Best Lift Kit for 3rd Gen 2016 Tacoma TRD Off Road

People would still post asking about "How bad of an MPG hit did you take??"

 

The lifted ford doesn't even have drive shafts in it.

 

Don't need em...it's really just a large sun umbrella

 

Took me a long time to decide on a lift. Originally went with OME on my '13, but when I traded in for the '16 I went with an Icon Stage 6. I've really enjoyed it so far. It's a little more stiff on the road but I like how it feels planted through corners, even after the sway bar delete. Being in Vegas, most of our trailing is higher speed so the Icon valving helps. Also, the CDC valving allows me to change up the stiffness. Usually running more stiff on the highway (7-8), lowest for slow crawling (S-1), and low-mid (2-4) for high speed trails.

Like many have said you'll feel the little bumps and from 10-20mph things are a little rough. Once you get some speed going and hit a big washout or rock you'll be amazed at how smooth you'll run through it.

 

I'll preface my question by stating that I am still in the process of reading through all the pages of the suspension subforum - that being said, this is my question:

I would like to have my suspension setup kind of like a mini-raptor. I drive a lot on desert roads which are bumpy and meant to be ridden at decent speed. From my limited understanding theres in a difference in the kind of shock you'd want for Baja style driving versus rock crawling (which I have no desire to do).

I was originally slated to get the TRD Pro but my dealership was kind enough to sell it out from under me. I wanted the TRD Pro for the already tuned suspension system that it came with.

My apologies in advance for asking a question that I am sure is addressed already. Dang - so many pages to read through. So many "experts". I sell real estate and the other day I had to book it through the desert because the cartel people were shooting at the Laotians while I was trying to find a piece of land for my buyer.

 

For desert running, you really can't go wrong with either Fox or Icon - but they aren't cheap. Raptors come stock with Fox suspension, so that should tell you something. If you don't want spend that much, you can make a nice setup with Bilstein 6112s. To cut down your sifting through all the bs, try searching for specific kit names - "3rd gen icon" "3rd gen fox lift" "stage 4 fox" etc etc.

Whichever way you go, I'd recommend sending a PM to Marie @HeadStrong Off-Road (go check out their website) letting her know what you're wanting to accomplish, and she'll put a nice package deal together for you at a great price.

 

If you want to drive fast off-road you may want to look into a long arm suspension but requires a bit more work.

However you will want to look for bypass shocks in addition to front and rear resivoirs.

 

Not sure if this was covered, but they wont necessarily void your warranty. If its a suspension problem, thats your new suspension so tough nuggets. But if its a power train, trans, drifveshaft problem etc. Toyota will just ask you to put the stock suspension on. So they can check everything at stock parameters.

Its more of a pain if you ask me. It took me 6 hours to put on my lift, but saved the installation cost from a local shop.


You can have toyota put the lift on and warranty it, just expect them to inflate it 300%. I guess that's what it costs for piece of mind.



Also at the dealership...

a 600 dollar or so entry level suspension lift I( parts only, not labor ).... theyll usually charge you about 4-6 grand.


just my 2 cents.

Im under warranty and lifted my truck, I have a local shop that does one piece drive shafts, once i really start to notice the shaft being changed by suspension, ill opt to get the one piece. Most of our truck problems after the lift is usually the shaft...

even if you get a diff drop or bearing drop. etc.

Good luck bud!

 

Really? I've never asked dealerships to put anything on my truck, but that's insane! Are you talking about walking into a dealership and asking for a kit, or do you mean if they install a kit on a new truck they will mark it up 4-6 grand for sale?

 

No problems with my lift.

 

Some dealerships ( since they are all different groups etc) put lift kits on trucks, brand new trucks. They usually sub-contract it to a local 4wheel parts or another well known shop. In Northern California, when you see lifted trucks at the dealership, theyre usually done by a local shop that has a contract with the dealership. The reason the dealership will warranty it is because it is put on by their chosen shop and that shop will end up doing the warranty if it is Suspension related.


