Anyone have experience with Tuff Country Suspensions lifts?

[sr522re]

I have an 85 4Runner and I'm looking for a mild lift without having to weld spring hangers or shock mounts. I'm looking at the 3.5" EZ-Ride Lift Kit from Tuff Country. I'm just wondering if anyone has experience with this kit. What I am most interested in is ride quality followed by lift and articulation for the occasional trail ride. I'd be happy if I could run 33" tires, but the ability to run 35's would be nice.

I bought my 4Runner about 7 years ago and it already has on it what appears to be a 2" Rancho suspension lift. In short, I hate it. The ride quality is very bad and bouncy and there is little to no articulation at all. That system needs to go.

I am also considering the 2" Old Man Emu bolt on kit, but I question the ability to run 33" tires without rubbing on the trails.

Are there other "BOLT ON" systems I should be considering? I am very familiar with Marlin, All Pro, and Alcan etc, but again, I want a bolt on system with little to no modifications to the truck other than brake lines and drive shafts if necesarry.

Let me know what you guys think.

Thanks in advance to any and all input!

Chris
sr522re@yahoo.com

 

[KLF]

I have OME springs on my SAS'd '87 now (front Heavies, rear Mediums), they are now 10 years old. I originally bought them for my '84 xcab (RIP). OME is very conservative in the 2" (50mm) height, you should easily get 3 to 3.5" out of them. My fronts are a little sagged now, but after almost 10 years and 100,000 miles, most of that with a heavy bumper and HS9500 winch installed, so I'm OK with that. Ride is still very good, but I think a lot of that is due to the Bilstein 5100 gas shocks. I did get the OME bushings, greasable pins and shackles. Nice stuff.

I had no trouble with 33x12.50's rubbing, my trail tires now are 35x12.50's, I do get some mild rubbing in the front when really stuffed. Trim the fender liner and maybe pound the spotweld seam flat and you're good to go.

No experience with the Tuff Country products. I've heard that the Rancho lifts ride terrible, especially if you have their RS5000 shocks.

 

[toy4xfun]

i have a tuff country lift not sure if it is the same one you are talking about. it rides like a truck. was a 3" lift and when i first installed it a year ago it gave me about 3.5" but my front springs are sagging now and i also have a heavy bumper and 9500# winch. and once again it rides like a truck (a little better than stock but my bumper killed my stock front springs they were broke when i removed them).

 

[GRM]

I had their front springs. They had about 4" of travel to them, but rode OK on the highway.

I gave my pair away for free because of how unstable the truck was offroad.

 

[WarDamnEagle]

Like KLF said, you'll get more than 2.5" (advertised) out of the OME. Check out my sig line if you want to see the kit on an 85 4Runner.

 

[sr522re]

Like KLF said, you'll get more than 2.5" (advertised) out of the OME. Check out my sig line if you want to see the kit on an 85 4Runner.

Wow, that's quite the build you've done to your 4Runner. It looks real nice! The OME lift looks nice, but I can't tell if it's much taller than mine already is or not. I've attached a picture of my 4Runner as it sits for a comparison. I'm just guessing, but I think I have a 2" Rancho lift. I know it's Rancho, I'm just not sure how tall. I currently have 30"x9.5"x 15" BFG AT KO's on the truck. When I bought the truck from a used car dealership the 4Runner had 32" BFG MT's under it. Ideally, I want to go a little taller from what I currently have, but more importantly I'd love a nicer ride.

Thanks everyone for the input. I am now leaning towards OME. I'd just like to find a good place to buy a system from. The cheapest I've found is at Toyota 4Runner and Pickup lifts, suspension, accessories at he best and lowest prices They want about $850 for a kit not including shipping. I've seen other places offer a similar set for around $1,400. Not sure what the differences are between the kits though. Any input on this is also appreciated.

Thanks Guys! This is a great site!


Chris

 

[toy4xfun]

i am not sure but i do think the most complete kit would be allpros. but once again i am but a baby. even though i have offroaded for about 15 years until i joined this site only had the mags to direct me that is why i have a tuff country lift but i also did not have the $ for any thing else and i knew my springs on the front were shot. so if you want a nice lift save up, research, and get the right one first. i am not unhappy with this lift i just wish i would have went a little taller.

 

[WarDamnEagle]

I think I paid about $1100 3 years ago for a complete OME kit. A complete kit, IIRC includes:

4 leaf springs (I went heavy front and medium rear)
4 shocks (I went heavy valving all around)
1 steering stabilizer
Shackles front and rear (anti-inversion type)
Greasable shackle pins (bolts) front and rear
U-bolts (front ones on driver's side need to be special "flattened" U-bolts)

It seems like the complete kit only included 6 U-bolts and you were supposed to reuse 2 of OEM ones but I know that I have all new U-bolts so I probably went ahead and bought 2 more new ones.