when the camper is on the truck. I'm headed to Moab next week and hopefully this setup works well.
 
I took delivery of an ATC Bobcat about a month ago, and put it on a 2014 Tacoma TRD Offf Road with only Firestone air bags installed beyond the stock suspension and tires. With 35 psi in the bags on very rough dirt roads, it was bone jarring. When I got home, I tried 50 psi - what difference! I could see the truck rise up as the air went in and the ride was so much smoother, albeit with a bit more sway. So, my advice is experiment with the air pressure. (Doh.)
 
Reporting back again if anyone has a similar setup and cares. The OME front and rear springs along with airbags has been great. I've been on and off road and everything is performing well. It handled a trip in Moab flawlessly and i'm headed to Toroweap today for another long weekend.
 
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