Unsure of lift size

I have a 2009 Tacoma regular cab 4wd, with a fabtech lift kit. The previous owner said it has a 6 inch lift, but my coworker said it looks more like a leveling kit. Currently I’m running 285/70/17 mud terrains, with a slight rub on the plastic trim for the front mud guards. I need to know how exactly do I figure out what size lift I have on this truck. Sorry if this should go in the suspension thread, if it does, can one of the mods move it for me.

 

Holy shit that is horrible. Its a 6 inch spacer in the front with a 3 inch block in the rear. Take that out completely for the love of all that is good

 

Oh and do something about that rust before it gets worse

 

Take a picture of the truck from the side. Want to see the lift height

 

He can’t. It’s a DB lift kit. They would have cut the frame to drop the front diff to its new location. He’ll need a donor frame section.

 

Probably why my ride quality is fucking horrible. If it’s a true 6 inch lift in the front, would I actually be able to fit a 35” tire with a cmc? Or would a true 33” tire fit without a cmc? And I’ve had this truck for roughly 4 months and only now have had the appropriate finances to start fixing things up. Sadly the previous owners never did anything to the underside of the truck to prevent any rust or corrosion given we live in Hawaii and the salt air just eats everything. So my next step is to get it into a shop and have them coat the underside or something so I can get some protection from the elements.

 

Same

 

It’s a 6” DB kit. The rear is a 3” block and 2” aal to have the truck sit level.

 

FYI. Fabtech only made 2 kits for that truck. A 3” and a 6”. You have the 6” basic kit.

 

Thanks for the help! It’s much appreciated. My coworker had me second guessing what I had, it’s been racking my brain for a couple days now but I just haven’t had time to look into it. My ride quality sucks, but I’ve understood that installing a fabtech kit requires major modifications to the frame or whatever. All I’m looking for is a smoother ride for me and the wife, how would I go about that? New shocks? Springs?

 

So many ways to go about it. Budget will have a lot to do with it. Are you wanting to keep it at 6” lift?

 

I’d like to stay at 6, only because I’m wanting to keep the 285s now without doing a cmc, and maybe go a little bigger in the tire size in the future. Not too sure on the budget, but I’m trying to keep the wife happy with the ride quality so I know I’m gonna have to spend a decent amount for her to be comfortable. Roads around here are pothole ridden so the occasional 45 minute drive tends to make her irritated because the truck feels every single bump in the road.

 

For the front I’d look for a better quality stock length coilover. Or a high quality extended length coilover so you can remove the spacer. For the rear I’d call Deavers suspension. Two options: custom made 5” set of rear leafs or a 3” set and run a 2” block to get the 5”. And a new set of rear shocks for 5” of lift.

 

Drop brackets can drive fine, but you need full coil overs on the front.

https://iconvehicledynamics.com/acc...-up-tacoma-25-vs-ir-coilover-kit-w-procomp-6/

Big money, BDS, Icon etc all make 6" coil overs. You don't need the bypass reseviour, just a good quality coil over.

Reverting to stock means big work, its a bitch on older trucks too with corrosion. Plus you have to weld the frame up.

Embrace the Brodozer, buy coil overs and maybe an all terrain tire rather than a mud terrain.

 

Everyone in HI does the extreme lift thing

 

If I look into a better stock length coilover, it’s keeping the 6 inch spacer correct? And if I go the extended length route, do they make them in 6” extended lengths? Is there any noticeable difference between either in ride quality?

Definitely just gonna make what I have work, not looking at doing any major mods to revert back to stock. Truck sees pretty harsh muddy roads 5-6 days a week for work, and sometimes even with brand new tires I’ll tend to lose traction and slide a bit, so I’m skeptical on how all terrains would handle our work roads. What exactly does a bypass coilover do compared to a regular setup? Hold extra oil or something?

Weirdly enough, my 6” lift is sometimes considered small here. It seems like 9” and up is more common around here, although I don’t see why lifting a truck that high would be any good.

 

Technically you only need 6-7" of ground clearance to get through most obstacles!

 

I've seen some trucks that look great with those crazy lifts. But I just cant understand them, they serve no purpose and are hard to deal with most of the time. Besides looks

 

Correct. If you keep a factory length coilover you would keep the spacer. A lot of guys don’t like them but they do not change ride quality (all it’s doing is lower the factory mounting point) because the lca has been lowered 6”. The extended length coilovers are quite expensive.

 

Can we get a pic of your truck?