Heading to Moab (White Rim) - Questions about a lift

G

gundrted+t4r

New member
I'm planning a trip to Moab, UT this year. We are planning to do White Rim and take 2-3 days in the canyon. I've done White Rim before in my old lifted Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited. I didn't have a single issue with the trail and didn't really give it a second thought. Granted my old Jeep had a 3.5-4 ish lift and 33in tires.

Fast forward to today.

We have a '15 4Runner Limited and a '17 TRD Off-road Premium. We are trying to figure out if we are taking both or just the TRD Off-road. Looking at the stock heights of both they don't look to bad. I am little concerned about the clearance under the front. I wouldn't call the front clearance spacious, by any means.

Personally I have no issues with the ride of the stock TRD Off-road. Its light years better than my Wrangler was :) Long term ... I am thinking about lifting the TRD Off-road, but really wasn't planning on doing it this year.

Do people have experiences on White Rim with the stock setup?

If I were to do lift/level, I'm thinking the following.

I'm not a fan of spacer lifts, but is that viable option to add a little clearance under the front? Does this pose any long term issues?

Another option would be to upgrade the front shocks now and then do the rears later complete the lift. The only option I found that would let me do this is the Bilstein 51/6100 options. Could something similar be done with an OME setup?
 
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gundrted+t4r said:
I'm planning a trip to Moab, UT this year. We are planning to do White Rim and take 2-3 days in the canyon. I've done White Rim before in my old lifted Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited. I didn't have a single issue with the trail and didn't really give it a second thought. Granted my old Jeep had a 3.5-4 ish lift and 33in tires.

Fast forward to today.

We have a '15 4Runner Limited and a '17 TRD Off-road Premium. We are trying to figure out if we are taking both or just the TRD Off-road. Looking at the stock heights of both they don't look to bad. I am little concerned about the clearance under the front. I wouldn't call the front clearance spacious, by any means.

Personally I have no issues with the ride of the stock TRD Off-road. Its light years better than my Wrangler was :) Long term ... I am thinking about lifting the TRD Off-road, but really wasn't planning on doing it this year.

Do people have experiences on White Rim with the stock setup?

If I were to do lift/level, I'm thinking the following.

I'm not a fan of spacer lifts, but is that viable option to add a little clearance under the front? Does this pose any long term issues?

Another option would be to upgrade the front shocks now and then do the rears later complete the lift. The only option I found that would let me do this is the Bilstein 51/6100 options. Could something similar be done with an OME setup?
Click to expand...

Are you planning any other more technical trails outside Moab or mainly just white rim?

Focusing on white rim either vehicle is fine granted you've got legitmate tires under them. You'll have to watch your angles a bit more in the Limited due to the different fascia. I'd really focus more on how much gear you're planning on carrying, the stock suspension may get taxed with all the extra water and gas canyonlands requires. Maybe simulate the load and go drive around for awhile.. find some speed bumps and curbs to drive off. My concern here is with a bunch of extra weight you'll be bottoming out left and right which gets really old after awhile. After testing that you can probably figure out what will work best for you.
 
I took my stock Trail on the White Rim the weekend after I bought it last year. If you're careful you should be okay. The White Rim itself isn't very technical in my opinion. There is a side trail called Lathrop Canyon that is a bit more technical and you're guaranteed to get brush scratches. I was a bit worried about the stock Dunlops that came on mine since they're not really AT tires. I'd at least look at getting some decent AT tires on whichever vehicle you bring.

We've had a LOT of snow in Utah this year so I'd expect the spring runoff to be nasty. There's a section of the road at Upheaval Wash that can flood if the river is high enough so be sure to check with the ranger station if you're coming early in the season.

Also the earlier you go the worse the mud ruts might be. There were some bad ones last year, not sure if they fixed them or not. I do know they do little maintenance on the road in the winter.
 
MattAK said:
I took my stock Trail on the White Rim the weekend after I bought it last year. If you're careful you should be okay. The White Rim itself isn't very technical in my opinion. There is a side trail called Lathrop Canyon that is a bit more technical and you're guaranteed to get brush scratches. I was a bit worried about the stock Dunlops that came on mine since they're not really AT tires. I'd at least look at getting some decent AT tires on whichever vehicle you bring.

We've had a LOT of snow in Utah this year so I'd expect the spring runoff to be nasty. There's a section of the road at Upheaval Wash that can flood if the river is high enough so be sure to check with the ranger station if you're coming early in the season.

Also the earlier you go the worse the mud ruts might be. There were some bad ones last year, not sure if they fixed them or not. I do know they do little maintenance on the road in the winter.
Click to expand...

I was thinking a late summer or early fall trip. I would hope the water issues are over by then :) Overall I would agree with comments that White Rim is an easy trail. I know easy can be relative to the rig one has. I'm glad others think its an easy trail and its not just cuz I was in my Wrangler.

