Yeah, that's wild... I'm guessing you found the 2.5RRs to be good on the runner?

I can definitively say now after a few days with the TRD Pro Foxes that my old Fox 2.0s were significantly stiffer.

The TRD Pro Foxes are such a night and day difference over the 2.0s that I regret not doing this first. Of course there's no free lunch - the extra soak-up-the-bad-pavement magic in the rear comes at the expense of rebound damping... this means it does take a split second to settle over bigger bumps, but I so do not care. It's beyond worth it to trade for a ride that doesn't jitter and feel so busy over every single imperfection.

As far as roll and dive, I don't think I notice a major difference. There must be some additional given how much more compliant they are, but it's definitely not anywhere near a problem. I did some quick-ish lane change simulations at like 45mph today and was pleasantly surprised.

My only other note is that the fronts are a bit stiffer than the rear, but still noticeably softer than the 2.0s. This has me wondering how a nice set of 2.5RR Foxes would be up front.... But I need to stop chasing perfection.

Lastly, I do no miss the extra 1-1.5" of front ride height that the Fox 2.0s had out of the box. At times the truck looked carolina-squatty (negative rake) and I hated it. I'm often carrying 150lbs of music equipment in the rear so the out of the box height on the TRD Pro Foxes is perfect for level-ish.

My take is that the TRD Pro fox are the best option there is for most people. Myself included. I could not find a set resonably priced for my Tundra or that's what I'd be using. They're still $5k for the set for a Tundra. For a stock truck running 32" michelin street tires that I use for towing my toys around - hard to justify $$ for suspension. I'm currently living in Alaska and the trails are not very good for full size vehicles. I almost always use my side by side. Even it is often too big/heavy for getting around on soft muskeg stuff we have (think driving on peat moss bogs). My tundra would become a submarine. However, if I could find a used set for $1500 like I see from time to time for the 4Runner, that's what I'd go with. There's no way to get a 2.5RR to ride as nicely as the bypass shock design does. At least not for the typical driving most people would do with a standard configuration 4Runner.

I think you'd be downgrading from the TRD Pro fox to a 2.5RR unless you're planning to regularly use it something close to actual desert racing or you need a lift that is higher than you can do on the Pro fox setup or something like that. The TRD Pro fox setup is pretty close to what I'd design if I had a clean sheet and the resources of Toyota. The 2.5RR is an off-the-shelf component set assembled for a 4Runner vs a bespoke design just for that vehicle.

I thought the 2.5s were good. Excellent on fast desert roads. Good but a bit harsh on the highway. If I were re-tuning them I would soften the compression damping about 20%, maybe more. The tundra 2.0 feel much softer. Oddly - I would say the front on the Tundra is significantly softer than the rear in the Tundra 2.0s. The rear 2.0 tundra shocks give you a LOT of damping all at once when you hit big bumps fast. I don't like it very much in that situation. Enough that on things like speed bumps I wince a little when the rear end hits. It feels like I'm bottoming out on the bumps. But I don't have rubber bumps - I have air bags. I'm pretty sure I'm not bottoming out. But it feels like that harsh impact at times. Slower speed - feels super soft.

The only shocks I'd look at as an upgrade from the TRD Pro would be maybe the BP51s, or 8100 bilstein setup.

Agree with you that the TRDs are likely the best single solution for most folks, given all the considerations I have (ride, height, rebuildability), they certainly are for me.


Appreciate the rundown and analysis! Great to hear some different perspectives.

Now to go list my 1 year old Fox 2.0s...

I am still using the 5100's with +1.50 in the front and cornfed 1" in the rear, seems to be fine for me FYI, don't think I would go back to stock

We have had plenty of "buyers remorse" or people switch systems after upgrading. I wouldnt say they go back to "stock" but we have had plenty go from extended travel and max out lifts, long travel... etc and they go back to a 2.5" stock width lift to get some drivability back and ride comfort. Upgrades dont necessarily improve ride quality on road and sometimes can cause substantially more maintenance and upkeep. Rebuild costs, bushing replacements and maintenance from upgraded parts usually arent factored in when pricing out the kit.

I figured instead of starting a new post I would jump on this thread with my issue.... hope that is ok!
I recently bought my wife a 2013 Limted 4R. The X-Reas system must be shot as it is awful to drive. Feel every little bump/crack in the road. I watched a video on removing the X-Reas system which is what I intend to do. The local Toyota dealership quoted me $1750 to replace the system with a stock suspension. I found that outreagous and plan to do it on my own... I hope.
I bought a used setup(pics are in picture album as I couldn't figure out how to attach them to this post) off a 2019 Sr5 with only 33,000 miles. I noticed it is missing the top piece(shock mount, front suspension support, mounting plate??? seen it called all three of these). My question is can I use that piece from the exsisting OEM X-Reas suspension or is it different? Thanks so much for any help!!

I had a 2016 TRD Pro with the stock bilsteins, I took them off and went bp-51, then that truck was totaled and now I have a stock TRD Off-road (stock suspension). The bp-51s were adjustable; when mostly on road I'd stiffen them up for handling and they were great, but could make them cushy and floaty if I wanted. However, fiddling with adjusting them for the road and then off-road was kind of a pain. The original TRD Pro suspension was probably the best all-around and in hindsight I would probably leave them (and the Fox version of the TRD Pro is apparently better). The current fully stock suspension is stiffer than the Pro suspension and if I wasn't planning to go GX at some point soon I'd probably upgrade it to something else (maybe just TRD Pro Fox suspension, maybe bp-51s again)