Hey everyone,, i will officially introduce myself here. I have had my runner for 5 years now.. and finally ready to jack her up.. i know ALMOST nothing about all this and have been finding tons of helpful info in these forums.. thanks !
so here it is in all its stock glory


My first thing on the list is a lift.. i am wanting roughly 6 inches .. i dont know a thing about mechanics so wont be doing this myself..
I went to the local offroad shop and was qouted approx. 3 grand for a 6in suspension lift with labor and all that jazz. i was floored that sounds like a lot..
My question is.. what is so great about a full sus. lift?? why not just do some spacers and a 3 in body? any thoughts thanks a ton.. as i said im A major newbie and need all the help i can get.

should prob. mention its 4wd and only a 4cyl.
Kristina

 

Welcome to YT.

I don't know how much people charge to install lifts, but 3k sounds pretty pricey.

 

there is alot of info on this site about doing this set up.. there is never any sort of shame in trying something new.. even if ya dont succeed.. id say try it.. cause for that price you could do a SAS swap and a lift plus buy the tools to do it.

 

Yah the actual lift was like 2400... then all the other fees... so i figured it would be a lot cheaper to have them order 2.5 inch spacers and bring in the 4crawler 3 in body lift for them to install.. but not sure if it will look or perform as well as a 6in suspen.

 

I guess you should start by figuring out what you want to do with it. If you are going to use your runner offroad alot, versus just cruising around town, will help you make a better decision. So, if you don't mind me asking, what are you looking to achieve?

I only say this because if you are concerned about ground clearance, you might be better off going with a 2.5 inch suspension/3 inch body, simply because the 6" lifts I have seen (Fabtech, etc.) require cutting the frame and installing a dropped crossmember, which will bring your ground clearance back down to around where it would be with only a 2.5 inch lift. Not to mention that you can put your 4runner back to stock if you DONT cut the frame a lot easier than if you were to install a 6" lift.

I am also assuming that you want to throw a 35" tire on your truck. Keep in mind that with a 4cyl, you will lose power and will need to put new gears in the axle housings, which can get pricey in and of itself. Let us know what you are looking to do, and we'll see if we can help you out.

 

NNOOOTT

 

cutthroat... thanks for the insight.. i am mainly keeping this as my DD and not as much interested in taking it rock crawling.. So yes this is more for looks.. i still want it to work good if i get in a bind tho as far as normal 4 wheel drive... will it look higher with certain kinds of lifts?? also i was only going to be putting 33s on due to the 4 cyl.

 

Id say go with a OME lift its not to expensive and if theres a chance your going to take it off road Id rather have the coils and shocks than the blocks if you get the blocks and keep the stock shocks you will not achieve actual flex... I got ome 883's up front with some billstein shocks and Lexus coils in the back with OME nitrocharger soft ride shocks and I will be installing them myself but I imagine at a shop it wouldnt come close to 3 grand with you buying the stuff and paying to have it installed and add on a extra 180 or so for a BL...

 

i've seen quite few threads posted by members who are/were in the airforce. i think AF has a mechanic program that provides tools, lifts space and equipment for the soliders to work on their own vehicles, of course depends on where you are and what you do. if you can get that part covered, that takes out the hundreds of dollars of labor cost towards your modification.

body lift is cheap and easy, but not it's only for looks, it doesn't improve your ride quality, flex or ground clearance. just little bit of tire clearance.

first, yours is being 10-11 years old, shocks are pretty much gone and the rear coil springs are meant to sag. your money is best to be on the suspension anyway, no matter mall cruising or off-roading.

second, your GEAR RATIO, find out your gear ratio, it dictates the MAXIMUM tire size, your tire size determines the minimum suspension lift required and your ground clearance(body lift has nothing to do with ground clearance).

you can get away with no lift running 31" tires, and if you have 3.9 gears, don't go over 32", 4.1 gears don't go over 33", because small gears and large tires don't mix.

it's your DD, so 32" is the maximum tire size i'd run if i were you because of the mpg.

that was my thought process before i had my lifted.

by the way, the cheapest way to improve your looks, i mean the 4runner, is to lose these running boards.

 

If you are going to be running 33's, then a 2.5" lift will clear. It has been my experience that the spacers stiffen up the ride in the front, so ride quality may suffer a little bit, however, this does tend to cut down on body roll some. I don't have any experience with the OME kits, but they seem to get good reviews, and perform well off road from what I gather.

Keep in mind that when you increase the tire diameter, there is also some lift included just from the addition of the tires. For example, if you were to put a tire on that is 2 inches bigger than stock, and not do a suspension lift, your truck will still sit an inch taller, again, due only to the tire size increase. so with a 2.5 inch lift, and a 33, you will actually gain about 3.5 inches as opposed to no lift and 31's.

Another way to make your truck look like it is higher up off the ground would be to remove the running boards. I have done this to mine, and it really does make it appear to sit higher. If you need the step, then I would suggest buying some close fitting sliders and using them for a step. Just for comparison sake, Here's a picture of my 4runner. I am 6'3, so keep that in mind.

Oh, and the back is sagging some cause the rear springs have 200k miles on them and there are 2 ppl in the back seat. That was a good day wheeling.

 

Roughly....

Marlin Crawler SAS kit- $1499
Chevy 63's in the rear- $150 (high end)
Extend driveshafts- $200
Axle- $300
Misc. Extra- $300

Welder- $500


Total- $2949

And that's with the more expensive Marlin kit.

So yes you could do a SAS for the same price.

 

Some very solid advice up there.


Sorry for off topic, but TC4RNR, do you have pics of your truck posted? If so, send me a link please. You've got a very similar system to what I'm looking at (1.2 lift, bfg ATs, ARB front bumper).

Thanks!

 

Def. agree with the running board.. comment.. so that is prob. what i will do first... it actually has 31s on it now.. and they seem really puny.. i want to go as big and high as i can without causing millions of problems.. i think that i will for sure do a 3 in 4crawler body lift and probably pair it with another 3 in suspension lift..

Would a 6 in. suspension lift look the same in height as that setup?

 

It will look different because ones suspension and ones body lift 6 inch suspension on IFS is just asking for trouble if you ask me and WAY to expensive Id go OME and LC coils with a 2 BL but its your rig!!!

 

to answer your question, no, a 6 in suspension lift will have more ground clearance and have extremely better off road capabilities. my next question is have you seen a 3rd gen with 6in of lift?? i have 2.75 in the front and 3.5 in the rear, 33's... the vehicle is large, and looks far bigger than a 3in lifted jeep.

 

Based on the OP's first post your estimate is not valid...no labor cost.

 

Kristina...take a look at the Sonoran Steel lift page and do some reading about his packages including the general lift info at the very bottom of that page. You don't necessarily need to buy one of those but he has some very good general lift information there.

My advice would be to get mild lift similar to the SS 7.2 kit. Going for a 6" lift will create some issues you or your wallet might not want to deal with.

 

4rkidd Hey no i actually havent seen one with a straight 6 in suspension lift... all the ones i have seen have some sort of combination to make 6 inches.. can you post a picture of yours??

 

Didn't catch that one

So if you knew how to weld....you could do it

 

I'm working on it, there has been some changes on my set up recently, BFG tires with Limited wheels are currently on my wife's newly acquired 04 SR5. This is freshly taken this morning.