Feedback/Regrets on lift/no lift decision?

A lift does not benefit me for what I do. A regear does. A regear done by someone who knows what they’re doing doesn’t really affect anything. A lift can be installed and adjustment made to correct all that it affects but it’s still a pain. Whether it’s worth it or not depends on the owner. For me it isn’t.

 

Solution: Get the 17" wheels you want with 32" tires and no lift. 255/75R17's have been great on my 1st gen and now my 2nd gen.

I had to do minor heat gun plastic inner fender liner manipulation on the 1st gen to avoid some rubbing, but no CMC.

Now, if you also got the SPC adjustable UCAs, you could probably fit a 33 with no CMC.

 

I think most lift their trucks for the "look".
Id leave it alone and enjoy it. They all basically have the same bones , and will take you almost anywhere you'd like to go.
Pay it off.

 

First time installing a lift, heck this is my first truck. Went with Eibach stage 1 coils/shocks up front, Icon RXT leafpacks and Bilstein 5125 shocks on the rear. The only hassle I had was before alignment - the TSS sensor warning was going crazy and once the truck left alignment, the front end came down about an inch to maintain the factory 1" rake and no more TSS warnings. I'm happy so far with the lift - rides pretty smooth, yet firm and the tires I went one size taller/wider than OEM (275/65/18). No regrets on the 2.25" front lift and 2.5" rear lift. No rubbing on anything even including the front OEM mudflaps and zero trimmning needed. If you stay under 3", that seems to be the sweet spot for Tacomas, otherwise you're opening up a whole new can of worms.

So to answer your question - no regrets, love my lifted Tacoma.

 

That totally makes sense to have put on a 9" lift and 37's just to tow!

 

You answer your own question. The truck is very capable stock, and if you’re satisfied with it through personal use, why change anything?

Me? I could care less how my truck looks to bros on either end of the Tacoma spectrum: mall or rock crawlers. I care that it is capable of a daily fifty-mile commute, hauling shite from Home Depot, pulling a 2,000 pound tear-drop trailer on and off road, and wheeling moderate AZ trails.

Here’s what’s worked for me:
- 265/75/16 tires for 1/2” lift. Who cares what brand you choose?
- Premium after-market shocks with larger bodies to enhance damping capability. Who cares what brand you choose?
- 650# springs up front, set to lift 1.5”. More than that created cost/benefit issues for my purposes.
- Deaver single AAL in the rear for 1.5” lift. More than that created cost/benefit issues for my purposes.
- Sumo Springs in the rear to provide additional support when needed. A dead simple, no drama solution for my purposes.

I’ve got 40k miles on this setup now, with plenty of benefit and no real issues. The truck wheels and pulls and commutes. MPG has held steady at 20 in the city, 17 HWY, and 12-14 towing.

You asked. That’s what’s been ideal for me.

 

Now I can't decide between bronze or black dakars for my LR. Damn you.

 

@AM6217

That may be the case for a small percentage of owners; the "looks" they get.

Most here are savvy about what they want and why they want it.

Whatever works for each owner. I enjoy seeing the things Tacoma owners do to their trucks.

 

I used to tow with a Ram 1500 but the transmission was starting to go, so I wanted to upgrade to a 2500, but it had to be yellow to match the race car. This was the only one I could find in yellow, but it had the lift. I bought it anyway, even though I didn't need or want the lift. Also, it was all chromed out, which I would not in a million years have done myself. In hindsight, I should have just bought an unmodified 2500, since I just needed it to tow. It was a pretty cool setup:



But, I'm done with racing and don't need the big truck, lift or no. Driving around town with that setup was unexpectedly fun, though. I enjoyed towering over all the traffic, and the random compliments on the truck every once in a while.

But like I said earlier, I've had my fun with the "monster truck" as my kids call it and am ready for a drama-free stock Tacoma without a lift and 20 mpg.

 

People running E load rated tires will say yes, but I’m running 33” XL LT tires and haven’t noticed much difference.

 

This

 

As someone who’s had a few of both, spacers are terrible ride quality (despite the naysayers here), my first lift as a newb. 5100s are fine with stock coils, no craziness (also naysayers here) and will work for most applications for people here. Anything above 2.5” causes issues minor or major there is no argument and will accelerate wear and tear (also had 2-3” on trucks). Tire weight matters, E your truck will handle like a dump truck and overkill for most here. Offset matters-negative is sweet but your paint and fenders will be upset even as a mall crawler (AZ destroyed mine and NJ winters). Stock does do better at trade in (again so many in denial on this), looks if done right a tastefully modded lifted Tacoma hands down wins.

Its your truck at the end of the day, if you are willing to deal with some of the downsides of lifting the truck for how it looks, application, etc. then there shouldnt be any regrets. If you on the other hand dont mind stock and are just doing basic stuff offroad, but care about wear and tear and small issues that arise than you'll be full of regret. The choice is really a personal one and I get it, I flip flop constantly on each Tacoma of mine.

 

you can do whatever you want with a fat pocket lol

 

Was thinking of doing the lift but held off . Enjoyed the stock off road ride and I don’t do rock crawling. Did the tire though as it was needed on the trails I frequent . I don’t drive fast off road. Wifey hates it . I did the snorkel mod though as it helps with the dust . Mainly do desert/forest roads. Off grid camping on bhlm land . Don’t want to deal with issues that sometimes come with the lift.

 

I have 2.5” of lift, 33” tires and no regerts

 

Had a lift on my '07dclb...it 'needed' it to get rid of the limo look. I hated the performance... Granted it was an entry level lift; 5100s at 1.25 and Dakars.
My '16 is still stock save for rear 5100s. Never minded the look, but performance could be improved.The fronts at 40,000 miles are finally shot; still trying to decide on replacements on front and rear.
I fall in to the camp of no lift; but improved performance. I would love high end shocks but can't justify the cost. I think I'm leaning towards Eibach or mid-line Fox.

 

You have me beat on mileage by almost double. Only 40k on mine. It's mostly around town and highway miles with occasional fire roads and the odd trail run on weekends. Nothing too crazy before the lift.
No real issues besides the TCU flash. I haven't beat on it like I would have years ago. That's what my 74 Scout was for.
I like driving on washboard fire roads without having my teeth fall out.
So far, so good.

 

Still stock suspension. No need to lift it. I would, however, like soften the ride a bit. Sport is just OK on pavement, treacherous off road. Softening the thing is becoming a priority for me. Just not sure where to start or what to look at. Had the truck on a washboard forest road and I could have sworn it would shake itself to pieces. Every movement it makes off pavement is extremely abrupt regardless of how slow I go.

As a side note I don't engage in anything extreme. I've swapped out the wheels and tires as most tend to do. Really didn't like the Sport wheels as much as I thought I would. And I just like an AT tire, so I bought Toyo OC AT3s to wrap the 705s in. It does drive considerably better. Truck slips a whole lot less in the "off roading" I currently engage in. I quote that because I sew an elderly woman going down the same path I was in the Pine Barrens driving a Forester. She smiled and waved, laughed at my dog.

 

I’m a stock guy…we have a lot of vehicles. I drive a lot and do not like making adjustments out of (perhaps unreasonable) fear of negatively impacting the life of the vehicle.

We bought my wife the green 4 Runner in Feb of this year and she only has 8k miles on it, if she wants adjustments/additions I’d have no problem. However I have 191k miles on my truck (purchased new Jan of 2019) and I’ve had zero issues. We own a horse farm and I’m in 4x4 very often, and I’ve never needed a lift or anything other than the stock has provided.

Good luck on your decision.

 

It all started with after market wheels, I think, after that it gets a little fuzzy.