Hi Jim: If it will help, I have a 2001 Tacoma Std Cab 4X4. I have a 4 cyl engine with the K&N air filter. I also have bilsteins all around, a helwig stabilizer and supersprings on the back. It seems to work ok for me. You could put airbags on yours, but I saw a guy who had them on the Tacoma and it swayed more than my supersprings in my opinion. Also, there are some folks that replaced the rear springs with some expensive ones (around $1500.00), but they give you some issues also such as the rear riding pretty high when no weight is in the back. Also, there is a guy in Santa Cruz that put a type of helper spring that is used on ambulances. He seems to think that works well and is reasonably priced. Its all a trade off and you have to pick things that work for you. I have found if you do your research on line you can get some things that will help you at a reasonable cost.
I know my opinion is just my own, but I have seen what some others have done at an expensive cost and even though though they think they know more than I do, I doubt it. Its a Tacoma, you aint going to make it a big Dodge or something. I have only seen one Tacoma that a guy named Patrick made that was super heafty. But, he is a super engineer and he is beyond me.
Go have fun with it and just drive slow.
Darryl
Jim,
I have an 01 Tacoma, V6, ExtraCab and this is what I had done. New front coils (OME 881's), Bilstein 5100's all around, Ride Rite Airbags, I had the Rear Leaf springs re-arched and re-tempered and the overload spring slightly flattened. Load range E tires. I still need to add a full length Add-a-Leaf. I have a short Add-a-Leaf in there now and I want just a little more. I had a fabricator box out the airbag brackets as well and the frame in the vicinity of the airbag mounts. This setup works great for me. I don't worry about the airbag brackets or the frame bending and I don't need to rely on them very much (15-20 psi) when I am loaded up with gear for 2 people for a long weekend. I recently did a 3 week long trip with three people and I had to bring the bags up to around 40psi. That is to much is my opinion, which is why I am going to add the full length Add-a-leaf.
My 2 cents,
Cort