Convince me that a leveling kit is not a good idea

Morning- I am pondering the myriad of lift options out there. I am looking to minimally level the front or maybe go 2" inches on the front (and as appropriate in the rear). Why is a leveling kit not a good idea? The truck is my daily driver and I do not want to go too high and I want to keep the same ride qualities that I have now. If a leveling kit is a silly concept (hey man - just throw a spacer in there for lift!), what would be the next step up for a better lift?

Thanks cell mates.

 

Leveling kit does just that, it levels the truck. Meaning if you put anything in the bed, you will be nose high and look ridiculous.

Adding a 1.5" progressive AAL to the rear goes excellent with a leveling kit. Keeps the rake, but makes it just a little more mild and the rear progressive springs with the overloads remove ride far better than the OEM springs alone.

You can see what I did here, 1.75" lift up front, 1.5" progressive AAL rear with a +1" tire upgrade to 265/70/R17s. Look at page 2 for a side-by-side stock comparison.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/baja-tx-pro-kit-icon-aal.385619/

 

Thanks for the reply. I have been watching your build. Did you have any issues purchasing the Baja kit? I thought one had to let the dealership know the VIN on the truck so that they would allow purchase on the Baja stuff? No?

 

A "leveling kit" seems to be slang for spacer lift around here, which is why it has a less than favorable reputation. However, there are a many different ways you can raise the front end a couple inches to "level" your truck, ranging from cheap spacers to $1,500.00+ fully adjustable coilovers.

 

As mentioned above there are many ways to level the truck, when you mentioned leveling kit I was not thinking spacer. Spacers will negatively affect your ride, suspension travel and performance. In general all around bad. A better but still inexpensive and popular options are height adjustable Bilstein 5100s, preferably with new lift springs though not required. Note only front is height adjustable to lift the rear you will need an AAL or new spring pack. A 3 leaf progressive AAL will ride significantly better than a single leaf AAL.

The TRD Baja/Pro are both lifts to the front of the truck only, though they do provided extended travel front and rear. No issues purchasing the Baja kit, I bought the kit and AAL to lift the rear of the truck from Trdpartsforu.com (Toyota of Dallas). I liked the idea of a mild lift with almost no negative consequences or needing UCAs while gaining extended travel. You can get the same amount of lift from other less expensive kits. I purchased mine here, no VIN required: http://trdparts4u.toyotaofdallas.com

 

I honestly had no problem when i was running spacers. Gave me the look i wanted to run bigger tires. Cheap and wasnt hard to install.

 

The ride is subjective. I never noticed a change on 4 different vehicles I've used spacers on. On the other hand I DID notice a much stiffer ride when I tried to use 5100's to lift since they preload the coil. My wife drove on a 2" spacer "leveling" lift for 5+ years with no issues or complaints. Lots of different opinions on the subject. Ive ran spacers, spindles, 5100's and 2.5 coilovers.

 

If you add a spacer or leveling kit it puts a lot of pressure on the lower shock mount...usually resulting in this after an extended period of time:




Did I convince you?

Go with a coil over if you want to retain the stock ride as much as you can. You'll be happier you did in the long run even though it costs more up front.

 

I have a 2013 prerunner access cab completely stock. I purchased the ProComp 2.5 inch level kit. Next im going to buy 5100s all around. Not sure if i should keep the level kit and run the 5100s as well or not. Level kit isnt installed yet, so im not sure what i want to do. Im definitely doing the 5100s. I wanna be able to run 33 inch tires or the largest i can run, 285's i was told. Any suggestions what i should do?

 

Any shock can snap, with or without a spacer.
The ONLY time a spacer will "put a lot of pressure on the lower shock mount" is if you use too big of a spacer and bottom out REALLY hard(jumping or hard wheeling). If you space the bump stop down you completely eliminate any chance of bottoming out the shock.


^^^5100, no spacer.


^^^5100, no spacer

^^^5100, no spacer.

 

Ended up returning the spacers, and getting 5100s front and rear, and procomp AALs for the back end

 

Coilovers > everything else. Spacers, 5100's and the latter. Definitely over the ProShit lift.

 

12TRDTacoma cant invest into coilovers just yet. Eventually thats the plan, but they can be pricy.

 

I agree they definitely are, but well worth it and will be the last set of shocks you will ever need as long as you own the truck. What's you budget?

 

Im piecing it all together at the moment. My budget for the suspension at the moment was 650-700 tops because i have to buy wheels and tires on top of that.

 

Are you mechanically inclined? Like are you going to be doing the install yourself and have access to tools, a work bench, vices etc?

 

I have ran the spacer lift now for a yr or so on the farm jumping cow tracks and big bumps and pastures and all and I have vno complaints at all, I didn't notice any ride diff or anything? id say if u were going to be jumping off the ground maybe then I wouldn't go spacer but for the cost and gain they are great, espeacially if you aren't going balls to the wall on offroading a lot.

 

If you had to make this thread you already know its a bad idea so I'm already wasting my time posting.

 

I like mine and the way it raised the front,it leveled it nice,i use my truck hard on the ranch and farm and id use em again if I had the funds ya id go with the coilovers or sumthing like that but the spacer on a budget is great.

 

Shame