Is a 6 inch lift worth it?

Or maybe they just don’t want to mangle their truck. Idk.

 

Most of the general population is afraid of a cmc i can see where chopping up a cross member becomes out of the question.

 

this, and I will add to that- hasn't returned or answered questions as to what the end goal is.

 

I sure wouldn’t chop a cross member on a daily driver. That kind of stuff is for dedicated trail rigs.

 

I turn "Brave Sir Robin, up and ran away" if I mistrust my ability or the truck capacity on a stretch of trail with my daily driver.

 

Why though, when you can go with +2 - 2.75” long travel that gives you the same ground clearance and 13” travel at the wheels. And don’t say “fiberglass fenders” or “makes the truck too wide” because they are not needed and it doesn’t with +2 LT.

If you’re cutting away your crossmember and lowering your LCA mounts, it should at least accommodate shocks with more travel and move your wheel forward, not just move your same shocks downward.

The fact is drop bracket lifts are made for show, not for go. I’m not at all opposed to drop brackets in theory, but if I’m going to be cutting out my cross member, I want to replace it with something that gives me significantly better travel numbers. Drop brackets, as they are currently made, ain’t it.

BDS is the absolute worst. First they only accommodate a 33” tire. I can run a 33” tire on a stock Tacoma. Second, they require an 18”+ wheel! Sidewall height is a huge benefit offroad, and an 18” wheel with a 33” tire is a deal breaker.

If these drop bracket manufacturers were at all serious about off road use, they would be moving the LCA forward a couple inches to accommodate larger tires, and then not hamstringing you by requiring larger wheels.

You keep talking about the eMoTiOnS of the people who don’t like drop bracket lifts — maybe you are emotionally attached to your irreversible drop bracket.

I’ll be the first to install a drop bracket that lets me run 35’s+ on 17” or smaller wheels without a cab mount chop and lets me run longer coilovers. They could absolutely do it, but no one makes it. Manufacturers DO make LT kits that allow that though.

 

Whoa . . . they can't be 33s they look much bigger and what happened to the bed.

 

It's kindof more of an all-purpose rig... But the rock climbing part of it certainly is why I set up the suspension the way I did.
×2, it's almost entirely Jeeps around me too when out on the trails... A Jeep unfortunately just doesn't have the same practicality that a Tacoma has (Wrangler hasn't enough space inside, Gladiator is waaaaayy too long). You build a Tacoma the right way, it'll go almost everywhere a Jeep will. It's just too bad this crossmember thing ties so many people up in knots the way it does.

I'm not finding where OP said he has only $1K to spend??
I certainly would agree $1000 isn't going to get you shit as far as a proper 6" lift goes (that'll barely get you a 2" 5100 lift), but none of his six posts so far say anything about a budget... Got a link?

If you ever happen to come out here to the west coast, I can show you a few trails that might impress you...

People's emotions and hypocrisies about this crossmember (and of course my and occasionally a few others pointing them out too... It's kindof fun, actually)

Certainly SFA would've been the preferred, but IFS is what we got, so we work with it. At least it's much sturdier now than the IFS we had in the late-'80s, early-'90s (enough that a SAS isn't an absolute necessity to tackle a decent trail anymore)

It's the only reason I can fathom that seems logical here... So many people here that get so squeamish about just this one single crossmember (as this thread vividly demonstrates), but yet have no problem whacking other crossmembers off their frames (front (1st) crossmember, transmission crossmember, spare tire crossmember), or whacking huge swaths of sheetmetal off their fenders, tubbing floorboards & firewalls...
What's it matter where you cut? It still devalues your truck... Some of us have no intention to sell. Modify your truck the way it works best for you!

LMAO
Posts like this just further proves my point... Those who have never had simply do not know what they are talking about. But you do you.

OP is probably thinking: "WTF did I just do?? All I asked was a basic question, and now the whole world has gone crazy!!"

It can be for both... It's not like putting 42" tires on a DD where your street manners are out the window...

It may give the same clearance under the axle, but not under the body & frame (approach, departure, breakover angles). These certainly don't matter quite as much on a rutted up forest road, but on a trail like Rubicon, it makes a huge difference.
Have you been on Rubicon? Or Dusy/Ershim?

It does. Check the links I posted on page 2 of the thread, there are full length shocks available, but the spacers don't hurt anything in regards to performance... The spacers will also allow you to use the mid-travel shocks you might already have (you would need to purchase a 4" basic kit for this though, 6" kits have 2 inches of "IFS lift" already built into them, so cannot accommodate the 2" of mid-travel shocks).

Again, they do give you better travel numbers.
A 2.5" lift has maybe 2-3" of downtravel.
A 4.5" lift w/4" crossmembers has ~4.5" downtravel using shocks having the same travel (and of course the far better clearance you get everywhere else).

BDS does not absolutely require a 18" wheel. They say that only because the tie rod end is close enough to the wheel that stick-on wheel weights can potentially hit it. Use clip-on weights (or put your stick-ons a bit further in) and a 17 fits no problem (Rough Country will fit a 16" wheel even).

17" wheel on a BDS kit:

Why do they need to move the LCA forward when they are moving it down? Actually, they DO move it forward about a half inch to maintain caster angle with the taller knuckle. And again 17" wheels do fit if clip-on weights are used.

LMAO, again with the "irreversible" thing.
Much easier to weld a crossmember back on than to replace/repaint fenders and undo a bunch of firewall tubbing.

