Is a 2" Lift Worth It?

I have a 2020 Tacoma TRD Off-Road double-cab short-bed. It's primarily a daily driver, but I also have a 18' boat to tow and I have done some and plan to do more off-roading. It's pretty flat where I live (Minnesota), but we do have some snow, rocks, mud, and hills. For example, I went to a 4x4 event here last year: The limited amount of relatively serious off-roading I've done suggests to me that the truck's weak points are break-over angle and departure angle. I'm constantly dragging the hitch receiver over stuff and I've been badly high centered once. (Stuck for 2+ hours because I had nothing but the stock jack and whatever sticks and rocks I could find to dig with and stuff under the tires. lol)

I see two ways to improve the off-road performance of the truck: taller tires and/or a lift. I've done enough research to have the opinion that spacers, drop-bracket lifts, and sheet metal trimming are probably not for me. I've looked fairly seriously at a OME 2" lift (coil springs, dakar leafs, shocks) and 255/85R16 tires.

My question is, is the OME kit + the tall skinnies worth the cost? How much is it an upgrade over the stock OR suspension? Are the OME shocks better? Are the OME springs better? Am I going to notice the 3-4" total lift? It doesn't seem like much.

 

^Questions, not Question.

 

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I would not advise OME, especially for the needs and usage you describe.

Keep stock coils, buy Bilstein 5100s front and rear, set them to 2.5" front and 1" rear, and be a happy man for the next 100k miles, with a leveled sick lookin truck and a thicker wallet than going with OME.

 

Welcome to the forum! In your case it seems that it would be worth it. Also, if you have an 18 inch boat, why not just put it in the cab? Lol just messing with you

 

Ome 885s and 5100s is what I’d recommend. Still keep your ride quality and get a small lift in the front. It’s what I run

 

You can't adjust the rear shocks for lift

 

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by default, 5100s are set at 1" higher than stock when you buy rears. Not adjustable, but i was noting the reason for putting the fronts at 2.5" because the rears will be 1" and factory rake is 1.5, so for a level it should be 2.5 front not 2.

If he wishes to retain slight rake, he can go 2" front and the 1" taller rear 5100s will be better than the stock rear shocks. especially for towing

 

Although popular, a front-only lift seems pointless to me because it will actually reduce departure angle (a tiny bit). Yes?

 

A lift won’t really help you all that much in regards to those areas.

Your breakover, approach and departure angles will still suck. To combat this, people install high clearance front and rear bumpers.

For breakover, do an exhaust reroute and run flat transmission and TC skids but expect to still drag. This will add about 1” of belly clearance.

 

Where in MN are you from? im over in burnsville.

 

You can't change rear height except with a spring. The reason you can change height with the front shocks is you preload the coil springs. To obtain rear lift you either change the rear springs for a different leaf pack or put in an add a leaf or block.

The 1" rear lift solely means they allow the extra travel for a 1" lift if you so choose to put one in. Trust me, I have 5100s on my truck. They provide 0" of lift but allow you to add a 1" lift without the danger of topping out the shocks and causing damage.

 

This is true, shocks don’t provide lift.

 

I don't see how bumpers could improve my break-over angle. I can see how a rear bumper could improve my departure angle only if I removed my hitch receiver, but that would only a couple inches in difference. Can you elaborate?

 

Yeah it is to a point, it's mostly for looks. I just kept my hitch in when I didn't have a rear lift so that would drag instead of my bumper.

 

I'm in St Paul.

 

Nice, we have a MN thread over in the regional forum too.

 

I added in my post that you can run an exhaust reroute with flat trans and TC skids which will give you an extra inch in the belly.

A high clearance bumper can save you anywhere from 3-5” depending.

 

Yeah it would. I’ve got airbags in the back of mine and I keep about 15-20 pounds in them for about a 1-1 1/2” lift.