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I wanted to share my modest lift. I really like the look of the stock GX but from what I understand bigger tires will most likely rub. I'm also rather fond of the airbag suspension, the roads where I live are cratered. So I did my best to retain the stock Lexus look and feel with a modest tire clearing setup for some slightly oversized all terrain tires.
I improvised a small lift setup with a few items:
- Streetrays 1" 4runner front leveling spacer ~ $30
- 6 - 1.5" extended top plate studs from wheeler's offroad ~ $16
- 4 - washers ( 1/16th") ~ $1
The leveling kit took a few hours to install with the help of some friends but overall It wasn't too bad. Then tricking the rear air bags was really easy and didn't take any longer than half an hour. The overall ride quality stiffened up just a little bit. I would normally drive in sport because it was too floaty in comfort but now I leave it just one click to the left of sport for a good balance between stiffness and comfort after lifting it. Overall I'm quite pleased with where it sits now. I don't think I'll have any issue with tire clearance. My only concern is that the airbags may wear out a little sooner but I suspect they'll be alright since they're not dramatically over inflated.
Nice, BC. I would love to run 275/70 17s on stock suspension until I do a proper small lift. If I can't do it on stock suspension, I'm wondering if it's not worth the ~$50 bucks to try this 1" spacer route in the meantime.
Nice, BC. I would love to run 275/70 17s on stock suspension until I do a proper small lift. If I can't do it on stock suspension, I'm wondering if it's not worth the ~$50 bucks to try this 1" spacer route in the meantime.
lift or not, you’ll probably have to use spacers anyway to keep the tire away from the upper control arm.
TomTom, I'm a new owner here so be gentle: do these spacers go on top of the shock hats (like Ali SC3's build thread where he had to cut and flip over the shock actuator mount), or do the actuators still mount ok?
And speaking of which, how do those actuators work? Do they rotate, and are keyed to the shock rod, nutted, or?
Yes they go on top of the shock hat. No I I didn’t have to cut or flip anything. I measured everything out before I did anything. I used 1” lift billet aluminum strut spacers for a 4runner from streetrays. The spacer itself is closer to 0.5” but it lifts the front of the truck by 1”. If you go any bigger than a 1.5” lift spacer (actually measures around 0.75”) then you’ll have to trim and flip that sensor. I also got 6 x 1.5” shock hat studs from 4x4offroad to account the space created by the spacer ( 3 for each strut). I hammered out my old ones and slipped the new ones in and snugged them down before reinstalling the strut. For the rear I wanted to lift it slightly less than the front so it leveled out a bit but I still wanted a slight rake for towing purposes. I found that if you use a 1/16th thick washer on where the airbag sensors bolt to the frame, it will give you about 0.5” lift in the rear.
if I remember correctly there should just be a single nut that holds the sensor atop the strut. It shouldn’t rotate on you and I don’t believe direction matters. It should be pretty obvious if you just crawl in your wheel well and take a look at it. I don’t know the full depth mechanical explanation for how it works but the general premise is that that sensor will help dampen the impact of the terrain by allowing the shock to control internal fluid flow rate, thus making it stiffer or softer. This is all related back to which mode your in. I’m in oklahoma where the roads look like a 3rd world war zone so I usually just leave the suspension in jello mode and jiggle over pot holes and craters.
12-26-17, 11:40 AM
GX470 Small Lift 1"
