6” lift

I’ve been thinking on getting a fox 4-6 inch lift and was wondering if anyone has ran into any problems since having one

 

6”?

 

Fox?

They make a drop bracket kit now?

 

minimum 6" then bolt on some 35" tires/wheels

 

You looking at BDS?
https://bds-suspension.com/products...oyota-tacoma-16-23-4wd?variant=52389123326323

Good stuff for sure.

Unfortunately you're not likely to get a whole lot of helpful advise on any kit with drop-downs here because of all the fear-mongering over the frame cut that is needed to install the lowered crossmember (and certainly that is something you do need to be aware of if, say, your truck is leased, or if you plan to sell eventually, and you want to de-install everything upon the end of lease or upon sale, you would need to have that cut part welded back on). But if you plan to keep the truck 'till the wheels fall off, then it's a non-issue. If you do any rock crawling, you'll appreciate the additional clearance these kits provide (I probably would suggest adjusting the Foxes for closer to 4.5 or 5" lift, anything above that starts to lose enough downtravel to be noticeable).
I might even suggest buy the 4" version of the kit (I believe only difference being shorter rear lift blocks and how much preload the Foxes are set to) and then pair it with a set of Icon RXT leaf springs to get back the 2" in the rear. This would be much better than the 4½" tall blocks that come in the 6" kit.

 

Truck is payed off I want my children to inherit this thing in many years I’m not worried ab the crossmember chop as long as it still performs good
When I press the bds link you sent it says it wouldn’t fit, but there is a 5.5 lift that says it would keep my stock fox shocks but just have the other crossmember and knuckles and stuff to lift it . I’m just wondering why it said the full lift with new shocks wouldn’t fit tho. https://bds-suspension.com/products/5-5-inch-lift-kit-toyota-tacoma-trd-pro-17-23-4wd When I put my truck in this is the only one that comes up

 

Because you have a TRD Pro.

There is no difference in the suspension between your Pro and, say, a TRD Off Road other than your shocks, upper control arms (if you have the Pro UCAs), and half-inch lift blocks under your rear leaf springs (all but the UCAs would be replaced).
I suspect reason BDS (and many others) say kits don't fit the Pro is because they don't want to deal with people that come back to them and say "Your 4" kit did not lift my truck 4 inches" (there is also a separate issue of kits having top-hat spacers lifting the Pro TOO much, although this doesn't apply here since you'd be getting new (full-length) front shocks with it)... All of this is because the Pro already sits 1" taller over the other trims.
The BDS 4" & 6" kits I linked should fit, and will lift your truck 3" (or 5") above what it currently sits at. As I mentioned above, you can also adjust the Fox 2.5 coilovers to any lift height you want between 4" up to about 6.5", relative to the height of a TRD Off Road model (so 3" to 5.5" above what your Pro sits at stock).

I did not realize they also have the kit you linked... Looks like that kit uses specially-designed top-hat spacers to accommodate stock Pro Fox coilovers (and of course that makes it a lot cheaper) however this limits your options somewhat for tuning and adjusting things (your stock Fox shocks have no height or damping adjustments). It also does not include rear shocks (instead they provide shock spacers, which I wouldn't feel comfortable with, myself). I guess it would depend on how much $$$ you want to spend. That kit has the exact same components otherwise, so (outside of the rear shock spacers) I'd feel similarly comfortable offroad with it.

Should also mention... :
BDS also tells you 18" minimum wheel diameter, but 17s do fit. You just have to be careful of where any wheel balancing weights are placed, since the steering (tie rod end) will be close enough to potentially interfere with weights placed right at the wheel's edge.

 

The Fox or BDS is good, but my issue is it runs like a dog after, they arent peppy to start with.

Other issue is you could run a small lift on a full size truck and it will be bigger.

I have seen one truck written off due the crossmember cut needed for the 6" lift. It was in an overlapping accident and the frame buckled.

 

If welded properly I shouldn’t have to worry ab the crossmember right? Especially not if I got into an accident in it

 

I can see how removal of the crossmember might make the frame slightly more prone to "diamonding" (not sure if that's a word... one framerail being pushed backward relative to the other in a frontal-offset crash), however I also think that any such impact that did that would also cause enough damage elsewhere to still total the truck (seems as of late, any airbag deployments = totaled as well).

