are you truly happy with your lift ?

Gouranga

New member
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 ?:uzi: (i mostly want it for looks) is it worth it ?
 
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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
 
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 ?:uzi: (i mostly want it for looks) is it worth it ?


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.
 
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.

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:

7993332408b1b80f069c1a9aeac9d530.jpg


After:

0bbdb3cffb4c2054da722bcbf769962c.jpg
 
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

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.
 
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:

7993332408b1b80f069c1a9aeac9d530.jpg


After:

0bbdb3cffb4c2054da722bcbf769962c.jpg


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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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?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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


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No

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 ?:uzi: (i mostly want it for looks) is it worth it ?

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.
 
I am done doing things for look alone, waste of money. I added Bilstein 5100’s up front to get rid of nose dive. Set them at .85 which gave me 1” front lift. Stock size ko2’s and I’m all good, it’s paid for I am enjoying it the way it is.

So yes, I am happy with my conservative lift. I actually accomplished something and I’m happy getting rid of the nose dive.
 
I've been going through this with another vehicle on another forum.
I asked the collective what they suggested for replacement shocks on a 04 Jeep Grand Cherokee. All stock vehicle. We live a few miles from paved roads on somewhat primitive roads (with fancy names).
One respondent couldn't justify 4600's on a $4,000 vehicle.
I can, though for this application I think I'll go with Rancho RS5000's.

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I did Kings on my 2019 about 6-8 months ago. The only thing I dislike about the lift is the noise when it's cold, but that's the sacrifice you make for performance. Kings and some others use spherical bushings on some mounts and that transmits more noise to the cabin.

Overall very happy though.
 
I have been running Icons (stage 2) on a 2019 with kdss for the last two years (2.5inch lift upfront and 1.0 in the rear). I still havent gone offroading yet and have just been driving around town. After 25k, I don't regret it at all. The handling, especially with kdss is much improved.

Bilstein 5100 would have achieved a similar result for a lot less, but if I could do it again, knowing that I would likely not offroad, i'd go with Kings or Icons with reservoirs just for looks.
 
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I bought mine with 35k miles on it. Totally stock but I put some Grabber ATX's on it 2 days after I bought it. Now 2.5 years later I have Eibach springs, 5100's JBA upper arms, Whiteline front LCA bushings, Whiteline panhard bar bushings, .75" cornfeds out back, Rokmen rear lower arms, and urethane bushings in the sway bars. And 285's on Method wheels. It is far from plush but boy does it handle SO much better. And it doesn't bottom out constantly when I take it off the pavement any longer either. It's really about perfect in conjunction with the other stuff I have done.
 

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