Watch out, boston city kid looking to lift his truck

Whatsup everyone, fairly new to the forums. Im seeking advice because i love my truck to death but i hate parking next to a lifted Ford Ranger and have it tower over my tacoma. Im not hurting for money,just not sure whether or not its worth it to throw down for a 6" pro Comp lift/tires,rims. Can someone educate me on why its better to go for a suspension lift instead of a spacer lift. Advice on lifts, where to buy , online or go to a local place and have them install it as well ? Do i need to change anything to get the lift ? Im looking into running a 6 inch with 35s. Any advice on tires ? I dont plan on doing any extreme off-roading, just once in a while take it out with some of my buddies. Some good aggressive all-terrains will be fine.I know i could probably search and find all these answers,however im just looking for basic "this is whats best for you, you dont need to do,heres what i did" answers. Any help is greatly appreciated. I've had a couple questions answered and i haven't been steered in the wrong directions so far. Thank You , Adam

 

Current truck, black grille craft coming in the mail,and red grille surround

 

if 6 " and 35's is what u are after i would go the basic 6"procomp kit over the fabtech. both are great kits but the fabtech spindal design makes it a pain in the ass to change your lower ball joints(and eventually u will have to) the procomp kit makes there spindles the same way toyota did. the basic kit uses your factory coilvers and a 6" spacer on it and runs around 1400 for the kit. the stage 2 kit comes with new longer procomp coilovers and runs around 2400. if your only doing lite off roading the basic kit is great for u. pleanty of guys run it around here with no problems. unless u are well inclined at working on cars and suspension i would get it installed by a professional although it ay be pricy depending on were u go. there are many choices on 35's so just look at what tire u like best. mickey thomson atz's are a good allterrain in that size, but there are many options to look at. running 35's u will need to slightly trim the corner on your inner fender. for when the suspension articulates. if u run 33x12.50 you wont have that.

 

beware of the shudder with the 6" lifts. search the word shudder here.

 

Agreed. Make sure you do a ton of research before you buy a 6 inch drop bracket. Since your truck is a 4x4 the lift will involve cutting out a piece of your crossmember, and once you do that, there is no turning back.

 

Yess agreed. one of the main reason i didn't go for a 6" lift (besides the fact that mass state troopers suck) is that once you cut out that front crossmember, you can never go back. its 6".

personally i went for the 3" lift, but i did it with no spacers or AAL.

i got All pro offroad 3" leafs from www.allprooffroad.com and a U-bolt flip kit. they are pricey ($350) i think and then living in mass shipping cost like $110 since they come from Cali. ut if you wait til jan-feb, they usually have a sale and i got them for $250 for the pair.

the rest of my stuff i got from www.wheelersoffroad.com. i went with camburg coil-overs and UCA's. they had a good combo deal. u don't have to get the UCA's but it will make it very hard to align if u stick with the stock ones

you can also go with donohoe's and total chaos UCA but they are a little more Pricey, (and of you aren't really gonna offroad, then it may not be worth it)

As far as rear Shocks, Bilstein 5150's are really nice bu i don't think they make them enough for a 3" lift. so i went with old man Emu N182 Shocks.

With all this i was able to tuck 33x12.5r17 mickey thompson MTZ and i had very little trimming to do.

just my advice but those two sites are great. i would look into those.

 

i dont know why everyone gets those old man emu shocks before i came here i never even heard of them. there are so many better shocks available. id do 6" if your thinking that way already u will ver be satisfied with the 3" and youl have just wasted your money. 6" is the way to go.

 

old man emu is a very reliable off road shock that has proven itself time and time again.

 

i have a fabtech lift and it was great.
ive had no problems with it.
i know alot of people that have fabtech lifts,
and they've never had to change the lower ball joints.
fabtech is really good!
just my opinion...

 

u miss understood what i said. the fabtech kit does not cause u to have to change your ball joints. it is the design of the knuckle that when it comes time to change them. it makes it a bitch to do it. eventually ball joints go bad it happens on every car. puting big ass tires on makes it happen a little faster however. lol