To your questions @Midknight
-yes some shops will install a lift kit for you
-with an insane mark up,

even the shop they subcontract, you could probably go to directly after your purchase the vehicle to get done at a fraction of the cost...


BUT YOU WONT GET THE WARRANTY.

remember, when the dealership subcontracts the lift, it goes with your payments. Thats why its covered.


This is my experience however, it could be different for someone else.

Like i said, I did my lift myself, paid 450-500 for the parts. My buddy got the dealership to put on the same lift, he paid 3 grand for the same lift. (labor,parts etc)

 

You get a warranty if you go direct to 4WheelParts, too.. that's misleading. You just don't get any kind of coverage from the dealership side, since you didn't pay for it.

Local dealers here quoted $500-1200 to install 4 5100s and an AAL, that's 90 minutes or so installed on your own in the driveway with hand tools, and doesn't include the $500 in parts.

So someone walking in and only caring about having the dealer warranty their parts is almost always a fool. You're still out of luck if a shock fails, that warranty is with the manufacturer - not the dealer.

Spending $1000-1700 on a $500 lift is a fools game, and how business works. Some pay it, some don't, either way the dealership won't lose money.

 

I am not pretending to be any sort of expert because I am not, but I spent a fair amount of time immersed in the threads here before purchasing my lift. My intent was more toward overlanding then hard core wheeling, but I hoped to find a lift which was capable of overlanding and some decent wheeling from time to time. I ended up buying the Toytech Boss 2.5 kit, which at the time seemed to be pretty comparable to the Icon kits out. Icon has sence added a lot of options to their Arsenault, but being an earlier buyer the options were not what they are today. All in all I have no major complaints, but I will say if I had to do it over again I'd go with the King with 700lb coils, and complete Dakar leaf packs. My rational has little to do with ride quality, the Boss system handles light years better then the stock, it was reasonably easy to install, looks great, in fact my whole truck gets loads of compliments everywhere I go, but now that I've added sliders, and a full set of 1/4 inch belly pans along with an adventure rack and RTT I feel the suspension is pushing it's load limits. When I get some more money together to add the front bumper and winch, and the rear bumper with tire carrier and table I really think I will regret not having those 700lb coils and stronger leafs, but again I'm no expert so time will tell. I'm nor wealthy enough to start from scratch so I'll just have to wait and see.

My point is t take your time and make a list of what you want to carry, and where you want to carry it, then decide. The Toytech gear is pretty comparable to Icon, though they seem to get more love on the Gen2s then the Gen3s. If your going to rig your truck for bear go old man emu or king, if your just wheeling out to your hidden fishing hole you have a lot more options

My very long winded 2 cents

 

OEM / BILSTEIN 5100s > OME / IRONMAN > ICON / OME BP51 / BILSTEIN 8100s > FOX > KING / ADS

Don't quote me, but that's the rough breakdown from my seat.

 

How did a thread with the second most common generic question get this far first off with out the OP being called out as a no searching noob? Second, lol out all the guys who say save up and only buy the best regardless. They are probably the same ones who buy KO2's because they are the most expensive and think they are the best. You buy what fits what you are doing. If you are driving an occasional dirt road and the truck is just a DD street king 99% of the time there is zero reason to spend 4k to get 2 inches of lift. A little common sense needs to be used. I know a guy who thinks the same way, he has an almost 10k suspension set up on his truck and it is a daily driver and doesn't go off road...

Tyler

 

As a guy who deals in math every day and has a very limited knowledge of lifts, I'm pretty sure that you have every one of those signs backwards.

 

I didn't intend them to be used as symbols..

Next time I'll add a = so arrow is obvious.. =>

 

Sorry, I can't look at those without seeing less than and greater than

 

On a side note, math is the devil.

 

Just an FYI, whatever suspension you buy if you go through Sparks Toyota in Myrtle Beach, SC they'll honor your warranty. As long as you don't go over 3"'s and have them install it