Rough Country Lift

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SeguineJ

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Alright, obviously most of the time you get what you pay for. Now I have had a rough country lift on my trucks before and I thought they were pretty good. I do not have a bunch of comparisons but I had 0 issues with the lift. One for the Taco is like 250$.

Anyone use them on theres at all?
 

Anchor Mtn

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The rough country kit is just front strut spacers and rear lift blocks with a pair of longer rear shocks. Its simple and effective. Its nothing fancy but it will lift your vehicle to clear larger tires.

I can tell you that the rear shocks are "rough" and most likely have a lower ride quality than your factory shocks. Lifting the front with spacers will create more pressure on your upper ball joints and will also have an impact on ride quality.

My personal opinion is that you just spent $40k on a truck.... dont ruin it with a $250 lift kit.
 

SeguineJ

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The rough country kit is just front strut spacers and rear lift blocks with a pair of longer rear shocks. Its simple and effective. Its nothing fancy but it will lift your vehicle to clear larger tires.

I can tell you that the rear shocks are "rough" and most likely have a lower ride quality than your factory shocks. Lifting the front with spacers will create more pressure on your upper ball joints and will also have an impact on ride quality.

My personal opinion is that you just spent $40k on a truck.... dont ruin it with a $250 lift kit.
I assumed the same and figured I'd ask. Like I said, using them on my old Chevy I had 0 issues with the brand or gear but I also did not have time to compare the two kits last night on what would be different. I did pay more for my Chevy lift.
 

SeguineJ

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Dickson City, PA
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The rough country kit is just front strut spacers and rear lift blocks with a pair of longer rear shocks. Its simple and effective. Its nothing fancy but it will lift your vehicle to clear larger tires.

I can tell you that the rear shocks are "rough" and most likely have a lower ride quality than your factory shocks. Lifting the front with spacers will create more pressure on your upper ball joints and will also have an impact on ride quality.

My personal opinion is that you just spent $40k on a truck.... dont ruin it with a $250 lift kit.
I think I am also just trying to keep myself from dropping a large sum of money at one time right now to do what I want to the truck.

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Overland-Indiana

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I think I am also just trying to keep myself from dropping a large sum of money at one time right now to do what I want to the truck.

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I have used RC before for lifts..they are OK, but just that- OK. Not great, not crap- OK. Save your money and do a proper, high quality lift later. Doing things the cheap was has always bit me in the ass. I did a RC lift on my Blazer, burnt through a set of ball joints about every 6mo.
 
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Anchor Mtn

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I assumed the same and figured I'd ask. Like I said, using them on my old Chevy I had 0 issues with the brand or gear but I also did not have time to compare the two kits last night on what would be different. I did pay more for my Chevy lift.
Besides the rear shocks there is nothing wrong with the RC components. A 3" spacer lift in the front of a tacoma is a little much... 1-2" leveling kit would be much more reliable long term.

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SeguineJ

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Besides the rear shocks there is nothing wrong with the RC components. A 3" spacer lift in the front of a tacoma is a little much... 1-2" leveling kit would be much more reliable long term.

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Do you think the levelling kit would be a stupid idea? I thought about doing that since I plan on upgrading tires sooon. It's 50$.

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Anchor Mtn

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Always run the lowest lift you can to clear a given tire size.

If a leveling kit will let you clear the tire size you want, then I would say its the way to go. If you need to go higher than what the leveling kit will provide, I would save up and get a suspension that will last as long as the truck.
 

SeguineJ

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I'm just looking to do 32s. I was thinking 265/70/R17. I don't see a need to go bigger than that. I'm not looking to show off a lift to anyone or anything crazy. I just want a useful truck.

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MOAK

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Please help me out here,, I've been using Old Man Emu suspension systems for nearly 2 decades now on only two different vehicles. In each case well over 100,000 miles were put on them and the shocks were still in great shape. Both of the suspensions were priced at right around $900 which is not an expensive suspension by any means, but the quality, dependability, and ride are second to none. Which is, after all, what I think is needed on an overlanding vehicle. (qdr) Save your money, don't cut corners, because it always ends up costing more in the long run. I've been at this for nearly 30 years and spent enough money on cheap corner cutting stuff that ended up in the scrap yard, to purchase a nice used jeep. The suspension on our Toys is very good from the factory, why do anything to it that will make it less than good? ( oh, BTW, Rough Country? Really? ) Just my humble opinion developed after years and years of mistakes.
 

SeguineJ

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Please help me out here,, I've been using Old Man Emu suspension systems for nearly 2 decades now on only two different vehicles. In each case well over 100,000 miles were put on them and the shocks were still in great shape. Both of the suspensions were priced at right around $900 which is not an expensive suspension by any means, but the quality, dependability, and ride are second to none. Which is, after all, what I think is needed on an overlanding vehicle. (qdr) Save your money, don't cut corners, because it always ends up costing more in the long run. I've been at this for nearly 30 years and spent enough money on cheap corner cutting stuff that ended up in the scrap yard, to purchase a nice used jeep. The suspension on our Toys is very good from the factory, why do anything to it that will make it less than good? ( oh, BTW, Rough Country? Really? ) Just my humble opinion developed after years and years of mistakes.
That's what I'm looking for boss. Real true blue experienced opinions. I'm a novice especially to the mechanical side of vehicles. I know enough to take care of it and what's bad but not to upgrade it.

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DavidC365

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The billies on the Taco will suffer with spacer lifts. I have seen them snap off right above the bottom mounting bolt. You will have issues with articulation of your upper control arm. Even with nice coils, you should change the upper control arm to keep your truck running well. I know it is cost prohibitive sometimes to go 'all out' on suspension, but I think it would be better to keep your truck stock, than doing a slight lift and bringing in new potential failure points.
 
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MOAK

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That's what I'm looking for boss. Real true blue experienced opinions. I'm a novice especially to the mechanical side of vehicles. I know enough to take care of it and what's bad but not to upgrade it.

Sent from my Pixel using OB Talk mobile app
I might also add, stick with Australian brands.. They really know what they are doing with our trucks and the prices are very fair. Christo at Slee - Offroad, Kurt at Cruiser Outfitters, (or Man-A-Fre, whats left of them) are very good places that know our trucks very well. What works, and what doesn't work.
 

SeguineJ

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I might also add, stick with Australian brands.. They really know what they are doing with our trucks and the prices are very fair. Christo at Slee - Offroad, Kurt at Cruiser Outfitters, (or Man-A-Fre, whats left of them) are very good places that know our trucks very well. What works, and what doesn't work.
I will keep that in mind. Is shipping to PA (Since you have it as your location) real crazy or no?
 

Joey D

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I've never heard great things about Rough Country and I'd be leery of their reliability off road. They seem to be more geared towards people that want a lift for show vs. those who want a lift for functionality. I'd hate to see someone get a lift and then run into problem on the trail or have a major component fail and cause an accident.

Bilstein 5100's up front work great and are from a well known company. They are also very affordable. I run them on my rig with a set of in house 650# springs from a local 4wd shop. In the rear I have BDS Fox shocks with an add-a-leaf. I also have adjustable front control arms too so I can get a good alignment and have it be easier on my tires (this is something I really recommend). The setup is fairly similar to the one that was posted from Headstrong Offroad.
 
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