Toytec BOSS Lift

[flipflopnfly]

1. I don't own it but I believe yes, that kit has everything you need. As for things you might want but don't need, see 2.

2. 3" of lift will leave you with very little caster after an alignment; this can make the truck feel "darty" and less stable / respond more to road imperfections, but some people don't even notice the difference. (I sure did though!) Aftermarket upper control arms typically have a few extra degrees of caster built in to help you get steering stability back. Also, you may want longer rear brake lines or longer swaybar end links. Not necessary, but they both help make sure nothing gets pulled too far (particularly when articulating offroad). A differential drop will reduce your CV angles, but the general consensus around here seems to be "ehh, the angles aren't too bad"; your call.

3. "other issues may begin to arise" isn't referencing tire size, it's referencing lift height; see 2 above for recommended extras. 275s won't need any other parts installed to fit, but you will probably have to trim your fenders and remove the front mud flaps (although I don't think you'll need to chop your body mounts).

Hope that helps!

That's very helpful. I put the full Boss kit on a couple weeks ago with Firestone airbags, ditched the rear swaybar, and yes, extended rear brakelines are necessary.

The rear axle droops about 2" more with the rear swaybar removed. After install, sans rear swaybar, frankly what was holding the left side of the axle up from full droop was the rear brakelines. Not good.

Also helpful is your caster info. I ended up with 3.25" lift in front (the Boss coilovers were supposedly preset to 2.5" by Toytec). I drove it 100 miles, the height didn't change. It was 'floaty', as you described. I left it as set by Toytec with the stock UCA's and had the alignment done today.

They got about 1 degree closer to recommended caster specs, but still under (1.9 degrees, 2.5 - 4.0 degrees recommended). The change did reduce the float noticeably, though. Toein changed drastically, that may have had a lot to do with the better drive feel.

Seems to be a good kit out of the box, but paying the extra $450 for UCA's might be a good idea.

 

[Kaptainswanky]

I'd highly recommend getting a pair of UCA's, being able to get in alignment does wonders for drive-ability and tire life.

 

[Dpassmore]

so toytec offers lightracing uca's i would say pass on those and get some builtright uniball arms for a little more. that is the only thing i regret about it

They started offering total chaos as well now and is what I'm considering.

 

[Dpassmore]

I'm browsing thru threads and this one seems to address much of what my son is wanting to do on his 05 SE 2WD current stock 4R (wants a cosmetic lift, larger tires, beefier look), but is there any issue with the changes creating "limp" mode? That's what my local lift guru is concerned about before starting any mods to this Xreas suspension. Maybe there's a better thread on this issue.
Thanks for the help.

No. You will lose some acceleration and mileage, but that's it.
XREAS is not computer controlled.

 

[flipflopnfly]

I'd highly recommend getting a pair of UCA's, being able to get in alignment does wonders for drive-ability and tire life.

Something I'm thinking about redoing is I torqued the lower shock mounts to 90 ft lbs with the truck still on the jackstands. I'm hearing that's a no-no, don't fully torque them until the tires are on the ground.

 

[mizak82]

At first I was going to use spacers on my xreas. Then I said if your going to do it. Do it right.

I looked into billsteins and springs. I priced the coil overs and toytec and icons and fox. The boss seemed like the best bang for my buck.

It's reasonable for my needs. And gives me better adjustability. I do very little off-roading but want it capable if I did. And def for looks. I'm shallow when it comes to vehicles.

Once my tires wear out I'll pull the trigger. So probably at 100k miles or so. My game plan is 265/70/17 ko2s. I want the better gas mileage over 275/285s.

I will set the front coil overs at 2.5. Get the 2 inch toytec lift springs in the back. With the rear boss shocks. I'm thinking barely a noticeable rake.

Purchase swaybar bushings and new end links at the same time.

By not maxing it out at 3 inches, it should get me by for a while without having to worry about the brake lines and ucas.

It adds up quick. Tires. Mount. Balance. Align. Plus suspension. hopefully you do it yourself to save on labor. Endlinks. Bushings.

I'll try and hold off on the ucas and brake lines and save a few bucks as long as I can.




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[Dpassmore]

Something I'm thinking about redoing is I torqued the lower shock mounts to 90 ft lbs with the truck still on the jackstands. I'm hearing that's a no-no, don't fully torque them until the tires are on the ground.

