Rough Country comes out with 6" and 4" DB Lift Kits

Doesn't make a difference at all...

 

Most of your drop brackets kits will recommend 17 or 18" wheels with about 4.5 bs . You might be able to run 16's but will probably have to run spacers so no interference with the tie rodsbut that all depends on the wheel. I would personally stay with atleast a 17" wheel.

 

I have the 6" RC long arm kit in my TJ. Rides better than any jeep that I've been in. No RC doesn't go that extra mile, to tuck it all up, or make it " bullet proof" but that's why they are usually half the price of the competitors. You will always get what you pay for. But for the price ( at least on my tj) I couldn't be anymore happy with the RC. And their customer service is excellent.. IMO any cheesy drop bracket kit is going to sacrifice ride quality. If you want performance and ride quality out of a lift kit, the only option is full long travel.

 

So with the stock shocks, wouldnt you get less travel?

 

You definitely would get less travel. Or basically, you have the same travel you do before lifting it, except you're 6" taller

 

You will get the same travel but all your cv and tierod angles will be just like stock. If you want more travel you would have to get different uca's and the extended travel coilovers.

 

Same travel not less

 

Hmmm, after talking with my mechanic friend, and listening to you guys, a Rough Country lift just doesn't seem to be the best idea. He suggested a 3" Bilstein 5100 lift from Toytec, and maybe add an 1" body lift if I really want a 4 inch. What do ya think?

 

Not a fan of body lifts, Other 4" lifts out there besides rough country, RCD, bds and zone

 

Im not a fan either, but a 1" shouldnt be that bad...
RCD & BDS are out of the price range but they look like way better quality than Rough County. I heard Zone was just as bad as Rough Country haha

 

You seem dead set on 4"of lift. Why? What are you trying to accomplish?

Do you want:

To fit a certain size tire for looks?

To fit a certain size tire for off road performance?

To get the best off road performance?

To look really cool?

something else?

 

Zone AND BDS basically the same kit. Zone is a division of Sport Truck USA who owns BDS. If you compare the pics of either the bds or zone crosmembers to the rough country you can see the quality difference.

 

I want to fit a 33" tire or a 285/70R17, I do off road a lot (Why Rough Country quality worries me) but this is also my daily driver, I think a 6 inch is a little too high. I just see a lot of 3 inch lifts and I worry that it won't really look like much of a lifted truck with 33's. So I guess I want to look cool, but also have a reliable off-road rig.

 

P.S. I'm not worried about trimming to get full clearance with my tires.

 

Really? Well I didn't know that about zone, I thought it was lesser quality...

 

Any of the drop bracket lifts will cost you ground clearance due to the dropped crossmember, especially with 33's.

You best performance will come from a straight up 2.5-3" coil/leaf lift. Do some ,minor trimming to get the 33's under there without rubbing.

If you are concerned about how the truck will look with only 3" of lift, look around the site at some of the rigs here. May have 3 with 33's so there are plenty of examples to see what you will be facing on a daily basis.

 

That makes sense about the drop bracket ground clearance... yeah I think you're right about the coil/leaf lift. Since you seem to know a lot about this, I hope you won't mind me asking your opinion on something. I do want the Blistein 5100 Adj shocks on my truck. So... over the past day I've narrowed it down to two lifts.
BILSTEIN ADJUSTABLE LIFT KIT WITH 5100 SHOCKS
http://toyteclifts.3dcartstores.com/Bilstein-Adjustable-lift-kit-with-5100-shocks_p_132.html

and

3" LIFT KIT WITH BILSTEIN 5100 HEIGHT ADJ. COILOVERS
http://toyteclifts.3dcartstores.com/3-lift-kit-with-Bilstein-5100-Height-Adj-Coilovers_p_364.html

I honestly can't tell the difference other than the more costly lift has the coilover preassembled. I have a spring compressor, I just want to make sure I get a full 3". So which would you go with? Probably will need new UCA's too, huh?

 

For that money, I would get the OME setup with the full Dakar leaf pack.. The Bilsteins are OK, I might even put them on my 4Runner (purely due to budget), but OME is my first choice.

I am slightly biased as I had OME on my Tacoma. I also know one person who ditched his Billies in favor of the OME kit.

If I had to choose, the second one listed, just because it is adjustable. I would still want a full leaf pack though.

 

I have 5100's set at 2.5" with FJ coils which are 3/4" taller than stock 4Runner coils...

My buddy has the OME 3" on the same exact truck (our vin numbers are just a few digits off of each other)

He has more lift than I do, including my 1.25" bodylift. Why? The bilsteins got blown out and I didn't get nearly as much lift as I should have.

I'm going full fox coilovers to hold be over before I SAS my truck

 

I would really love a 4" lift. I HATE trimming...especially with a brand new truck. 33's on 6" is cool, but it seems a good 4" lift would make a lot of taco owners happy.

Just my .02