Suspension lift kits out there ...

[BigKitty]

I went with Sonoran Steel 1.2 kit with the black Tokiko shocks in rear and Bilstein's in front and couldn't be happier. It rides way better than stock, corners well, and handled driving down the dry riverbed they called a road to the swimming hole with gnarly roots, big rocks and lots of sand really well. And it's all Toyota parts, 3" lift, I highly recommend it. I use it as my around town driver 98% of the time and love it.

 

[Brabbit]

Do the speedy garage lift. Cost $850-$1000 2" lift and rides great.

 

[mckennar]

If you just want looks, not actual off-road performance, articulation or durability... get a set of spacers.

You might want to "stage-zero" your front suspension before you lift to make sure you're not going to over-stress old, worn out stock components that don't get changed out with the lift.

As mentioned above, make sure your lower ball joints are recent, otherwise do not pass go.

 

[SpidermanGeek]

You might want to "stage-zero" your front suspension before you lift to make sure you're not going to over-stress old, worn out stock components that don't get changed out with the lift.

As mentioned above, make sure your lower ball joints are recent, otherwise do not pass go.

This, times a billion.

I know it's not cool or fun because it's not a mod that people will notice, but if you don't freshen up your IFS articulation components before slapping on a lift kit, you'll probably regret and be back here with a bunch of "HELP, I HAVE A CLUNK/VIBRATION/RATTLING/ETC."

So take a little time and money and have your UBJ, LBJ, ITRE, OTRE, CV Axles, Wheel Bearings, Steering Rack Bushings, Sway Bar mounts and bushings, Front Brake Calipers & Flex Hoses thoroughly inspected and updated while sticking to OEM parts only as much as possible.

The more you can do all at once with genuine Toyota Parts, the better your chances of not having to touch any of those components for another 200K miles.

Then I would look into a lift kit with confidence.

Of course, my guess is that you're just a young buck with a small fistful of dollars to spend and you want to make your rig look as "rad" as possible for the least amount of money.

Which means you're likely just looking for a lift before moving on to spending a couple of grand on either big tires and new wheels or a *****in' sound system or all of the above.

...sigh.

In any case, T4R.org is a great resource for your questions, but please be sure to take a little time and search stuff before asking a question. Chances are, your question has already been answered multiple times in the past. The wealth of 3rd gen T4R knowledge here is unmatched.

 

[baja1]

and the coolest thing about my SS 1.2.....it makes it really easy to crawl under to work on, and struggling with this ill fated engine swap, i've spent a looong time under there! :hello:

 

[Road Bull]

and the coolest thing about my SS 1.2.....it makes it really easy to crawl under to work on, and struggling with this ill fated engine swap, i've spent a looong time under there! :hello:

Yet another benefit of installing a lift on your 4runner. Just throw a large piece of cardboard under there and you can slide, shimmy, and breakdance to get to items under your rig you need to service. Before the lift, working under the vehicle made me wish I have the arms of a T-Rex.

 

[Mudeprived]

Yet another benefit of installing a lift on your 4runner. Just throw a large piece of cardboard under there and you can slide, shimmy, and breakdance to get to items under your rig you need to service. Before the lift, working under the vehicle made me wish I have the arms of a T-Rex.

Rhino Ramps are a must have for stock rigs.

 

[GioNazT4R]

You won't regret getting LC 8 wraps, wheelers off-road T1 front coils, and bilstein 5100 all around! Pretty affordable. Wheelersoffroad.com has some of the best offers. Just make sure you put the diff drop on!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[MonsterMaxx]

I'm just about to order the Sonoran Steel 7.2 kit, seems to be complete and has all the nicer features, even if it is expensive.

 

[absalom]

99 talks + new OEM shocks

Or if you can swing it

6162's + 3" Superflexes


New OEM LBJs, and everything else covered in my signature.

If you truly don't want a POS like you say, baseline the entire truck before stapling on a lift.

 

[absalom]

You won't regret getting LC 8 wraps, wheelers off-road T1 front coils, and bilstein 5100 all around! Pretty affordable. Wheelersoffroad.com has some of the best offers. Just make sure you put the diff drop on!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Diff drops are purely optional, and some folks have tied them to a starved front diff.

 

[zoombyu86]

Like everyone else said, replace old worn out components first. Then decide what you want to do with the truck and how much MPG/Power you want to sacrifice. If you're asking this super basic question, I assume 99.999999% street use, therefore you probably wont want to go above 265/75 tires.

I have the Tundra billies up front with Eibach coils and 8 wraps in the rear. I kept 265/75 on there and am not the least bit concerned w the look. Still looks good to me. You can buy kits or like me, I got my front stuff used, rear coils used, and new rear shocks. I'm pretty sure my "suspension" setup came in well under $500, but I probably put another $500 in just in replacing worn out components, LBJ, UBJ, inner and outter tie rods, say bar links, etc.

If not now, good chance youll be replacing these things after they leave you on the side of the road or something. just a headache.

It took me MONTHS (8 or so) before I finally decided on a setup I wanted and figuring out which means to get it. I would take everyone's advice and spend some time on here reading through lift and build threads. Everything you want to know has been dealt with over the last 15 years and almost nothing has changed.

