New advice for lifting my truck

I have a 2016 tacoma sr5 double cab with around 44k miles on it. My truck is currently stock and I was thinking about putting a lift kit and adding some new wheels and tires. I came across rough country 3 inch lift kit which you have the option to upgrade to their loaded front struts for $300 more vs using the aluminum spacers. I have been doing some research some are saying it's good some are saying it's junk. Would like some honest feedback on dealing with this specific kit good and bad. If there is another kit out there with better quality please let me know. I mostly want to lift for looks with occasional off road but nothing to crazy. This is my main vehicle that I use to commute to work and get around etc. I posted the link to 3 inch kit I am looking to purchase.

https://www.roughcountry.com/toyota...O61B3ldY-5lxyyvxoC2soQAvD_BwE#278=517&266=734

 

With 3” of lift you should also look into replacing your upper control arms.

As far as the quality of the RC lift you posted, personally, I would stay away. I’ve never installed anything from RC on my vehicle but the trucks I have driven with RC block lifts installed rode like complete ass.

I’m a firm believer in “you get what you pay for” when it comes to suspension, and Rough Country is definitely one of the cheaper brands out there.

 

Research a few more kits. Definitely better ones out there IMO. Depending on funds. Good luck OP

 

So I had the rough country leveling kit 3"front 2" rear and I loved it. I kept my same stock shocks because I was on a budget. For the price of the kit you will not be let down. Fyi I upgraded to rough country 6 inch with resis and fully adjustable front coils . Super happy with new suspension.

 

Thats the same kit my buddy did on his 2019 trd to make himself look cooler...it sucked. Lots of vibration afterwards, plus the larger and heavier 33'' mud tires he installed really killed performance and fuel economy plus screwed up how the transmission shifted.
Since this spring the lift is gone, and back to stock. He's much happier with the way the truck now runs, but it still has some vibration, and the transmission is still a bit quirky.
I guess if you do serious off-road alot, a lift is needed, but if you can avoid one your far better off.

 

Something must of had been installed wrong or tire balance was all screwed up . I put over 100k on my rough country leveling kit never came across any of these issues.

 

I say rough country is fine. If you plan to off road or care a lot about ride quality do the shocks. A lot of people just bitch about RC without any first hand experience. I had their kit on a JK and I was happy.

I think people complain about RC because if they are choosing a budget option, they probably go cheaper everywhere else too (bad install, cheap tires, not keeping up with maintenance, etc.) So just make sure you do a proper install and alignment and have some decent tires.

 

I plan on putting 17 inch rims and bigger tires to compete the look. I don't plan on to much off road this is mainly for looks but I do care about keeping my truck healthy ling term and if RC will not be safe I'll go with something else.

 

Like said earlier 100k miles on the rc and no issues

 

I put the Eibach pro truck lift on. It was pretty economical and I also went 275's and 17" wheels. Came out great.

 

Curious to know if you went with aluminum spacers or the loaded front struts? I heard the aluminum spacers are not safe that's why I was looking into the loaded front struts for $300 more

 

Nice. Can you post a link. That's exactly what I'm going for. Any rubbing? And if so did you have to trimming?

 

I had the aluminum front spacers . After inspection of spacers after I installed my new lift didn't see any indication of damage to spacers . I also had differential drop brackets for the front

 

No rubbing and original UCA's. Truck rides great and aligned fine. Shop around but here's one:

https://www.stage3motorsports.com/e...oma-eibach-pro-truck-stage-1-lift-system.html

 

Nick, don't do a spacer lift in the front. Pure garbage. Also anything over 2" will require a lot more replacement parts, and reliability issues.

Get yourself a 2/1 lift with Bilstein 5100's all around and a 1" rear block for the best reliability and still looks "very lifted".

That's basically what you get with the new OEM TRD lift, at "more" than half the cost.

* If cost is an issue, keep your OEM rear shocks with the 1" block, and it will still be ok.

 

rough country is bottom of the barrel stuff

 

The guys a top wrench, has owned, and runs his own service shop for many, many years that does repairs on most manufacture's vehicles. I do believe he was trying to avoid swapping the control arms by trying to work around the issue. When we took my truck on fishing trips, it really would piss him off how well the truck ran compared what he now had. This spring he decided to get his truck back to stock as he never really had the chance to run it that way having installed this lift right after he got it. All in all his truck is more pleasant to drive, but it just doesn't run as well as my 2020 taco.