Something you can do (and is what I've done on mine, although not for the purpose of more crash durability) is put a nice sturdy skid plate that attaches to the full width of both drop crossmembers (the skid would add some resistance to it diamonding, as well as bracing both members against each other). You could even go a step further and weld the drop members straight to the frame (making everything all as one again). Those drop members are much stronger than the OEM member removed, but the weak point in such a wreck would be movement of the member where they are bolted into the frame. Welding them to the frame (with proper gusseting) would remove that possibility of movement at the bolts.

 

What other things would I need to go with the 6in bds, prob like a regear and tune

 

Yep!

Money pit's wide open now...

Generally it goes like so:
1st Small lift and/or (barely-bigger-than-stock) offroad tires...
2nd More lift and significantly-bigger-than-stock offroad tires... (offroad bug has now bitten, want to go further offroad/tackle harder trails)
3rd Regear... (the bigger tires stole all your engine's power)
3rd.5 Front locking differential (or both F&R if truck is not an OR or Pro) (might as well do this while the axles are already apart for the regear)
4th Bumpers / Sliders / Skids / Other armor... (you busted off that wimpy plastic POS Toyota put on your truck / Tagged your undercarriage right next to your vulnerable oil pan on a rock (yeah better to be safe))
5th Even more lift / Suspension upgrades / Bigger tires... (keep being denied that climb because of dragging and hanging up on that undercarriage skid plate / Weight of armor robbed some of your lift's height)
6th Performance tune / Supercharger... (all the added weight of that armor + tires + truck gear (roof tents, racks, etc.) has stolen all your engine's power once again)
7th 8th 9th 10th... It'll go on & on for as long as one has their truck and reads TW!
At least there's possibility you'll have skipped #s 1 & 2 here... (that is unless #5 actually was your #2 because you now want to Solid-Axle-Swap it and throw yet even bigger tires on, causing #3 to re-play again, and also maybe further additions to #4 ) yeah

 

You loose a lot of ground clearance, generally not reversable, you don't gain anymore travel from it compared to a mid travel set up and a mid travel can fit 35's with out a drop bracket lift but with some other mods.

I have done suspension work on drop bracket lifts already installed and honestly I don't feel like working on anymore of them. Might Expect higher up keep costs for garages to work on them.

You can squeeze a 3" lift combined with a 1" body lift to get to 4" and its a better setup.

 

Aaaand here we go...

Explain how you "loose (sic) a lot of ground clearance" by lifting the truck up higher (axle clearance staying the same, everything else being up higher).

What do you base the higher upkeep costs on?

I'm also curious what are these "some other mods" for fitting 35s... ?
(I'll take a guess: instead of the crossmember, it's sawing the entirety of the front fenders, fender liners & flares, heavy cab mount chop (or even relocate), possibly the bumper & floor pans too... (everything people are cutting up on their trucks in this thread)... Since you mentioned something about reversibility, seems to me it would be a lot easier to simply weld the crossmember back on (maybe also replacing some plastic bits at the fender bottoms if those had to be trimmed) than it is to repair/replace entire fenders together with all of those other things (including having to repaint)...

Also, 3" lift (w/o drop brackets) is a recipe for CV boot & steering rack problems, losing much of your downtravel, and a jarring ride (and is why almost everyone says to stick to 2" lift or under).

And yes you can gain travel from it compared to a mid-travel, however I normally would not recommend running it like so unless you're 2WD.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/significantly-more-travel-with-6”-lift.845763/

 

Like anything else (stock, 3”, leveling, 6” etc) it’ll cost what you’re willing to put in, and what you do with it.
Some guys are wild enough to buy icon stage 7 or whatever.

A 6” can be done, but needs to be done right. Get rid of the front barrel spacers (sounds like you’re already set on Fox - I run um - accutune tuned them and man they are comfy as heck!), buy proper rear shocks (again, sounds like your set on Fox - I personally run Bilstein 5160s) and get rid of the rear block. The rear leaf pack is 100% up to your needs.
For example, I fish/camp a lot with my truck. I killed an OME Dakar leaf pack - went with a custom Alcan 600lb over stock capacity, 6” spring. I paired it with proper measured/extended bumpstops, and length shocks/extended brake lines.
Do what you want with your truck. Here’s mine. Ask away.

