Rough Country 3in Lift (2nd Gen Tacoma) WARNING

Take my word for it. Never install any type of spacer/block lift if you ever plan to off-road and/or want a decent ride quality on the road. I had the rough country 3 in spacer lift with N3 rear shocks installed about 2 years ago. In 6 months, ride quality decreased almost around 60-70%. Small bumps that should be eaten by bilsteins, begin to feel like you just ran over your neighbors dog. About 2-3 months ago riding through a small whoop section, fairly sized whoop hit my truck unexpectedly and my strut snapped in half. Literally in 2 pieces. Got a flatbed tow home. I can assure you it is because of all the preload and tension added to the shock/strut when spacers are applied. I now have the FOX 2.5 Reservoirs with DSC adjustable capability, accompanied by Total Chaos mid travel UCA's. This setup is a dream come true, and the ride quality is inexplicable. 4500$ later, but well worth it.

 

Warning: Rough County anything is garbage

 

Thanks for the heads up

 

I disagree. I realize rough country is not well liked here, but I wouldn’t say it’s garbage. What are you basing that off of? My GF jeep JLU has a rough country lift, springs and shocks for about two years now. It’s seen it’s share of off road situations. Wouldn’t call it garbage. Actually don’t have anything bad to say at all. TW is very dismissive of certain products and it seems like everyone jumps on that bandwagon.

Is it high end? No. Are there better options for the same price? Maybe. Just throwing that out there.

 

When your hungry a Big Mack will do the job but its still garbage.

 

I’d wager a bet that a lot of us buy Tacoma’s with the idea that paying good money for a good product will last if you take care of it. Taco’s ain’t cheap.. it’s why I never understood why people put RC lifts on these things. RC products are known to be pretty subpar and just bad quality / outcome in most cases.

Why would you get something that costs good money, meant to last a good while if taken care of, and put low quality things on it? Especially when it comes to something as important as suspension? I let RC slide on shitbox Chevy’s Ford’s and hell even Jeep’s if ya don’t care too much for performance.

But on a Tacoma.. Bilstein 5100’s really ain’t that dang expensive, and they are proven to be well made / good performing.

 

We install a lot of those. They’re pretty terrible but always in stock and cheap, which goes hand in hand with our customers that want them.

 

Edit

 

agreed that the price difference is nominal and I’d pick 5100’s all day. Just saying, certain things on TW don’t even get a chance. Like I said, the RC’s on our jeep have done good.

 

Jeep have totally different mechanisms and components. Hard to relate my claim about crap rough country “SPACER/BLOCK” lifts to a Jeep’s suspension. Wouldn’t say It’s a bandwagon either, it’s cheap, therefore it’s not going to improve anything performance wise besides maybe some ground clearance.

 

Exactly why I upgraded to such an expensive setup.

 

I’m fucking up these edits.. anyway I meant to post the damn fish in response to the Big Mac comment.

 

Did you adjust the bump stops when you put the lift on?

 

Sorry you had to learn the hard way why spacer lifts are not recommended to lift a vehicle. I just don’t get spending so much on a vehicle then cheap out on a lift. Unfortunately, those that choose the spacer lift route likely don't cycle their suspension to adjust their bumpstops to avoid what you experienced. Glad you learned from it. Welcome to TW.

 

You just answered what we are preaching. At least your Jeep went with a true coil lift and not spacer which can also cause coil binding / shock failure just like the OP scenario.

 

Highschool kids who don't know better.

 

No sir, I didn’t know much about the suspension back then besides wanting a nice ride height and aesthetic. Rookie mistake

 

It's called Junk Country for a reason.

 

The laughable customer service that I got from RC just on some seat covers was enough that I'll never order from them again. But if you're not ordering with any sense of urgency, you should be fine.

Also have a buddy waiting on a lift order from them so he can bring me some bed rails... I do realize that I will be waiting for quite a while.

 

RC lifts are also not recommended on a Jeep regardless Tacomas IFS vs solid axle. Ride quality is even worse on a Jeep to begin with so there’s not as much ride quality tolerance versus a smoother riding Tacoma. The first thing I did when I bought my TJ many years ago was removing the RC lift for OME. My wife was so much happier not having to scrub skidmarks anymore from my underwear after the swap.