TRD Pro Lift Advice/Suggestions/Will this work? thread

First let me state intended use, because a truck built for Baja is going to be different than a technical rock crawler, which will be different than a truck built just for towing.

The truck is a 2020 TRD Pro with a manual transmission. This truck is primarily a daily driver with a small toolbox that weighs about 100 lbs loaded in the bed. I drive only about 3000 miles a year excluding trips. I take the truck off-road about every other weekend. I do occasionally tow, and sometimes I will load the bed up with stuff to very close to or at capacity, (800 - 900 lbs). At some point I will re-gear the truck, and plan on 4.88's, with 32" - 33" (or metric equivalent) tires.

The biggest problem I currently have off road is clearance. The places I go, in the spring the ground is swampy, and in the summer and fall, it dries out. When people with huge tires drive the trails in the spring they leave DEEP ruts, and the clay in this area gets rock hard when it is dry. Many of the trails are narrow with trees on both sides, forcing you to take the ruts and risking getting caught.

Second biggest problem is something I think most people contend with is budget. Obviously if I had $100,000 to throw at a problem it'd build something like The Sloth that Fab Fours built.

I am not particularly fond of spacer lifts, however...
After doing a bit of research, I found that it is within limits and tolerance to add up to 1/2" of shims above the front shocks to fix the "taco lean". So, if a 1/2" is within limits, in theory I should be able to add 1/2" on top of the shock without significant issues.

Also, after consulting Revtek, with the factory Fox setup on these, they recommend and state that the only kits they have that work for the Pro with factory Fox suspension is a 1.5" preload spacer for the front, found in their 427P kit.

So here is my plan:

Front: Revtek 427P kit + Headstrong TT05512 top spacer set. (together should add 2 inches)
Rear: OME EL111R springs. (should add 2 inches)

I plan on just not using the rear blocks from the 427P kit.

Has anyone tried anything like this? Does anyone know if this will work? Forgive me if this all sounds moronic. Thanks for any help.

 

The proper way to get ground clearance is larger tires. Everything gets “lifted.” Altering at the suspension still keeps the LCA’s and rear axle at the same height, which will not help driving through the ruts, if that makes sense.

Also, stacking those spacers up front will not be a good idea. If it were going on strictly a mall crawler then it’d be fine. The ride would be terrible, geometry thrown off and pre-mature wear.

 

Also, I’m not exactly sure how the wheel well clearance is on the 3rd Gen’s, but I’ve squeezed 295/75R16’s(33.4”) on my Baja stock suspension. It’s a similar idea to your Pro being leveled from factory. I did have the CMC, flattened pinch weld, trimmed a little of the fender liners(which I ended up replacing) and trimmed the bottom corners of the flares. I only faintly grazed the UCA’s when reversing at full lock on dips.

Not sure if this helps any, but larger tires are possible. Depends how big and how much you’re willing to trim. I just wanted to be out of the 285 norm and go a step up. I also wanted wider for the sand.

 

Looking back at my original post I wasn't super clear. I intend for this to be step one, and then once I've saved up about $4000 for a re-gear and bigger tires, that will be step two. I don't want to add bigger tires before I re-gear because this thing is already kind of a dog.

You're right about that the tires are what ultimately gives you clearance, and trust me, if I thought could throw a set of 35's or 37's on there I would. My goal is ultimately to go to a set of tires in the range of 32" - 33" without worrying about rubbing or trimming, but the impression I get looking at other builds is that without some suspension lift, even those will rub without trimming and cutting. I talked to some of the guys in my area that have tacos and most of them are telling me that without lift 31" is about as big as you can squeeze in there without starting to cause problems.

So my thought process is that; if in order to level a truck left to right it is acceptable to add shims up to 1/2" to fix lean, then it should be okay to put 1/2" shims on both sides of a truck that has no lean.

It is my understanding that Revtek is supposed to be one of the better manufactures of lift and leveling kits, and they claim that the recommended route, (without completely replacing shocks and springs), is to add 1.5" of spacer to give more preload on the spring, there-by raising the front up.

 

No man, you were clear and I understood. I just feel larger tires would benefit you better than altering the suspension. Putting any type of suspension lift will still cause you to scrape the lowest points, LCA’s and axle, when driving through the ruts. Where exactly are you scraping, if you are?

I’ve read that the manual transmissions have a better gear ratio than the automatics. A lot of members who own manuals never felt the need to re-gear when going 32-33.” Again, idk if it still applies to 3rd Gens lol. When I upsized to the 33.4,” I drove on my stock auto gear ratio 3.73 I believe for about a year before I re-geared to 4.56. It hated hills that’s for sure lol!

I myself have a spring seat spacer specific to the TRD tuned Bilstein’s made for the Baja. Similar idea for the Revtek on the 3rd Gen Pro Fox’s where it adds preload. It provides 1” of lift and the pre-load is definitely felt after driving it around a lot. Adding 1.5” would be quite a bit on top of a top plate spacer or shim. The CV angles start to look uncomfortable, aftermarket UCA’s may be required due to the increased height, bump stops will need to be spaced down to avoid bottoming out the coilovers. If I had to do it all over again, I’d have kept the suspension as is. The travel and geometry as the engineers designed would have been on point.

Ultimately it’s your decision of course! My suggestion is to increase the tire size. A lot of members have gone with pizza-cutters, tall and skinny. Doesn’t feel as sluggish since they’re narrow but gives you the extra height.

 

I remember seeing a couple posts of 3rd Gen Pro owners using Revtek kits. Let me see if I can find them

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2018-pro-revtek-leveling-kit-with-285-75r16-tires.579484/

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/how-to-lift-a-trd-pro-a-bit-w-stock-suspension.576274/