Rough Country 764 Leveling Kit Review on 2015 5th Gen SR5

[jvtran]

Prior to selecting a spacer leveling lift kit, I found many posts on Daystar, Toytec, Cornfed etc. But nothing on the Rough County 764. After reading through many posts, I knew I wanted a 2/1 kit from a reputable company and decided on the Rough Country 764 kit which lifts the front 2" and rear 1". Nothing against the other brands, choosing Rough Country was just my preference. After ordering from their site, I received the package in 2 business days. 2in Suspension Lift Kit for 2010-2018 Toyota 4-Runner 4wd | Rough Country Suspension Systems®

Front installation is as simple as removing the strut, using the factory nuts to attach the spacer and then reinstalling the strut with the provided nylon locking nuts. No strut disassembly required. For the rear, remove the spring, bolt the spacer through the existing pre-drilled hole and then reinstalling the spring. I used the steps in this video to remove/reinstall the struts and springs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIfYtD2UaTg (note: the spacer brand/type in this video is not Rough Country). Total install time was 4 hours with 2 guys and hand tools.

Prior to the lift, I had major rubbing issues on the front fender and front mud flaps/body mount due to the 20x9 -12 wheels on 275/55/20. Using the fender trim and inner wheel well mod on this site, I was able to eliminate then rubbing in front of the wheel/tire. I still had body mount rubbing on the back of the wheel/tire and thought that I would have to do a body mount chop. After installing this lift kit and a proper alignment, there is no body mount rub at all and I am able to reinstall the front mud flaps also with no rubbing at full left/right wheel lock!

There are many spacer options available and I also considered the Bilstein 5100 0-2.5" adjustables. But since my 2015 SR5 has only 40000 miles and still rides like new (good for me), I decided to go with the spacer option. There is a lot of discussions on pros/cons with spacers and I was 90% convinced on the Bilstein route. But since the OEM ride is sufficient at this time, I figured the $120 price on this kit was worth a try and then when I replaced the struts at 90-100k miles, I would purchase Bilstein. I also wanted to purchase from a reputable company and Rough Country has been in the business of lifts for over 30 years. Let me tell you, in my opinion, this was a great choice for me. I drive pavement 95% and non-pavement is limited to camping fields and simple trails. The kit was very simple to install and fit perfectly, I have no complaints on the design. The front spacer is aluminum and the rear is steel. The ride actually feels a tad bit stiffer which is an improvement. The front nose dive also feels a tad less. I hope this write up can help others considering this kit.

Here is a before picture at stock height.

I first went with just the front 2" spacers to see how it would look. This is just the front 2" spacers and rear stock height. This perfectly leveled the truck from to back. If anything, there was a 1/8" difference from front to back. But realizing in real world situations, loads kids/gear or towing, it would be nose high.

So I installed the rear 1" spacer and visually it still looks great. There is a 1" difference now from front to back.

Some pics of the spacer. Hope this helps.

 

[FloridaFeMan]

Prior to selecting a spacer leveling lift kit, I found many posts on Daystar, Toytec, Cornfed etc. But nothing on the Rough County 764. After reading through many posts, I knew I wanted a 2/1 kit from a reputable company and decided on the Rough Country 764 kit which lifts the front 2" and rear 1". Nothing against the other brands, choosing Rough Country was just my preference. After ordering from their site, I received the package in 2 business days. 2in Suspension Lift Kit for 2010-2018 Toyota 4-Runner 4wd | Rough Country Suspension Systems®

Front installation is as simple as removing the strut, using the factory nuts to attach the spacer and then reinstalling the strut with the provided nylon locking nuts. No strut disassembly required. For the rear, remove the spring, bolt the spacer through the existing pre-drilled hole and then reinstalling the spring. I used the steps in this video to remove/reinstall the struts and springs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIfYtD2UaTg (note: the spacer brand/type in this video is not Rough Country). Total install time was 4 hours with 2 guys and hand tools.

Prior to the lift, I had major rubbing issues on the front fender and front mud flaps/body mount due to the 20x9 -12 wheels on 275/55/20. Using the fender trim and inner wheel well mod on this site, I was able to eliminate then rubbing in front of the wheel/tire. I still had body mount rubbing on the back of the wheel/tire and thought that I would have to do a body mount chop. After installing this lift kit and a proper alignment, there is no body mount rub at all and I am able to reinstall the front mud flaps also with no rubbing at full left/right wheel lock!

