Best 3" Lift

Hello all,

New Taco owner, loving it so far. Looking at putting on 18" wheels with BFGoodrich KO2s on my 2018 TRD 4x4 Sport. I've gotten recommendations from dealerships and shops about ReadyLifts and Rough Country Lifts, but I've never had a lift so don't know much about them. I've read in some places that Bilsteins and Toytechs are the way to go. Can anyone elaborate on this and provide a good brand/model that would gove me a nice ride and level out at 3"? Tha ks again guys.

 

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It would be easier to get help if you put the price you’re willing to spend along with some info about your truck such as how you use it. Whether you off-road, just Highway travel, tow a lot, etc.

 

Thanks for the reply. I would like to stay under $1500. I'm 90% on road, 10% beach/off road. Currently looking at an Icon Stage 1 3" lift for $1400ish. Though the representative I spoke to said I would not need UCAs.

 

Front

Best is replacement coilovers. Pick your brand they are all good, icon king radflo fox ect.

better is replacement shocks like bilstine 5100s or OME nirto chargers

junk any kind of spacer

Rear

Best full replacement leaf pack pick again a few options all good depending on what you want to do

better Add a leaf. lots of options here too

junk blocks, just say no to blocks

 

If I’m not mistaken the icon stage one will be front lift only. It comes with rear shocks but you would still have use either a block or add a leaf for your rear lift. But that’s a good kit and as long as you stay around or under 2.5 inches of lift you should be good with stock uca’s if you go over that mark it’s hard to say. Some can get away withought uca’s and some can’t get a good alignment over 2.5 with stock uca’s

 

If you want to lift the rear also you could go with the icon stage one you mentioned and then get the three leaf progressive aal from icon also

 

Ok, I've seen the progressive aals with the Bilstein 5100s. Which is also a little more cost effective. They also come with UCAs. Just did a mock order on headstrong offroad.

 

The icon kit is great don’t get me wrong. But if you don’t spend a ton of time off-road you can go with a full ome or Bilstein one kit from headstrong, get the same lift height with uca’s included and still come out a little cheaper than an icon setup.

Maybe Bilsteins all the way around with ome coils. Icon or headstrong 3 leaf aal in the rear. That would leave money for uca’s, and maybe even throw in some bumpstops or put the rest towards your wheels and tires

 

Can’t really tell you which coil to go with because I’m not too familiar with the third gen. I know they have different spring rates than the second gens that I’m more familiar with but if you message headstrong off-road I’m sure they would be more than happy to point you in the right direction

 

Yeah that sounds like the way ahead. I'm going to message Marie there at headstrong about the full Bilstein 5100 kit. I will message back on here tomorrow about the final selection. Looks like it's definitely going to be through Headstrong Offroad. Thanks for all the help guys!

 

Headstrong doesn’t always have the cheapest prices, but they’re always pretty close on price and well worth the couple extra $ when it ships free vs some of the other places that have Ridiculous shipping costs. So far so good with headstrong planning to make another order this weekend. Let me know what you go with you go with.

 

Posting Headstrong Offroad's response:

The Bilstein 5100 suspensions is great option. It is a strut and coil combination. This means you either use an aftermarket lift coil or the notch settings on the shocks to gain lift. This types of shock/lift coil combinations are typically not revalveable or rebuildable and they feature a limited amount of height adjustments, if any. They do offer some additional capability, performance, and lift over stock suspension.


Now, it is hard to compare the strut/coil type of suspension to the coilover suspension like the ADS, Fox, Icon, or Kings. They are sort of apples and oranges. The coilover type of suspension offers more of a performance inspired capability. They are rebuildable, revalveable, and can offer many different adjustments to help fine tune lift heights.


As far as the 5100 kit is concerned you have your options for coils, assembly, uca's, and rear lift.


2016+ http://www.headstrongoffroad.com/store/c126/Bilstein_Kits.html


Much of spring selection comes down to how much lift you are looking at. Now, it is always hard to say exactly how much lift you will gain from any one coil because so many factors come into play like condition of the factory components, trim of truck, and any add-ons or additional options you may have, even the manufacturing tolerances of the springs themselves can come into play. With that being said here is a link to our spec page so you can see what the average after-settled lifts are from the various coils on the different struts available. The spec’s on the Bilsteins are with them being set at the zero notch setting.



https://www.headstrongoffroad.com/uploads/1/1/8/4/11846658/lift_guide.pdf



I have also included a list of coil specifications below so you can compare them side-by-side. A 5mm difference in length equates to approx. 1/2” difference in lift.

OME 883 coils 590 lbs spring rate 375 mm in length
OME 884 coils 590 lbs spring rate 390 mm in length
OME 885 Coils 590 lbs spring rate 395 mm in length
OME 886 coils 660 lb spring rate 402 mm in length
OME 887 coils 590 lb spring rate 400 mm in length

OME 888 coils 590 lb spring rate 405 mm in length


Other kit drop down menus:


Strut and coil assembly:


If you select the strut and coil assembly option (which I recommend so you know it is done properly) then it comes as one complete bolt on unit with new coil isolator, upper and lower bushings/washers, and strut mount. Otherwise you would have to source those parts separately or retain them from your factory suspension. Which if you use factory you will now have a loose strut and coil. Should you ever need to go back to factory or want to sell your factory suspension you will new to get all new hardware to put the items together again. You would also need to have a spring compressor available to take the tension off of the coil springs for disassembly and assembly.


Upper control Arms:


The rule of thumb on the uca ’s is the closer you get over the 2.5” lift mark toward 2.5”+ of lift the more necessary they become in order to get your truck back into alignment. So at 2” you are typically fine not running them, at 2.5” you are on the cusp of whether they are needed or not, and at 3” you pretty much need them. Of course there are exceptions to every rule.


Rear Lift:

For the rear you can go with either go with no lift, a single leaf add-a-leaf, a 3-leaf progressive add-a-leaf or a full leaf pack replacement. If you want to explore these options please let me know and I can explain as need be. You can also select no rear lift and separately add in a block and ubolt kit if you so desired. Now we do have a FAQ that goes over the various rear lift options too which that could be helpful to check out as well.


http://www.headstrongoffroad.com/faq-page.html

 

@HeadStrong Off-Road

This is going the extra mile. Kudos for the customer service.