You should also loosen or leave the uca loose and tighten it with the wheels on the ground.


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[flipflopnfly]

You should also loosen or leave the uca loose and tighten it with the wheels on the ground.


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So I'm doing the right thing by loosening and retorquing to 90-100 ftlbs the lower shock mounts with the wheels on the ground? And shouldn't have torqued them to 90-100 in the first place without the wheels on the ground?

Just want to confirm since I didn't know about that until recently.

 

[Dpassmore]

It is better.
It keeps the bushings from being in a bind which will cause premature failure.


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[flipflopnfly]

I had the Boss equipped Runner at 75mph today for about 10 miles, even without the caster within specs it tracked well.

This is a stiff suspension kit. You know damn well there's stiff springs and a 200psi charge in the shocks. The real test comes tomorrow when I take it onto washboard roads.

 

[CruzadoBlanco]

At first I was going to use spacers on my xreas. Then I said if your going to do it. Do it right.

I looked into billsteins and springs. I priced the coil overs and toytec and icons and fox. The boss seemed like the best bang for my buck.

It's reasonable for my needs. And gives me better adjustability. I do very little off-roading but want it capable if I did. And def for looks. I'm shallow when it comes to vehicles.

Once my tires wear out I'll pull the trigger. So probably at 100k miles or so. My game plan is 265/70/17 ko2s. I want the better gas mileage over 275/285s.

I will set the front coil overs at 2.5. Get the 2 inch toytec lift springs in the back. With the rear boss shocks. I'm thinking barely a noticeable rake.

Purchase swaybar bushings and new end links at the same time.

By not maxing it out at 3 inches, it should get me by for a while without having to worry about the brake lines and ucas.

It adds up quick. Tires. Mount. Balance. Align. Plus suspension. hopefully you do it yourself to save on labor. Endlinks. Bushings.

I'll try and hold off on the ucas and brake lines and save a few bucks as long as I can.




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if you only want to run a 265/70r17 tire i would only set those BOSS coilovers at like 1" maybe 1.5" at most. and in the rear i would suggest you look at the metaltech coils, yes they say LT, which i use them for. however they are the best coils i have run in the rear of my runner, blow the toytec superflex's out of the water.

if you do want to run the coilovers at the preset height of 2.5 definetly look at a 255/80r17 or similar the 265/70 is only slightly larger than stock and it would look very odd on a runner lifted that much.

 

[flipflopnfly]

At first I was going to use spacers on my xreas. Then I said if your going to do it. Do it right.

I looked into billsteins and springs. I priced the coil overs and toytec and icons and fox. The boss seemed like the best bang for my buck.

It's reasonable for my needs. And gives me better adjustability. I do very little off-roading but want it capable if I did. And def for looks. I'm shallow when it comes to vehicles.

Once my tires wear out I'll pull the trigger. So probably at 100k miles or so. My game plan is 265/70/17 ko2s. I want the better gas mileage over 275/285s.

I will set the front coil overs at 2.5. Get the 2 inch toytec lift springs in the back. With the rear boss shocks. I'm thinking barely a noticeable rake.

Purchase swaybar bushings and new end links at the same time.

By not maxing it out at 3 inches, it should get me by for a while without having to worry about the brake lines and ucas.

It adds up quick. Tires. Mount. Balance. Align. Plus suspension. hopefully you do it yourself to save on labor. Endlinks. Bushings.

I'll try and hold off on the ucas and brake lines and save a few bucks as long as I can.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think Boss is good bang for the buck. Icon Stage 1 is probably a bit better, but it's $400 more and like the Boss kit doesn't have new UCA's included either. Icon Stage 2 is $3000. That $400 saved goes for the alignment, rear brakelines, etc.

For tires, I'm looking at the 265/65/18 (Limited stock wheel is 18"). They're 31.56" - 1" taller than stock.

I offroad a lot so I'm interested in the added ground clearance. 1" over stock gets me .5" more ground clearance. A 265/70/18 is 32.61" - two inches over stock. But, that's only 1" extra ground clearance over stock.

So to me, the added .5" ground clearance from 32's to 33's is not worth it for the 33's. 32's for me.

