Should I lift my 4x4 truck a little?

I love my latest new toy. The stance is just a little too 2wd ish for me. This pic actually makes it look taller than it is. There is about 3" between the tops of the tires and the fenders. I'm thinking about a 2 1/2 lift. (Glasswife might not even notice.)
I've had big lifts in other pickups and Suburbans when I was younger. None of them caused any problems. I thought that at 50 I might just have grown up a bit. One week of ownership and I'm itching to do something to it.

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I believe those Tacos are easy to put a mild lift on, without detrimental effects.

Why? For looks?

A friend of mine just put a leveling kit on his Tacoma and it looked pretty nice.

Do something really original - tear off those ugly tacked on fender flares, put on some smaller wheels and tires, and lower it a little.

The whole 'every 4x4 must be impossible to load shit in an out of' fad is ridiculous.

don`t forget the testicles , you will be king of the mall parking lot

While I can see some value in a leveling kit, lifting a truck that doesn't need to be lifted is dumb. Unless you are trying to establish clearance for bigger tires, the effects of lifting are negative.

I will be lifting my jeep to fit 35's, but have seriously considered just putting on flat fenders to lift it less or not at all.

I just installed a 2" leveling kit in my Titan. Unless you know what it looked like before you'd never notice. I notice though and it's 100% better in my opinion. I also removed the factory nerf bars/running boards. They were held on by some anemic nuts and bolts and were at a very bad level. That visually lifted the truck a few inches without costing a penny or a bit of usability. It's your truck, do with it what YOU want to. I like the look of a nice level 4X4, still very useful and tuned to the owners taste without going overboard.

Lift kits are out.
Leveling kits and suspension kits are in.
Ass low trucks mimicking the Baja TT are the way to go, with out being all jacked up and ruining the handling and stressing parts unessarily. There are some very nice suspension kits out there that will give you great bump absorbsion and travel without the old school jacked up look, which I never liked.
A nice prerunner with big tires under some flared fenders with a wider stance just screams cool.

the lifts on those trucks are $300 for a 2-3" spacer lift with block or add-a-leaf and cheap to have installed. No real downside other than slightly higher rate of suspension/drivetrain wear. Big lifts in the 5" range on the Tacoma are lots of $ and lots of $ to get installed


I'm going to do the same thing with my newer tacoma once its time for a new set of tires/rims and will have a bumper and winch put on at the same time. It will also fix the somewhat weak rear springs that sag too much while accounting for the increased weight on the front end. Only going up 1 inch in tire size so should be minimal impact

Congratulations on finding that one. Put some aggressive tires on it but don't lift it. I always wanted one of those but when the time came to buy one I was building a house and the full size truck won. Styling on the new toyo trucks is abominable.

We put an OME kit in my wife's 2011 Tacoma 4x4 added 2" front and back, and we are very happy with it. Still rides fine and the extra clearance is nice, especially with the quad cab, they're a bit long between the wheels.
It only took me 4.5 hours to put the lift in by myself
Kurt at Cruiser Outfitters ( www.cruiseroutfitters.com ) is a great guy to talk to about Tacomas. He takes the time to do a worksheet with you to make sure you get exactly what you need.
If you haven't already check out expeditionportal.com ( http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/forums/23-Toyota-FJ-Hilux-Tacoma-4Runner) and tacomaworld.com ( http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/su...talls-full-ome-kit-rear-brake-lines-pics.html ),lots of good stuff.
I didn't need the longer rear brake lines or the sway bar relocate.
Happy to answer any questions,
nick

If I had one I'd lift it slightly.

There are tons of ways to do it: coil spring spacers, taller springs, adjustable shocks, coilover shocks, etc. If you're interested in doing some research, you can spend hours here reading what works best for different people: http://ttora.com/forum/.

Your truck looks just right to me. I've also leveled a few trucks. I agree, it looks better plus gives better ground clearance. Earlier today I had to drive through 16 inches of snow to get to our plow truck at our vacation rental. Half way through I was worried if I was going to get hung up on compacted snow under the truck. The front skid plate was packing it pretty good.

I have the same truck and I lifted it slightly. Now I think it is perfect. I used Bilstein 5100 adjustable shocks in the front (lowest lift setting) and 1" blocks in the rear. That was all it took. With stock BFG A/T's 265/75/R16, I think the truck looks the way it should. Those tires are big for a mid-size truck, now it looks right with the mild lift. I bought the parts from wheelersoffroad.com - they have very good service.

It's dark out, so I can't get a pic.

Please tell me about these 5100s. I am about to pull the trigger on a Rough Country spring/strut/rear shock kit that is for sale locally for the same price as your Bilstiens. It has 300 miles on it.
I'd love to see a pic tomorrow if you get a chance.

So you want to throw away gas mileage?

When a truck drives it disturbs air all the way to the ground. You are now punching a bigger hole in the wind. Adding more aggressive tires adds rolling resistance, more gas mileage gone.
Taller tires throw off the factory calibration and more mileage gone.

If you can find a use for the lift, snow, trails, or even just your ego, then fine lift it. but most day to day actions will get worse.

When you level a truck, then actually put a load in it, it looks

Do you notice any difference of the "lift over" for the tail gate? The height of the tail gate drives me a little. It's when loading bikes.

It's only been a few days since installing the kit and the only thing I've put in the truck is a bunch of cardboard to take to recycling. I lifted the front only with a 2" spacer on top of the strut. Since I did nothing to the rear, I'm guessing (only guessing) that the rear axle is the fulcrum and it actually lowered the tailgate somewhere around 1/4". I haven't really noticed anything different with the truck except for the 2" bigger gap between the top of the tire and the fender opening.

The day I bought it.


How it looks now.