Oh, I am geared and OT tuned. Just put the k&n next gen intake too - haven’t driven it loaded yet.







Edit : only problems I have had was the old design OME Dakar pack (second leaf) would rub into the factory shackle. I’ve heard that OME redesigned their product since. But I changed it all out to hammer hangers and their greasable shackles.

 

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I'm talking in general terms, I haven't studied every drop bracket kit out there. I am also talking about 4x4 models too. Bc most have 4x4's.

You lose ground clearance from the cross member sitting much further down along with the lower control arms as seen in the picture above. Sure you can weld it back into place, I have seen that once before from a thread, but most people don't keep it and putting it back in is only as good as the person welding it. You gain ground clearance from tires not from a lift (Example - You rear diff doesn't go any higher off the ground from a 6" lift). In a drop bracket case, the bigger tires negates ground clearance bc of the crossmember as well.

Upkeep because in some drop bracket kits they come with special outer tie rods, and front sway bar links that are specific to that kit, and you will want those same items in the future, The spindles are bigger, heavier to work with, more attachment points for the ABS wire. I worked on one kit for an FJ (Same front end as a Tacoma mind you) that I had to detach the entire lower control arm in order to replace the cv axle because of how it attached differently to the spindle. On that same kit, when we upgraded to a 2.5" shock, the coil was rubbing on the backside against the frame bc not only did it drop the lower control arm down, but it moved it inward a little too. Combined with a top hat that wasn't centered because of the shock design, it moved the entire coil inward hence rubbing. That kit was a reputable brand too.

Garages will look at a heavily modified Toyota and charge more for labor for upkeep.

Up travel is limited by the bump stop, drop bracket kits come with a bump stop extension, I believe that is what was missing from the original poster in that thread that you pointed out. Down travel is limited by the upper ball joint and then the cv axle next. A drop bracket lift either has a giant spacer on top of the shock or the shock has a longer base to it. Yes, You will maintain more down travel with a drop bracket and save your CV axles (But can use an OEM Axle with a high angle inner boot to negate that, or a boot mod slide), but the total travel is going to be about the same. A drop Bracket kit doesn't make it into long travel, its still a mid travel set up.

All of our steering racks leak into the boot, so that doesn't really matter much. Every single toyota that I work on has a leaking rack unless its practically new. Mine has leaked for the past 5 years and just top off the fluid now and then.

I mentioned 3" plus 1" bc the poster was considering either a 4" or a 6" kit, I was just giving an alternative. A 3rd gen Tacoma sitting at 24" (3" Lift) center of hub to fender with an extended travel shock will only have about 1"-1.5" of down travel. Yes a 2" lift is better, I have that on mine, and I have 35's. It looks like you answered your own question with the 35" thread. But a 1" body lift helps mitigate the trimming and smashing, I have cycled my suspension without the shocks and I either clear, or really close (with Sumo bump stops), but I haven't been out on a trails this year yet to test. I only have a body mount chop, pinch smashed, 0 degrees on the SPC, and the BTF high caster lower control arms that move the wheel forward 3/4" so there are different ways to make it work. I am running 6.8 degrees of caster total.

For a 1" body lift, I would recommend a longer steering coupler from daystar, and you can spacer up your rear OEM bumper.

 

My $0.02:

I started off my taco with a 3 inch lift mostly due to the forums spam hating DB lifts. It’s one of the few times I wish I didn't listen. I now currently have a 6inch lift with full strut assemblies (no spacers) and I like it wayyyyyyyyy better than the 3inch toytec I had for years.

I didn’t like angles the 3 inch put my steering components, and UCA’s at. I’ve also heard it can wear out that needle bearing faster in the front differential (I replaced mine with the sleeve). Added stress on your CV axles too. I had the SPC UCA’s too and couldn’t justify replacing the upper ball joints costing more than two new complete factory style UCA’s.

