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Leveling kit (front only) is that okay? ...(wheel gap #s included, FYI)

jaruss01

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Based on my research, i am not seeing a lot of guys get a leveling kit for only the front. They do all four corners and raise the entire truck and keep level. Based on the look of things, trims with standard duty suspension have a ~1.0" rake. Is there anything wrong with just raising the front, and keeping the rear totally stock? Will the ride be terribly off by doing this?


Many people, including myself, are planning on upgrading to 33s, which IMO leaves not a lot of wheel gap upfront. It is still manageable, but may look off. I think a ~1" lift kit on the front would really complete the look. Honestly, I prefer to not raise the rear, just something subtle and level by adjusting the front. Thinking of say Fox 2.0 adjustable coilover in the front (thinking of going to either the 1st or 2nd setting). From what I am reading, i THINK there are 3 settings, maxed at 2.0" lift, with setting 1 starting at 0.8". But i could be wrong.


FYI - here are the numbers

Tape measured - BL rear wheel gap is 7.5". Given tire is 32.7", the distance from spindle to flare is 23.85". Sasquatch is 1.2" lift, and BL is 0.4" less (this has been confirmed). So standard duty suspension is 23.05" from spindle to flare. Apply that to say, an OBX with a 32.1" tire, and there is 7.0" rear gap.

Eyeing photos the rake (if I were to guess) is 1.0", and the difference in wheel well gap is 1.5"

Stock BL: 6.0" gap front / 7.5" gap rear
Stock OBX: 5.5" gap front / 7.0" gap rear
OBX on 33.2" tires: 4.95" front / 6.45" gap rear (so now the front starts to look a bit off...)

So as you could see, a solid 1" lift on the front would be perfect, with some improved ride quality.

From what I am reading, the Fox 2.0 Performance Coilovers are around $480 (just the front 2). Install sounds to be $150/wheel. Alignment (i would need anyway with tires). So ~$800 to lift the front an inch or more to level it....I could justify that. Especially if it's improved ride quality over stock standard duty front suspension.
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Hey19

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I recently installed a leveling kit on the front only of my F-150 in able to fit 35" tires. It is only a spacer and I didn't notice any change to the ride. The kit was $170 ish, alignment about $70 after about 3 hours to install in my driveway.
 
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jaruss01

jaruss01

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I recently installed a leveling kit on the front only of my F-150 in able to fit 35" tires. It is only a spacer and I didn't notice any change to the ride. The kit was $170 ish, alignment about $70 after about 3 hours to install in my driveway.
Thanks. How come a lot of ppl say not to go that route? What got you comfortable with it? The price?
 

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Thanks. How come a lot of ppl say not to go that route? What got you comfortable with it? The price?
Because you will lose downward suspension travel. Most will be fine with it though.
 
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jaruss01

jaruss01

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@Felix808 Ok thanks. I heard it was a safety thing as well. Still very open to spending more to get adjustable front coilovers if it has a major improvement over standard duty front suspension. But again, not sure how that would work if I kept the rears stock.
 

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jaruss01

jaruss01

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Found on Ranger forum (which is promising for front only) Fox 2.0 - Im still waiting to get my rear shocks delivered, which should be here monday based on the tracking info, but driving around so far with the front installed only, it really is a much better ride. Any abnormality on the road, the suspension just feels so sturdy and just soaks it up so easily. No bouncing around anymore, it takes the "obstacle" and levels right back up ready for the next one. I dont know if that makes sense, but the suspension is definitely worth it instead of using spacers only. Its stiffer on road but feels "plush" over bad road.
 

Gamecock

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When I leveled an FJ Cruiser and my nephew's Tacoma, I went the route of stiffer springs in the front. It added a little bit over an inch of front lift, the handling got better, and it better handled the steel bumper in the front, and made room for 33s. It was easy to put them in myself and relatively cheap, and improved performance on and off road. It also looked much better. I will wait and see what people do early on and what works, but my first suspension move will likely be stiffer springs up front to push the front up an inch or so and level it.
 

rjkmoto

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Thanks. How come a lot of ppl say not to go that route? What got you comfortable with it? The price?
It screws with towing capabilities (on a truck specifically) and trucks are really the only vehicle with significant rake built in (for load/towing purposes).

The Bronco seems pretty level already.

JK
 
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jaruss01

jaruss01

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@Gamecock great to hear. Thanks. Sounds like that's the plan then. Need to do some digging around which ones work best, but it may be limited to availability. Looking towards Fox 2.0, Bilstein 5100 / Rancho. Given that I will likely go with E rated tires (but the best riding ones, based on reviews) I'll be looking for the better on road setup
 
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jaruss01

jaruss01

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The Bronco seems pretty level already.
Far from it. Look at the factory photos from the past week. The most apparent is on an AMB base with small white steelies (which immediately provoked comments about the rake of the bronco)
 

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Mainerunr

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Because you will lose downward suspension travel. Most will be fine with it though.
Unless there is contact somewhere, you do not lose downward travel (on my Frontier, the UCA would contact the coil bucket just before the strut was fully extended, resulted in a loss of less than half an inch of downward travel vs stock...upward travel was exactly the same as stock), you do end up with worse angles when fully extended though. Funny thing is with 5100s, one thing they tout is that they do not allow those "extreme" angles which means they do reduce available downward motion, otherwise you would end up with the same Cv angles as the spacer that provides the same lift.

The bigger issue offroad though is upward travel with stock bumpstops, the strut with a spacer can bottom out completely with significant force behind it since the whole assembly is just shifted down. This is where you see spacer lifts resulting in destroyed struts. With a 5100 type setup, the most extended point stays the same as stock (again, you just start part way there), the most compressed point is actually less than stock due to the change in position of the coil perch, the shaft cannot reach the end of the body so that potential for damage isn't there.

Spacers are fine if its just for looks (my wife's Tacoma is probably going to end up with spacers, she's never taking it off road, she won't even let me use it for a dump run) but if you're going offroad, the other options are better.
 

edgeflyer

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FYI, you can't look at wheel well to tire to assume "rake", you need to look at the chassis attitude. Also, the term rake is improperly used by anyone who is quoting that. What they are referring to is ride height.
 

OJ_Loose

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I threw a Rough Country Level on my Ranger and no complaints so far. Got rid of its awkward stance. I've had it on for about a year now. Maybe a little more stiff upfront but nothing bad.
 
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jaruss01

jaruss01

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FYI, you can't look at wheel well to tire to assume "rake", you need to look at the chassis attitude.
You're right. Closer to 1" if you draw a line from center of wheel to center of wheel and compare to door sill
 

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As said, A leveling kit is fine for looks and only for easy off road trails, but if you think you may eventually do moderate or greater off road trails, you’ll want a suspension lift. The suspension lift may also improve the ride whereas leveling won’t really noticeably change it.
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