 

[flipflopnfly]

I took it out onto some dirt roads to see how it handled washboards, which I think really indicates if a suspension is good. Does it chatter around accelerating over washboards? Does it chatter around braking over washboards? That tells me if or not the suspension is tuned well. Any lift can do lowspeed crawling, the real test is how does it handle highspeed offroad.

The Boss did fine. Of course I'm fulltime 4WD so I can't say if the rear would chatter around accelerating in 2WD. It feels good to me. Good bang for the buck.

 

[mizak82]

if you only want to run a 265/70r17 tire i would only set those BOSS coilovers at like 1" maybe 1.5" at most. and in the rear i would suggest you look at the metaltech coils, yes they say LT, which i use them for. however they are the best coils i have run in the rear of my runner, blow the toytec superflex's out of the water.

if you do want to run the coilovers at the preset height of 2.5 definetly look at a 255/80r17 or similar the 265/70 is only slightly larger than stock and it would look very odd on a runner lifted that much.

this guy says he's 2.5 front, 2 inch back with 265/70/17..

I think that looks pretty sweet.. I do have the sport though.. if it looked to high id put my side tubes back on maybe.. id like to be in this neighborhood though I think..

http://im.toyota-4runner.org/attach...ntral-pics-post-em-up-2016-06-05-20.40.28.jpg

 

[flipflopnfly]

Installing the Boss kit on the 2008 I noticed Toytec's rear installation instructions have changed from when I installed the full kit on the 2007.

There is no mention about installing the rear bumpstop extenders that are included with the kit.

The 4th Gen Boss kit - http://toyteclifts.3dcartstores.com...3-09-4Runner-07-09-FJ-03-09-GX470_p_1059.html

The 4th Gen Boss kit install instructions - https://www.toyteclifts.com/images/stories/pdf_files/4thgenFJ_BOSS Ultimate_instructions.pdf

Also no mention about removing the e-brake cable brackets, nor removing the spare tire, nor mentioning remove the brakeline bolt on the driver side of the rear. All that was in the install instructions when I installed on the '07 ten months ago.

Boss is a good kit IMO, it's rebranded Eibach shocks and coils with threaded coilovers. Reasonably priced.

EDIT:

 

[Soulman]

Has anyone had any trouble with this kit? I have it on my 03 and just found a blown front shock. This suspension has not been abused AT ALL. One time off road and almost all highway miles. Not happy about this. Still waiting to hear from Toytec to see if they will back up their product. It's 3 years old with about 25K miles on it...

 

[flipflopnfly]

Has anyone had any trouble with this kit? I have it on my 03 and just found a blown front shock. This suspension has not been abused AT ALL. One time off road and almost all highway miles. Not happy about this. Still waiting to hear from Toytec to see if they will back up their product. It's 3 years old with about 25K miles on it...

Bad news. Leaking? Any pics? I read about the rears having premature problems because the upper bushings were not centered in the frame mounts during some installs.

Toytec included a mention to "Make sure to center the shock stud through the frame" in their latest version of the rear install instructions. They also mention "If new shocks are being installed, remove old shocks complexly (sic). Then lower the jack allowing the axle to drop dawn (sic) . . . ."

The instructions neglect to mention there is a bumpstop spacer to install. I would have had no idea what to do with the bumpstop spacer or why it's needed if I hadn't already installed the kit on the '07 Runner last year. I hope my kit is better than the instructions.

 

[Macallan]

Has anyone had any trouble with this kit? I have it on my 03 and just found a blown front shock. This suspension has not been abused AT ALL. One time off road and almost all highway miles. Not happy about this. Still waiting to hear from Toytec to see if they will back up their product. It's 3 years old with about 25K miles on it...

I had the boss kit early on, and after 1 year it was rusted and leaking (2 of the 4 shocks). They wouldn't do anything about it, so I switched it all out to a different brand.

 

[flipflopnfly]

I had the boss kit early on, and after 1 year it was rusted and leaking (2 of the 4 shocks). They wouldn't do anything about it, so I switched it all out to a different brand.

What brand did you switch to?

 

[Soulman]

I had the boss kit early on, and after 1 year it was rusted and leaking (2 of the 4 shocks). They wouldn't do anything about it, so I switched it all out to a different brand.

Yes, I'd be interested in hearing what you went with as well, and your impressions of the system.