There are many spacer options available and I also considered the Bilstein 5100 0-2.5" adjustables. But since my 2015 SR5 has only 40000 miles and still rides like new (good for me), I decided to go with the spacer option. There is a lot of discussions on pros/cons with spacers and I was 90% convinced on the Bilstein route. But since the OEM ride is sufficient at this time, I figured the $120 price on this kit was worth a try and then when I replaced the struts at 90-100k miles, I would purchase Bilstein. I also wanted to purchase from a reputable company and Rough Country has been in the business of lifts for over 30 years. Let me tell you, in my opinion, this was a great choice for me. I drive pavement 95% and non-pavement is limited to camping fields and simple trails. The kit was very simple to install and fit perfectly, I have no complaints on the design. The front spacer is aluminum and the rear is steel. The ride actually feels a tad bit stiffer which is an improvement. The front nose dive also feels a tad less. I hope this write up can help others considering this kit.

Here is a before picture at stock height.

I first went with just the front 2" spacers to see how it would look. This is just the front 2" spacers and rear stock height. This perfectly leveled the truck from to back. If anything, there was a 1/8" difference from front to back. But realizing in real world situations, loads kids/gear or towing, it would be nose high.

So I installed the rear 1" spacer and visually it still looks great. There is a 1" difference now from front to back.

Some pics of the spacer. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the review. Are you still happy with the results of this kit? The local Toyota dealer is charging $800`for this kit installed. They had one on the showroom floor when I was there for service. It looked really sharp. What a crazy mark up. Install looks pretty straight forward. Any reason you chose this kit over the Daystar kit?

 

[akcc]

I was wondering. Since you have a similar set up to mine. Except mine is still at stock height.

With your wheel specs, do you think you have enough room to clear 275/60/20 AT tire?

 

[jvtran]

Thanks for the review. Are you still happy with the results of this kit? The local Toyota dealer is charging $800`for this kit installed. They had one on the showroom floor when I was there for service. It looked really sharp. What a crazy mark up. Install looks pretty straight forward. Any reason you chose this kit over the Daystar kit?

YES! I'm super satisfied with this kit. It was exactly what I wanted, a very mild lift. I think $800 dealer installed is too much. You can order the kit directly from RC for $120 shipped and I received it within 2 business days. Installation was simple, but if you don't want to do the install, I bet you can find a suspension shop to install it for around $150 (that's the quote I got when shopping around). Then an alignment for around $80. So that puts you at $350 total ($120+$150+$80) which is less than half of what the dealer quoted. No other parts required.

There was no modification needed and everything bolted together perfectly. As I mentioned, I wanted a quality kit from a reputable company. Even though it was just a hunk of aluminum and metal, the finish and workmanship was spot on. I did have one minor issue where the nylon nut for the front spacer had the nylon slightly loose. So it did not lock and spun freely. I could have just installed the nut without the nylon but I initiated an online chat with RC and they were super easy to work with. I receive a new nylon nut in the mail a couple of days later. I consider that A+ customer service and why I chose RC.

I did not choose Daystar as they did not offer a 2/1 lift leveling kit. I think theirs was 2.5”.
I did not choose Cornfed as they only offered 2” front / 1.5” rear kit and price was $210. (I think there were custom options also but the price was higher)

 

[jvtran]

I was wondering. Since you have a similar set up to mine. Except mine is still at stock height.

With your wheel specs, do you think you have enough room to clear 275/60/20 AT tire?

In the rear, yes.

In the front, without mudflaps and some more fender trimming, I THINK a 275/60/20 would squeeze in ok as long as the tread design was not extreme. But since a 275/60 is a 33" tire there will be a small chance it might rub the body mount which you can also do the body mount chop.

 

[WVU4Runner]

I realize this is an old thread but hoping someone can answer my question. I’ve been comparing the 764 Rough country leveling kit to other kits. I’d prefer to install the rough country kit but am concerned about the front strut studs potentially being too long and needing grinding. I can’t get a definitive answer on whether this is required with the rough country front spacers. If you look at reviews on Amazon there are multiple mentions of people who needed to grind the struts studs down because they were too long for the spacer. Did you run into this issue?

 

[fkheath]

I realize this is an old thread but hoping someone can answer my question. I’ve been comparing the 764 Rough country leveling kit to other kits. I’d prefer to install the rough country kit but am concerned about the front strut studs potentially being too long and needing grinding. I can’t get a definitive answer on whether this is required with the rough country front spacers. If you look at reviews on Amazon there are multiple mentions of people who needed to grind the struts studs down because they were too long for the spacer. Did you run into this issue?

I put the Rough Country leveling kit on my 2018 RAV4 three years ago, and yes, I had to grind the studs down a bit. I talked to Rough Country then, and I had the impression that they were going to change the studs on future production so you did not need to grind them down. I don't know if they did that, so why don't you call them and ask about it.

Grinding them down was not a big issue for I have a bench grinder that did the job in just a few minutes. The pain was I did not discover they needed grinding until I had one installed, so I had to take it out to grind them down and put them back in.

I really like this leveling kit and would recommend it. The ride did not change at all, in fact, I like the Toyota soft ride when going off road. It is so much better off road than the Jeep JK I had which was really rough/harsh. Some people complain the 4Runner ride is too soft on the highway, but off road it is a pleasure to have.