Lift help (This can't be right!)

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Geländemann

New member
Ok, so I'm trying to help a friend who wants to level his 04 SR5 V6 and fit 245/75R16 Firestone MTs with stock 16"s and no spacers. So we measured his fender heights (ground, past the hub and to the fender), and the rear is 36", but the front is 33". I measured it 3 times over just because I couldn't really believe it, but does that mean that a 3" Toytec Spacer is what we need to level it? Sounds crazy to me, so I figured I'd get some help. (I would assume a 1.5" thick custom front Cornfed spacer or a 3" Truxxx front spacer will also work?)

Thanks!
 
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yea it is, its called rake. You put **** in the back and it weights it down making it appear level.

if you get a 3" "leveling" kit not only will you running boards/rocker panels appear higher in the front, whenever you put any weight in the back it will be ridiculously nose high and look re4arded.

too each their own I guess.

EDIT: why do you want really skinny tires?
 
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Go with a 2" leveling kit. it'll look right. Check my signature.

don't worry about the back end being lower when loaded. Honestly, how often does the truck have a ton of weight in the back?
 
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Thanks, I know what "rake" is, but 3" is massive.
We measured with his usual crap in the back and a full tank of gas, and the skinny tires weren't my idea.

It's a friend's runner and he found those 245s online because they have a lot more aggressive tread, but the exact same size (height and tread width) as his stock Bridgestones. The man knows what he wants, and it's not my truck so -.

EDIT: Alright, we'll probably try that galatic, I did see your sig earlier while researching - good stuff. Now to convince the genius.
 
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galactic_04 said:
Go with a 2" leveling kit. it'll look right. Check my signature.

don't worry about the back end being lower when loaded. Honestly, how often does the truck have a ton of weight in the back?
Click to expand...

The front of the running boards are visibly higher than the back - it doesnt look right - IMO.
 
Geländemann said:
Thanks, I know what "rake" is, but 3" is massive.
We measured with his usual crap in the back and a full tank of gas, and the skinny tires weren't my idea.

It's a friend's runner and he found those 245s online because they have a lot more aggressive tread, but the exact same size (height and tread width) as his stock Bridgestones. The man knows what he wants, and it's not my truck so -.

EDIT: Alright, we'll probably try that galatic, I did see your sig earlier while researching - good stuff. Now to convince the genius.
Click to expand...

The overall effect of the 'rake' is for the body appearance. Measuring the height of the wheel wells is, IMHO, not a good indicator of the level of the vehicle. On most vehicles, because of the different clearance needs between the front and rear suspensions, the shape of the wheel wells will be different front to rear. IMHO, I think the overall appearance of the vehicle is much more important to its 'level' than the shape of the wheel wells.
 
Ok, so do we want a 2" or 1" or what? I see what eskimo's talking about, but we (owner and I) think that the 2" level looks ok from the photo.
 
Use a floor jack under the front and raise it to where you like it... trying 1", 1.5", 2", etc. When I was checking my stance, I measured a point on the front and the rear of the tube steps (nerf bars or whatever you'd like to call them). From the stock stance, raising my front end 1.5" put the front of the tube step 0.5" lower than the rear which looks good in my opinion... still a slight forward rake and the wheel wells look more balanced. I posted a couple of comparison pictures on another thread... see post #32 here http://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-gen-t4rs/81336-need-your-opinion-3.html

It just comes down to what you personally like.

Good luck,
~Doozi
 
Hmpf - decisions, decisions. Alright, thanks for the info. Now we just gotta figure out what he really wants.

EDIT: If I did talk him into 265s (265/75R16, ~31.8" diameter, with ~8.6" tread width) what would we need besides a 2.5/1.5? I'm trying to read up on this, but I keep seeing lots of reference to rubbing (even with spidertrax). Can you not fit 265s on a 2.5/1.5 lift without new wheels, and still not rub? (He'd be bummed if they rubbed, and he's not up for cutting/trimming)
 
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eskim0chaos said:
The front of the running boards are visibly higher than the back - it doesnt look right - IMO.
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Technically anything but stock has un-level running boards, I guess most trucks on the board look retarted?So Gay
Go with what you think looks right. Mine is close enough and really, the fenders aren't exactly level as it is, but stretching it till they are you'd have to make the running boards nose-high by quite a bit. Really, you can't tell mine are unlevel unless you're at an extreme side angle bending over and staring looking for it. It's extremely close.

Back to the topic and helpful input, you can also pull the running boards off if you like that look better. Leveling the truck was enough for me, but it's up to you if you want to run 285/70's or whatever later you may want a bigger lift.
 
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Geländemann said:
Hmpf - decisions, decisions. Alright, thanks for the info. Now we just gotta figure out what he really wants.

EDIT: If I did talk him into 265s (265/75R16, ~31.8" diameter, with ~8.6" tread width) what would we need besides a 2.5/1.5? I'm trying to read up on this, but I keep seeing lots of reference to rubbing (even with spidertrax). Can you not fit 265s on a 2.5/1.5 lift without new wheels, and still not rub? (He'd be bummed if they rubbed, and he's not up for cutting/trimming)
Click to expand...

You can definitely fit 265/75R16's (I have 265/70R17's (31.7") on stock suspension with ZERO rubbing. Adding Spidertrax, however, will make it rub and most guys just move the inner fenderwell liner forward a little and maybe trim the inside of the front corner. The trimming is so minimal that I'm adding Spidertrax without a doubt! In my opinion, they make all the difference!

~Doozi
 
I personally like the "rake" look. I haul a bunch of junk and tow moderate trailers alot, so I like the extra travel. I can't stand the sagging look! Good luck w/ your rig!
 
I, like many members, run 2.5/1.5 with 265/70/17 without rubbing.

The DS 2.5/1.5 is so cheap I would highly recommend it over a leveling spacer. Eventually he will want more lift so may as well start right.
 
Thanks everybody, I dunno if he'll want more lift later or not - depends on how he fairs on the trails. Now that we know 31.7"s fit stock, we pretty much are back to the drawing board, but he'll still probably level it.
I really hate how using spidertrax sometimes gets rid of rubbing in one place, but then makes it somewhere else - most obnoxious caveat ever.
Thanks again.
 
Geländemann said:
Thanks everybody, I dunno if he'll want more lift later or not - depends on how he fairs on the trails. Now that we know 31.7"s fit stock, we pretty much are back to the drawing board, but he'll still probably level it.
I really hate how using spidertrax sometimes gets rid of rubbing in one place, but then makes it somewhere else - most obnoxious caveat ever.
Thanks again.
Click to expand...

You can fit 275/75/17 with minimal rubbing as well w/o a lift. I wish I went that size instead of 70's
 
If you're gonna go through the work of putting a spacer in the front you might as well go with the daystar 2.5/1.5. It isn't much more work to put the rears in. Put in the spidertrax too, the amount of work it takes to fix the rubbing is far outweighed by how much better it looks. And while your under there just take the running boards off so you don't have to worry about anyone complaining about how they look.
 
I'm still debating between the 2/1 2.5/1.5 or the 3/2. From what I understand the 2.5/1.5 will take out any rake that might still be there with other leveling kits because it's actually more like a 3/1.5 lift. I'm leaning towards the 2/1 right now because I like a little rake in there and I've read that with 3" + in the front that you can really strain your cv joints.
 
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