BDS
You might have to trim the plastic flare a touch at the bottom of the fenders (and is why they suggest 33s), but it's otherwise exactly what you're requesting (just make sure your wheel weights are places where they clear the tie rod).



Ok, next round...

 

If I'm missing a post, I'll beg your forgiveness now. I'm deliberately skipping ahead 6 pages of what is most likely roasting you pretty intensely with only a modicum of support. I could be wrong, but not likely...

For starters WELCOME! Glad to have you in the Taco Fam and on the TW forums. I absolutely LOVE the enthusiasm.

Here is the best advice I can give you. It's not the best in the world, but I arrived at it after 40 something years of driving trucks and going off road, just the best I can offer.

Stop. Drive the truck. See what it does well. See where it struggles. Only fix the struggles. Anytime you replace or fix something functional, it should be an upgrade. That's it.

I have seen lots of people have a vision of what they think is an Apex Predator Level Off Road Vehicle and start making a lot of aggressive changes to it. 6 months and $8,000 later the vehicle is approaching their vision and yet it is less capable than a stock 2wd Tacoma off the show room floor. There are a TON of vendors and products out there that will take you backwards. Some are actually good but if not installed under the right conditions or half-assed they are worse than not doing them at all.

Next lets talk about your 6" goal....
These trucks are muey capable with no lift at all or a modest lift to match the Trail Edition height. Something like 1". I know it sounds anemic but I'd rather have no lift and smoke some guy with a 6" lift than to be the guy getting smoked. No one ever laughed at results unless the results were bad. You can go 2" or 2.5" if you like but every inch you add to your suspension, the more complicated you are making it. Soon you need a lot of other stuff to make it work right. Bigger tires, speedo calibration, brake lines, upper control arms, lower control arms, regear the differentials, engine tuning, brakes, sway bar stuff, bearings or sleeves, diff drops, all of your geometry gets maxed out and is in a high state of wear. You will sacrifice a LOT of the inherent ride quality to do that to a truck. Going 6" is bonkers level reengineering the whole truck from the frame down. Not just cutting but welding and custom fab stuff.

I like the drive and enthusiasm you have. Heart is in the right place. I want to see your progress and as long as you are making the payments, I want you to enjoy your truck regardless of what the roasters say. But because I want you to ENJOY the truck, I call out the possibility that what you want to do may cause you to hate this truck in short order' and have you selling it for a total loss in addition to what you spent on stuff.

Think less about what you want it to look like. Don't worry about the numbers and putting 38" tires on a 6" lift with 4.10 gears. Numbers are seen as factual but they are, in aggregate, a misleading statistic. More is not better. It's just more, and some times it's more problems. Decide what you want the truck to do and then ask the truck to do it. See how it does the job. Where does it need help? That's where you spend your money and on good quality "buy once / cry once" parts. Not a Rough Country Lift.

 

Not according to this. @5:30
https://youtu.be/ihErEq6SRrk?si=KOfHW3i0jZ5voalG

 

It's the ambiguity of the question that leads to everyone jumping in with different opinions

When questions are more specific it helps keep threads from derailing

 

https://youtu.be/7TB02gkgTCI?si=eqneb_dZvMkLXubs

 

He got a dent in the old bed so decided to just part it out.

 

My man needs a hobby

 

these dudes writing dissertations for no reason

 

Wholly entirely a different type of spacer.
The spacer on a drop-down lift is merely to put the shock back into a position so that it can function correctly with the lower control arms having been moved down.
Completely agree that jamming a spacer lift puck into an otherwise stock suspension is a bad idea.

That's wild!
But it does show how a Tacoma IFS has come a long way since the suspensions we had 30-40 years ago that got problematic when modified. That is a purpose-built rig for sure.

 

Just having some fun with how this crossmember thing gets ya'll so worked up for reasons other than what it really is (modding a truck to fit one's own needs).

I do have to go run some errands in a few minutes though, so I'll be offline for a bit.

 

A couple of times you've mentioned people removing the front, trans, and spare tire crossmembers, none of which are anywhere near as substantial as the one that has to be cut for the drop.

The front crossmember is removed to allow the installation of a bumper that's much more substantial than the one that's being removed (and the original bumper). The trans crossmember is removed to be replaced by one that's stronger and allows for better clearance than stock. The same goes for the spare tire crossmember.

The crossmember that has to be cut for the drop is the main support of your frame...and you're bolting in it's replacement. It may be fine for rock crawling, but a crash on the road very well will tell you different.

I'll give you your argument that you don't intend to ever sell. At that point, you know your expectations. Too many people don't think that far ahead or aren't really that sold on (or even consider) the permanence of what they are going to do to their truck. That's a huge problem. A problem that the DOT doesn't approve of, they don't even approve of the reversal.

You do you, but don't start telling people that 'it's no big deal', because it really is a big deal.

 

You should be getting more than 13". I just measured mine and I'm getting just shy of 13" under the front skid with just a 2" lift on 33s.

 

Look at Bilstein or Old man emu lifts. I've ran both brands and they're great! They're in the 2-3" lift ball park, easy to install, and affordable. Then run a set of 285 75 r16s or 285 70 r17s and you've got a bitchin' lookin' rig that's plenty capable for whatever you want to do. Old man emu can be kitted out for extra capacity too if you plan on running a winch bumper and/or a camper shell.