before buying my 2021 Venture i was telling myself oh man soon as i get it im gonna lift it 3-4'' gonna look so cool blablabla

now that i actually have the 4runner seeing that its brand new
the suspension feels really nice and smooth..
now im worried lifting it with icon's or kings mostly because of the KDSS
i feel like the kdss is so amazing when taking turns and lifting it up will have to re cal the kdss and even then it might not truly work as good anymore

then not to mention its brand new so swapping the shocks now sounds counter productive (makes alot more sense to lift on an older 4runner but a brand new one ??)

and finally the gas - im planning to put on 40.000km's this year as ill be exploring alberta/BC this summer so alot of highway driving so having that extra lift will hurt the MPG: ?


am i just over thinking this?
would you get a lift if you were in my situation ? (i mostly want it for looks) is it worth it ?

BP51 here I’m very happy but I wanted/needed some lift over my stock setup but but if your happy why bother
Enjoy it till you don’t
Mike

So beyond looks, why are you considering lifting your rig?

Got the truck about 10 days ago. I’m unhappy with the amount of work it would take to customize/get bigger tires. Will probably do a very small lift and close to stock size tires.

If a lift is only for aesthetics, then you may as well drive it for a while and get some use out of the factory tires and suspension. No reason to rush into a decision. Do some reading, ask questions and take some time to figure out exactly how you want it. You may find the nose diving will become annoying after a bit, and will want a more planted feel at each corner. Technically you don't even need a lift to fix that. On road the kdss only minimizes body lean while turning.

+1 on leaving it as-is for now, if you’re happy with it. My 4th gen was ~14 years old when I did my first (spacer) lift and new wheels three years ago. I did it mostly for the looks. I just got new shocks/springs last year for more lift, and it turned out the old springs were bad.

I don’t think I would have done any of the above when my 4Runner was relatively new.

i was under impression kdss also helps with nose dive
i feel it helps when i slam on my brakes

also will kdss (the way it works) will be lesser with a lift (maybe not work as well) because im really loving the kdss

Besides removing the annoying TRD exhaust, adding the Eibach springs for the Pro was the best mod I’ve done. It’s how the Pro should come from the factory to make it different from other models. I have no plans on going any higher since this rides like stock on the road. I’ve lifted every vehicle I have ever driven and all of them were negatively affected. This lift only gave me 1.6” in front and 1” in the rear and it’s perfect IMO and I spent $1500 for springs, install, tires and alignment. That has never happened with any other vehicle. Always been 4-5 times that to do it right. Sorry for the hi jack with pics.

Before:



After:

that looks real good - what you do with the pro's roofrack

That's the key.

I haven't lifted mine yet, but will be adding a Dobinsons 3/2 springs/shocks lift with some UCAs and a diff drop later this year. Mine is weighted down with steel sliders and skids (250 lbs additional sprung weight), so it should settle to around 2.5/1.5...I hope. I think there are some practical height limits with kdss. If you go over those limits it may lean to one side and have reduced ride quality, but I don't know if there is a strong consensus on that. Basically with kdss if you lift 2.5" or less up front and 1" in the rear, you shouldn't have issues with lean or ride quality. If you go a bit over those limits, there are small spacers you can use to level things out if it leans.

Kdss controls the swaybars with a hydraulic ram, so it only affects side-to-side movement. If you hit the brakes hard at highway speeds, you may need to bring a change of shorts.

Looks good. So all you did was change out the springs? Nothing else to it? You’ve still got the stock fox shocks? What size tires did you change to?


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Sold it. Hated it.

Yes just swapped the springs and got it aligned. Those are 285 Wildpeaks.


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You answered your own question. You know what you like and looks aside, you like nothing about a lift for now. I just went bigger on my 05'. Today - there was no reason to do so before.