Teamoatmealpie, thank you for the suggestion; as WELL as everyone else! I have discovered it's a combination of several things...I have about 45k miles on the suspension setup with nothing being "needed" since install...drives great, and just recently started talking to me...the BJs are showing some abnormal play, easy-peezy, my CV axels are throwing a little grease; these are OEM and I may as well upgrade them to CVJ's setup (
CVJ Axles - CV Axles & Steering Racks for all your needs) and make them fit the way they're supposed to with the mild lift. Also, ICON suggests rebuilding the shocks every 15k miles if they are not used to their full potential with full-stroke use like rock crawling or mudding often without full travel. I have 45k and they laughed that I haven't rebuilt them yet...SO, rebuild kits are roughly $40 each but I plan on having a shop do everything all at once instead of me taking three times longer to do things throughout several weekend, etc...plus, shops have the "specialized" tools needed for such endeavors...
So the moral of the story, thank you everyone! I think I know what needs to be done and since it's been about 5 years since I've done any work on the 4runner outside of LOFs, I might as well spend a few dockets on making this thing continue to shine.