2003 Toyota Tacoma > Suspension Lift - Finished Feb. 28, 2004
If you need help deciding what type of lift to buy for your Toyota Tacoma, then I'm afraid I have bad news because this page is here to serve two purposes:
- assist you with the installation of a Fabtech 6" suspension lift, and
- help you make the decision of whether or not you'll be able to install this kit yourself
(installing the kit yourself should save you about $500-$800)
For those of you who have already bought the kit and installed it yourselves (or attempted to install it), you're probably wondering what the frick was the person at Fabtech thinking when s/he wrote those installation instructions. This was the most complicated IFS lift I've ever installed and I have the instructions to blame it on. They absolutely sucked! Sure, Fabtech has free telephone technical support if you have problems during the install, but they close at 5:30pm Friday and don't reopen until 9:00am Monday! What's up with that? Don't most people work on their trucks during this time because it's the WEEKEND!?!
I even wrote Fabtech a short letter (on paper - not email) politely detailing all the shortcomings of their instructions and offered to rewrite new instructions in the proper order (yes, believe it or not, the instructions that ship with the kit actually have several steps that are out of sequence) with more detailed info and hi-res digital photos and they didn't even have the courtesy to call or write me back! Great customer service, Fabtech! And don't try saying you never received it because I have proof that you did!
I guess the point I want to make is that unless you know the underside of your Tacoma like the underside of your (fill in the blank), you're going to have a challenging time installing this suspension lift. But if you use the information I've provided here, then I GUARANTEE you will have this kit installed faster and with a LOT more confidence than going at it with Fabtech's instructions alone.
If the information you find here is helpful, then please let other Tacoma owners know about it by linking to my site so others can easily find it. This information is provided at no expense to the offroad community, but because of its continually increasing popularity over the past years, I'm now asking a couple favors from my visitors:
- Please don't take any of my content (text, images) and use it on your own site. Everything here is original (that means it's mine). Just link to me instead.
- If you've found any of my write-ups useful, then please post links to them either from your own web site or from the forums that you post messages to.
If you feel extra generous, then you can always buy me something from my Amazon Wishlist :-)
I recommend reading all the information provided here before proceeding with installation of your own Fabtech suspension lift.
Oh yeah, one more thing. Don't hold me responsible if you don't have the same outcome as I did by following my instructions. My instructions are here for help only. Fabtech Motorsports did not pay/authorize me to publish this information. Again, IT IS STRICTLY FOR HELP ONLY. If you know of easier ways to get through some of the steps, then do as you wish, but please think of the rest of us and consider sharing your idea by emailing it to me so I can post it for others to read. If you have any questions about anything, I'll do my best to answer them. Email me at dorianj AT gmail DOT com and put the words 'TOYOTA TACOMA' in the subject line otherwise I may not receive it.
