Spacer Leveling Questions

[boyfester]

I'm interested in leveling out the front end of my 2014 TE only with some Toytec spacers to gain some ground clearance, put some larger tires on it eventually, and improve the looks. I did an experiment at home and jacked up the truck from it's stock clearance of 8 3/8" to 10 3/4" until the space between the wheel well spacing (top of the tire to the bottom of the horizontal wheel well) were equivalent.



By raising the rig up to 10 3/4", the wheel well clearances front and back both measured 5 7/8". The thing I noticed though was that when I leveled the wheel wells, the bottom of the truck now had a reverse rake. By measuring from the floor to the rock sliders front and back, I measured 15 5/8" up front and 14 7/8" in the rear.



My questions:
1. What does leveling really mean? Is it uniform wheel wells and ground clearance front to back?
2. Does proper leveling with a full front/rear kit produce equal wheel well spacing and uniform clearance from the ground to the under-body?
3. After reading many other posts on this forum regarding leveling, is this why it's necessary to buy an entire kit like the 2.5/1.5 or 3/2 kit to raise the rear end of a bit to get rid of the "reverse rake"?
4. Does a 2.5/1.5 kit really raise the rig 2.5" up front and 1.5" in back or is there some sag from the suspension? I'm curious to know who much improved ground clearance there is with these kits.
5. Should I jack up the car somewhere else to get more realistic experimental results?

Thanks!

 

[Vrrooom]

The fender to wheel gap will be different than the ground to truck gap. Reason is the front fender is actually lower than the rear fender.

So when you level it, you need to decide whether you want the truck level (you can see by the frame and running boards) or do you want the fender to tire gap level. You can't have both.

A good compromise that I like is when the rear tire to fender gap is about 1/2 to 3/4 inch more than the front tire to fender gap, which gives an almost level appearance on the frame side and a very slight rake, which looks good, on the fender to tire.

 

[jwkilgore]

My questions:
1. What does leveling really mean? Is it uniform wheel wells and ground clearance front to back?
2. Does proper leveling with a full front/rear kit produce equal wheel well spacing and uniform clearance from the ground to the under-body?
3. After reading many other posts on this forum regarding leveling, is this why it's necessary to buy an entire kit like the 2.5/1.5 or 3/2 kit to raise the rear end of a bit to get rid of the "reverse rake"?
4. Does a 2.5/1.5 kit really raise the rig 2.5" up front and 1.5" in back or is there some sag from the suspension? I'm curious to know who much improved ground clearance there is with these kits.
5. Should I jack up the car somewhere else to get more realistic experimental results?
Thanks!

1. It means whatever you want it to mean. It also varies by how much load you carry. If you get the wheel wells perfectly even with zero load you'll end up with reverse rake/squat when your cargo area is loaded or you are towing a heavy trailer. Most people go with an almost level frame, and this is what the 2.5/1.5 daystar gives. If you stare at the wheel wells it still looks like a slight forward rake, but if you load up the rear the squat won't be as bad.
2. This is impossible because the 4R isn't built that way.
3. You can do just a level with a 1" spacer up front, if you can find one. I wanted the extra approach/breakover angle clearance from a lift.
4. Those were about my numbers; I forget the specifics. Again, the actual lift is variable and is based on vehicle + cargo weight. Be warned that if you are wheeling in soft mud or sand a spacer lift won't help you at all unless you go up in tire size. Your rear axle clearance is a function of tire diameter. If you wheel in rocks the lift will help your angles but will hurt articulation. General recommendation is a spacer is primarily for looks and light off-roading. For real rock crawling you need to upgrade your springs and shocks.
5. I don't think this will help.

Incidentally, the best place to measure before/after lift dimensions is the center of the hub to the fender. This won't be affected by tire diameter or wear.

 

[heyitsmeraj]

One of the best answers to make me understand the Leveling /Lift kit for 4runner. I was confused as boyfester but I am really starting to understand how things are. Thanks jwkilgore