I was on White Rim last Sep and the ruts between Labyrinth and Mineral Bottom were pretty bad. It looked like the mountain bike sag wagons (F350s and Vans) had done a a number to the trail. I was able to ride on top of most, but one I did fall into. My Jeep was fine but I'm not sure the 4Runner would have been ok. I really hope they do a little maintenance on that.
 
I'll be driving it in April on stock suspension, I'll let you know how it goes.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
 
I did it last year in my 15 sr5, stock tires and a 1.75 front and 2" rear lift. Your biggest issue will be your tires. There are a couple spots of loose dirt/rocks that I barely muscled through, can't remember the names. I'd be concerned about your clearance on the backside of Murphy's (going clockwise) and the ruts already mentioned.
 
Did my trip over the weekend with my dad in his stock '06 and my brother in his stock '16 Taco. Both were fine.

There were some bad ruts but it's easy to straddle them. The backside of Murphy's wasn't as bad as it was last year. Overall I think the trail was in better condition this year than when I ran it stock last year. I'd still suggest you take the TRDOR over the Limited just due to the better clearance.
 
You will be fine. I've mountain biked the white rim with a Toyota Privia and Honda Passport as our support vehicles and they did just fine and had no trail damage with careful driving of course.

I'll recommend getting sliders and a set of max tracks.
 
gundrted+t4r said:
I'm planning a trip to Moab, UT this year. We are planning to do White Rim and take 2-3 days in the canyon. I've done White Rim before in my old lifted Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited. I didn't have a single issue with the trail and didn't really give it a second thought. Granted my old Jeep had a 3.5-4 ish lift and 33in tires.

Fast forward to today.

We have a '15 4Runner Limited and a '17 TRD Off-road Premium. We are trying to figure out if we are taking both or just the TRD Off-road. Looking at the stock heights of both they don't look to bad. I am little concerned about the clearance under the front. I wouldn't call the front clearance spacious, by any means.

Personally I have no issues with the ride of the stock TRD Off-road. Its light years better than my Wrangler was :) Long term ... I am thinking about lifting the TRD Off-road, but really wasn't planning on doing it this year.

Do people have experiences on White Rim with the stock setup?

If I were to do lift/level, I'm thinking the following.

I'm not a fan of spacer lifts, but is that viable option to add a little clearance under the front? Does this pose any long term issues?

Another option would be to upgrade the front shocks now and then do the rears later complete the lift. The only option I found that would let me do this is the Bilstein 51/6100 options. Could something similar be done with an OME setup?
Click to expand...

I did it last October in a stock 2013 Limited, but with 17 inch wheels and Cooper AT3's. No lift. Fully loaded with 3 people and a roof rack (tried to keep most of the heavy stuff inside, down low.) Actually did not scrape the front fascia, but did pick up a couple of small scrapes to the front skid, and the tailpipe. Very minor.
My trip report is here:http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/226771-white-rim-road-5th-gen-limited.html

Let me know if you see the cowboy.
 
chmura said:
No lift is needed for the White Rim, even a stock Subaru can make it without a problem.
Click to expand...

Disagree. I used to roll a 2009 Forester with AT's, and while it is a VERY capable vehicle, I would not want to be on that trail in a vehicle w/o low range. Portions might be possible in good weather, but I would not advise it for a full circuit. The NPS website specifies a vehicle with low range.
 
ridefast said:
What site! Airport is my favorite.
Click to expand...

We like to stay at Murphy's 'cause it's just about 1/2 way around the trail. Gives us time to drive home the second day. We've stayed in Murphy A and B and Potato Bottom A and B. This time was Murphy B due to the fact that it was the last open weekend site from now until the end of June.
 
chmura said:
No lift is needed for the White Rim, even a stock Subaru can make it without a problem.
Click to expand...

Orbital Debris said:
Disagree. I used to roll a 2009 Forester with AT's, and while it is a VERY capable vehicle, I would not want to be on that trail in a vehicle w/o low range. Portions might be possible in good weather, but I would not advise it for a full circuit. The NPS website specifies a vehicle with low range.
Click to expand...

I think it could make it if you drive carefully. You don't even really need low range, it just makes a couple of the climbs a little easier and helps if you don't like riding the brakes down hills. What the Subaru would run in to is clearance issues. There were a couple of places I can think of where having high clearance meant you didn't have to be careful about what line you took or meant you could drive in the ruts rather than get trail rash from the brush on the sides.
 
Is a 2.5" lift and 285's with some sliders going to be enough on stock bumpers for some of the gnarlier trails like Poison Spider, Hells Revenge, etc?
 
DarkSideGTI said:
Is a 2.5" lift and 285's with some sliders going to be enough on stock bumpers for some of the gnarlier trails like Poison Spider, Hells Revenge, etc?
Click to expand...

Yes. I've done those trails and harder on 275s, 2.5" lift and stock bumpers. You'll drag some places but will be fine.
 
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