Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives lifting a 2006 tundra

I've got a 2006 DC tundra which I'm very happy with. I've looked at either doing a leveling kit or perhaps a couple inches of lift, but have read about issues of problems with the front drive shaft (4wd) and maintaining the proper angles when a rig gets lifted.
Has anybody got experience with this?

thanks

I don't have direct experience with the Tundra, However I have built a number of quite capable Off road vehicles.

General Rule of thumb is 4" or less is not any problem at all when done using a quality set of parts.

The shorter the wheel base the more likely the problems. 4" on a CJ5 would be a lot of lift! 4" on a ford F250 is nothing to worry about. This is what you were referencing about drive line angles. The shorter the drive shafts the steeper the angles.

After spending a lot of my earnings to build exquisite off road trucks, I have leaned something that is priceless. Skip all the fluff on the visual stuff and get selective or automatic locking axles. Nothing and I mean nothing will do more for your capability then having all four of your tires rotating at the same time.

The trucks that have the capacity to selectively lock the front and rear axles, like with an air locker or E locker, Ox Locker, will get themselves out of trouble almost every time. Those with 35" tires and a 4" lift which can only rotate one tire per side, and it's the one with the least traction, well they will need extraction help!

Limited slip are Okay at best, certainly better then open differentials. However flipping the switch on the dash to lock the rear axle is the single best off road improvement anyone can make. Add the front axle as well, and you will run circles around anyone with open diff's in 90% or the situations you will be in.

+1 on the lockers...That and some decent bumpers to get the approach/departure angles and you are most of the way where you need to go.

Generally a small amount of clearance using most of the suspension parts is OK. If you need more, there are complete kits that compensate for the actual lift. I guess that is the best solution, but naturally expensive. I have a first gen Tundra, and after looking at options, I decided the best solution was expensive, and I really don't need it for my needs. I will say first generation Tundras are really the right size for hunting in my area. Mine has been rock solid, and almost broke in with 145K miles.

I'd just go with a leveling kit on the 06. I had one and loved it. I'd get another in a heartbeat if I could find the right one.

Why are you looking to do this? Looks? Bigger tires? Off road capability? For looks and just bit bigger tire, I'd go with a leveling kit. You won't have any issues with drive-line angles, and you won't be able to run big enough tires to worry about changing front suspension parts either.

Leveling kit.

Body lift.

Bigger/better tires.

Bilstein shocks.

Rear locker or limited slip.

This is a very knowledgeable reply about this. I have lifted countless myself and have always noticed a "Give and take" with lifts. Unfortunately it is hard to "get your cake and eat it too" when you decide to add a lift, Decent Highway Ride and handling will suffer.

This is what I plan to do on my Jeep very soon. I'm going to add Airbag Suspension over my Stock Suspension. I'm sure there are Systems out there like this but I really have not looked because I am a Fabricator and will build my own to fit my Jeep.

The AMC Eagle had the very best setup for both driving Environments with their Airbag setup! Air the bags for Off Road clearance...deflate the bags for comfortable On Road Handling!

This system really did work well and would be my choice from now on.

You definitely have to worry about CV angles on the Toyota IFS. A lot of information you get for lifting a solid axle doesn't necessarily apply to IFS. Usually you can go 3 inches before you get into trouble, but anything over that your looking at having to drop the front diff and a few other things to keep from wearing out or breaking CV joints.

Also on the Toyota you have to worry about keeping the alignment within specs. The higher you go, the harder and more expensive it is. Upper control arms usually need to be replaced somewhere above 2.5-3 inches or even different spindles.

Depending on how much you want to spend and what you really want to do, a leveling kit might be right for you. Are you trying to improve performance or just looks? If it was mine and I wanted a bit of both, I would replace the coilovers with an adjustable coilover to give the height and performance you want. Bilstein 5100s on the cheap side up to Icons on the expensive side.

Either way, I would try to achieve lift through better coilovers and not spacers. If you actually use the truck off road, the spacers are a poor choice. If you do go the spacer route, I'd recommend not going over a 1/2 inch spacer, which actually gives up to 1 inch of lift due to the geometry of the front suspension.

An example would be this kit using Bilstein 5100s and eibach springs. I would probably run it at 2 inches and not do the diff drop. This would be on the cheap end. http://toyteclifts.3dcartstores.com...ers-00-06-Tundra00-07-Sequoia_p_356.html

I went with Old Man Emu on my 06 DC and I love it. OME is tough stuff and you don't have to perform a lot of maintenance. If you want the parts just let me know.






I wouldn't do anything but OME springs and OME shocks as they're valved to work together. It gave me almost 3" in lift and I did not need upper control arms

Eats up washboard like it is its job and rides so much better than stock. I'm in my lift for about $1100 total

Looks really good Drum....

I run a level lift on my 2011 Tundra Crewmax. It allows me to run 35's up from the stock 33's. I have 4 inches of total lift when done. I measured the tops of the wheel wells before and after. It's a nice edition. Gave the the little extra ground clearance I wanted.

Leveling kits are ok if you're not beating your truck up off road. If you spend any amount of time in rough country I would seriously consider dropping the coin on an Old Man Emu kit or some coilovers like Icon or Toltec. The ride will amaze you and if won't stress your front end at all

I'm going to try coachbuilder +2 shackles for the rear and Bilstein 5100s for the front I think on my 2015. I can set the 5100s for 2-2.5" of lift and should not have to worry about a differential drop.

Drummond, did you install that OME lift yourself?

A friend of mine and I did it in about 6 hours but he really knew what he was doing

Have heard good things on those. Need to do something on my suspension and I need to get the bed sprayed still.

What year is yours?

My Jeep Rubicon has both FRONT and REAR lockers. It has to be some really rough schit not to get through...and then of course there is the winch and hi lift jack.

I have not seen the need to modify the suspension in any way.

Lefty C

That seems to make sense being a jeep rubicon and all.

Apples, meet oranges...

yeath appples and oranges but the point is lockers do make a a big difference. Buddy has a Tacoma with rear lockers and it really pulls especially if it has some weight in the back

Lefty