2018 GX460 Luxury Level Kit Installation (1 Viewer)

[r2m]

With the stock setup or a non spacer lift, when the front suspension bottoms out the lower A arm runs into a big rubber bump stop. That provides gradual deceleration of the suspension at the end of its travel. The stock shocks have a small amount of travel past the point of full bump stop compression, so they will never bottom out internally. Which is good because they're not made for that. Some advanced shocks have hydraulic internal bump stops but I'm not aware of any for Toyota IFS. They all depend on the frame mounted bump stops.

When you space the struts down for 2" of lift the shocks will bottom out before the bump stops are fully compressed. That may ride rough on big bumps and will damage the shocks. That might not happen much or at all if you only drive on the street and take it slow for bumps like a lowered Civic. But that kind of defeats the purpose for a lot of people.

There are a lot of good inexpensive systems (i.e. Bilstein 5100s, Ironman Foam Cell) which will work properly in all conditions. Those two also increase travel in addition to raising the ride height, making them even more suited for off road.

To add to ericm979 post, unless you literally never plan on using it for any off road use and it's strictly a mall princess (which would be a shame for such an awesome vehicle), you will eventually want a suspension lift.
Going cheap now, will probably mean paying for the cheap setup now, not liking it and again paying for a proper lift.
Suspension lifts will provide:

1. More suspension travel, both compression and extension.
2. A better ride because you can get the spring rate for your vehicle.
3. Avoid blowing out shocks.

When you do a suspension lift you can decide what spring and shock rate you want in relation to how you'll build or not build your rig.
For myself, I have a 3" lift with the heaviest spring rate, but my rig is build for full overlanding ( Builds - R²M 2013 GX 460 Overland Build - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/r-m-2013-gx-460-overland-build.1104719/ ) It rides better than stock!
If you're just looking for a better stance and slightly larger tires, you'll want a light spring rate and probably a shorter lift height.
My current GX is my third overland build, so my .02¢ of input is more like .10¢ worth of experience and knowledge.
I know it's a hard pill to swallow, but as many on this forum have said, "Buy once, cry once."
In short, after it's all said and done, you'll be glad you did!

 

[ericm979]

Many lifts on the Toyota 150 platform don't increase total travel in the front. They just raise the static ride height within the stock travel range so the vehicle sits higher (the stock ride height is about halfway into the suspension travel). The shocks are what limit the downward travel of the wheels. To have more travel the shocks have to extend to a longer length than stock. I think some Dobinsons shocks have an option for longer travel on some shock models but it's not the default.

 

[21GX460LUX]

I wasn't able to find any great info on a spacer kit install for a newer Luxury GX. Turns out to be a little of a project. All told it took about 5 hours for the two of us. This was definitely a two man job. I'll add more to this tutorial as time permits. The plan for the vehicle is KO2's on 17'' wheels with rock sliders in the near future. Patiently waiting for all terrain tires to arrive for now...

For now enjoy the before and after

Spacer used: Front Suspension Lift Kit

View attachment 2229128
View attachment 2229129

Question for the OP, the link you provided to the leveling kit you used has three different options. A 1.5", 2", and a 2.25". I'm assuming you used the 2" version but can you verify?