I prefer the 6inch keeping the front end components at or near identical factory angles. Older Toyota pickups with DB lifts I can see where people bring up clearance issues but I don’t think my 2nd gen shares that same sentiment, the front ends are different. I also think it’s a negated point with the bigger tire size allowed by the 6in. You’re limited to the height of your diff regardless of lift size and it’s an argument of splitting hairs really. I have 34’s on mine and nothing rubs. I don’t have travel issues or anything. Stock gears. No tune. It’s no racecar but it never was from the beginning. Still my DD

as far as body lifts go, personally I’d avoid like the plague. I know some people like them, and I’m not sitting here saying anyone’s personal preference is wrong, but man I had one on a 91 blazer I had in highschool and it was more of a PITA than it was worth, plus the body gap eye sore and dealing with the linkages being short- screw that lol.

that’s just my perspective. It’s your truck, make it how you want it. If it were me and I could do it all over again, I probably would have kept the truck stock height. But if I wanted to lift it, I would have just went straight to the 6inch and skipped the hassle of the 3inch and added wear to everything involved.

 

Ok, maybe the above (looks like ProComp) could be an exception (I haven't worked on a ProComp kit or installed one), but many DB kits have their crossmember designed to be at least as high as the stock member (they also don't have that big jack point (?) protrusion sticking down).

See the lines here that are referenced to the LCA bolts (this is on a Rough Country kit... BDS & Fabtech are similar):


The difference in clearance with DB lift (green, to bottom of skid--not including differential protrusion) vs. stock (red, to bottom of jack point--not including diff) is hardly different. After you add a skid to the stock crossmember, clearance gets reduced (by a lot, from the skids I've seen, mostly because of that jack point). So in the end, it would seem total overall clearance is greater with the DB kit, all else being the same.

With 34" (285/75R17) tires, there's ~11½" directly under the diff protrusion (nearly 13" elsewhere).
I'd be curious what those running 2" non-DB lift (and have skids) have for clearance (for those running 33s (285/75R16 or 285/70R17) tires, an "equal" measurement would be ½" less than this).


I always do tell people if they cut their crossmember for a lift, save that part! It's much easier to weld the part that came from the truck back in vs. trying to fab things up to fill in the gap (or trying to use a part cut from another truck).

Ok, I can follow you there on those points (I do recall one having special sway bar links, Fabtech maybe?).
BDS (which is what I always recommend first) and Rough Country (which I may recommend in special circumstances) do not do this, they keep pretty much all of the OEM hardware in place aside from the knuckles, and in it's original configuration (such as keeping the OEM lower balljoint bracket). The Rough Country crossmember I know blocks access to the ADD unit, however I found it's easy enough to remove the two front diff mount bolts and pivot the diff down to gain access without needing to remove CVs, LCAs, etc. (yes, it's a (small) extra step not needed with the OEM crossmember, but nor is it with BDS either). So obviously this depends on what particular brand kit is involved. Generalizations I think do a disservice to the community though.

I do all my own work (and I feel that anyone who builds & modifies their vehicle really should also have a good understanding of their rig, and to be able to do their own work as well). You never can know what might potentially happen when you're out in the boonies somewhere... If something breaks or comes apart, it'll be a lot easier to take care of it if you know how to troubleshoot things and fix it (rather than leave it there and/or call on others for help).

Yes, uptravel normally is limited by the bumpstop. But if you really wanted to, you could certainly put a shorter bumpstop in place to allow that extra travel to happen. I don't recommend it only because it increases the angle on the CV. With the extreme amount of torque that can potentially develop when the tire is shoved all the way up into the fender (tire not able to slip easily because of so much weight on it), you want the CV angle to be close to straight in this instance.

I never said anything about long-travel... That requires longer control arms.

Mine's yet to leak... Yet many of the ones I do see leaking seem to be on trucks with a lot of angle on the tie rods. This puts additional up/down loading on the internal rack bearings, which is what I believe accelerates their wear, and subsequently starts leaking as the rack gets sloppier (I'll concede this is just a theory of mine... As I said, mine's had 0 issues so far (not even boot dampness) and I've had the lift and heavy Toyo 34s on it for a few years now). Eventually one day I'll see a truck hands-on with this issue (maybe even my own?) and will know better if this is the cause by whether there's any play in the rack bearings.

Fair enough.
I would probably look into a 2" body lift with 2" susp lift in such case myself, but certainly everything is to each their own. I've not done a body lift on a Tacoma so whether the bumpers and related can be managed at 2" I can't say, but it would certainly save some strain on the suspension & CVs.


Anyway, good discussion.

 

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