 

[Renegade_Medic]

3-4' is a huge lift.:yo:

Your ride comfort will not increase with an aftermarket suspension that's meant to lift your vehicle. That's not how suspension lifts work.

If you want to maintain a comfortable ride you want to keep the factory suspension. Do a body lift and keep your comfortable ride while gaining your height you want to utilize while pounding the pavement.

I 100% Disagree. Ride is subjective, but this statement is not accurate.
My factory ride was atrocious and bottomed out frequently.

OP, I lifted my 4Runner with Toytech (Eibach) front 3" Springs and Bilstein 5100 shocks, left at the bottom position. The rear was lifted with Old Man Emu 891 and Bilstein 5100 (For Tundras, in order to reach 3-3.5" lift). The ride is great. the 891 rear springs are their HD springs, they are in no way harsh, like I was worried about. The ride is great with this setup. I achieved exactly 3" up front and roughly 3.25" in the rear when unloaded, after it settled. I got everything I needed from Wheeler's offroad. If you order through them, I'd have them assemble your front struts, trust me, its worth the money... I spent roughly $850 on this, shipped. I also got some other stuff from them too. So, it can be done for less than a grand.

Sometime people do complain of a harsh ride with the OME 891s, but I think that's when paired with the OME shocks. The Bilsteins are great and butter smooth.

Theoretically, the longer your spring is, the softer if can be to compress under the same weight. So, if you get a quality spring (OME/ARB or Eibach) the longer spring should or could be softer, giving you a more comfortable ride since it has more room to compress, it isn't as stiff. Shocks play a large part of this as well, as they can help to control the speed at which the suspension compresses.

At 3" lift I had a driveline vibration from the rear U joint on the rear Driveshaft (Front Driveshaft is unaffected by the lift) and had to replace the Ujoint, I took it to Driveline shop and they total for parts (Toyota) and labor was roughly $75.

Here is my install of the parts, suspension starts on post #4:
Build thread-Mothra the budget camping rig

 

[1985taylor1925]

I 100% Disagree. Ride is subjective, but this statement is not accurate.
My factory ride was atrocious and bottomed out frequently.

OP, I lifted my 4Runner with Toytech (Eibach) front 3" Springs and Bilstein 5100 shocks, left at the bottom position. The rear was lifted with Old Man Emu 891 and Bilstein 5100 (For Tundras, in order to reach 3-3.5" lift). The ride is great. the 891 rear springs are their HD springs, they are in no way harsh, like I was worried about. The ride is great with this setup. I achieved exactly 3" up front and roughly 3.25" in the rear when unloaded, after it settled. I got everything I needed from Wheeler's offroad. If you order through them, I'd have them assemble your front struts, trust me, its worth the money... I spent roughly $850 on this, shipped. I also got some other stuff from them too. So, it can be done for less than a grand.

Sometime people do complain of a harsh ride with the OME 891s, but I think that's when paired with the OME shocks. The Bilsteins are great and butter smooth.

Theoretically, the longer your spring is, the softer if can be to compress under the same weight. So, if you get a quality spring (OME/ARB or Eibach) the longer spring should or could be softer, giving you a more comfortable ride since it has more room to compress, it isn't as stiff. Shocks play a large part of this as well, as they can help to control the speed at which the suspension compresses.

At 3" lift I had a driveline vibration from the rear U joint on the rear Driveshaft (Front Driveshaft is unaffected by the lift) and had to replace the Ujoint, I took it to Driveline shop and they total for parts (Toyota) and labor was roughly $75.

Here is my install of the parts, suspension starts on post #4:
Build thread-Mothra the budget camping rig

Wilson is well aware of how springs work. Just look at his build thread.

Ride quality is subjective, yes. But the reason your old suspension was so bad if if it was hitting the bump stops is that is was worn out. You really can't compare that to anything else, be it new oem suspension or an aftermarket lift.

The coil rate for ome 891s is 210 lbs, compared to 150 for stock coils. That's quite a difference. With shocks valved for those coils, that's a much stiffer ride on a stock weight 4runner. Maybe the 891s are progressive, but they certainly arent softer than oem coils. But like you said it's subjective. Maybe you like a stiffer ride. I ran ome 890s which are 190 lbs spring rate, with lc shocks which is a popular set up here, and at stock weight it was too stiff to me for daily driving

 

[Renegade_Medic]

Wilson is well aware of how springs work. Just look at his build thread.

Ride quality is subjective, yes. But the reason your old suspension was so bad if if it was hitting the bump stops is that is was worn out. You really can't compare that to anything else, be it new oem suspension or an aftermarket lift.

The coil rate for ome 891s is 210 lbs, compared to 150 for stock coils. That's quite a difference. With shocks valved for those coils, that's a much stiffer ride on a stock weight 4runner. Maybe the 891s are progressive, but they certainly arent softer than oem coils. But like you said it's subjective. Maybe you like a stiffer ride. I ran ome 890s which are 190 lbs spring rate, with lc shocks which is a popular set up here, and at stock weight it was too stiff to me for daily driving

Could be that. I wasn't implying that he didn't know how the spring rates work, it was more for the OP, or anyone else stumbling on here later. Yes they are stiffer and maybe I just like the stuffer ride, but I couldn't imagine having a softer ride on this truck. Just letting off the gas and hitting the brakes in my driveway will cause the rear to bounce several inches, not too stiff.