Help! Is this lift hight normal? disappointed in dobinsons full travel lift.

good information thanks, I see a lot of references to exit off-road ill do some digging. yeah ive been back to them once for a complimentary bolt check and they said they looked over everything and was on with tech support for a long time and both dobs and the shop said its ok. so im head scratching over here.

 

Yeah, I didn’t know it’s for the stock weight of a 3row either. If that’s the case, it woukd have been nice if that was stated in the description. That probably explains why my rears seemed a bit high as well. And yes, rear seats weigh a ton! And third row seats would be that much more weight further back, which has even more effect on the height.

@scottyrunner there’s a good possibility the fronts can be adjusted down without needing new coils.

However, the rear height might be a bigger problem for you. Because it seems rear long-travel shocks require at least 3 inches of height increase from stock. And you already have the lightest rate long-travel coil. You wouldn’t be able to get standard-travel coils to reduce your lift height , because the coil might be too short and fall out when the long-travel shocks are fully extended.

You might need to make some hard decisions about the rear. Long travel, even on just the rear, is pretty cool and worth keeping if it’s doable. But you’d have to find somebody that sells a lighter spring-rate coil that also has the required uncompressed length for long-travel. That would let it settle more under your current weight and hopefully hit the right ride height.

Or you can give up on long-travel and get standard-travel shocks, with 1.5 in lift coils. No shame in that, besides the money. You could probably sell the long-travel shocks. Or keep all the extra parts you take off in case you decide to add on some weight in the future.

 

honestly I think your reply is spot on. and totally agree---would be nice of dobs to post that in the description. I mean I guess this info could slip though the cracks as 4runner isn't a native vehicle to Australia.

 

From Dobinsons USA site:

 

Why are there two of these posts?

 

Why are there two of these posts?

 

Well would you look at that! Lol. I’ve looked over that site so often my eyes cross. But on the list where you select coils, I don’t see that comment regarding the 3rd row. This is the page from where I remember making the coil selections (I arrived at this page after selecting IMS kits for 5th gen 4runners). I ordered my kit a couple of years ago, but it doesn’t seem like it’s changed from what I remember. What path did you take to get to the page with the 3rd row description? Maybe it’s an issue with the mobile site?


Edit: i just noticed that you said Dobinsons USA site, whereas I’m looking at the Exit Off-road site. Last time I looked at the Dobinsons site I couldn’t find hardly any specs on their coils, only Exit off road had details.

edit again: Dammit!!! It looks like dobinsons does make the rear springs I truly needed, that apparently are not stocked by Exit off road. I ended up getting a 2.5 in lift coils from EOF that were too heavy so I need a couple sand bags to get it low enough. Lol

 

As a FYI…Something to keep an eye out for when adding lift is the alignment of the rear Pan Hard Rod. If it isn’t perfectly level after lifting the rear end then you’ll introduce something called ‘bump-steer’.

There are a number of outfits that sell a correction kit, Dr KDSS is one of them, that corrects for this mis-alignment.

 

So this is where it gets tricky. Exit Offroad has better specs for the expected height for shocks and shock/spring combos. They fail to mention the 3rd row caveat. DobinsonsUSA.com, which is owned by Dobinsons as far as I can tell, is where it mentions that rear heights are taken on a 3rd row vehicle. The info is out there but it should be more clear or I guess more consistently communicated by authorized dealers (like Exit Offroad)

 

Because the lift is twice as high as they want it.

 

Dobinsons updated their USA site sometime in the last year (can’t remember when). New domain and everything. Prior to that, they didn’t really have published specs and Exit Offroad was the place to go to get any sort of expected heights. I’m on my second set of rear springs because the first set ended up higher than I was going for and higher than Exit published. Second set of springs was actually also higher than expected but now that the third row is swapped in to that vehicle, it’s just about right where I wanted it. 302s were on first and now have 599s

 

Looks like you're in Queens, NY (Hi neighbor!). I'm assuming you went to either The Custom Shop or Crown Auto to get it installed? Both are highly regarded shops in the area and both should be more than capable of install.
It appears to be a misunderstanding of desired/advertised lift vs. actual lift. It's never easy determining how much lift you want/need and oftentimes there is some discrepancy. Going over 3" of lift brings along many more complications, including additional supporting mods (control arms, diff drop, extended brake lines, etc) and potentially more NVH. It may be best to re-evaluate what you're planning to use the 4Runner for before dumping more money into a completely different setup. I'm also happy to meet in Queens to compare lift heights if it would be helpful.

 

Ok, that helps knowing it wasnt just in my head. My first lift was higher than anticipated but it was ok. Last year after adding armor and other weight, I cranked up the front a bit and got the 400lb constant weight 2in lift springs. But those are too high for my liking. May replace them now that I know what I know., especially since there is a lighter rate option.

 

I’m trying to delete but only a mod can apparently

 

yes!!! ill pm you thanks

 

ok lets add you and others to the "to high from dobinsons list lol"

 

What are you planning to do with your rig? If it's not getting any more mods... I'd swap the entire lift kit TBH. Unless your doing the work yourself (as labor is $$$ when playing with ride heights and mix and matching kits)... your probably going to end up eating more by trying to figure this out.

On the other hand... if you plan on doing more mods... I'd do them now. Adding skids, bumpers, fridge... whatever weight you planned on doing.... will get this kit to be your dream. Point is if you planned on adding weight in the rear... do it now and be done with it.

Regarding actual stance... driver lean is normal. Add a .25" coil spacer on the driver coil and it will level out. For the front the coilers are adjustable so you can drop one side by .5 inches. This is all normal.

End up with a 1" taller rear and you'll have a good and balanced drive.

 

@scottyrunner
How many miles have you driven on this setup?
In my experience the springs settle quite a bit after a few thousand miles.
I’m curious to see the before and after measurements after you drive it for a little while.


Edit: I have a similar setup. IMS extended travel shocks. 352 springs up front. 675 springs in the back.
The fronts have settled quite a bit and need to have the preload adjusted to get me back to 3-3.5" of front lift. My rear 675s started life at 4" of lift height. Then settled to 3" for quite a while.

Recently I swapped the rears out for 677s since they started sagging all the way down to 2.5" of lift. I was hitting the extended bump stops too often. Those rear shocks need 3" of lift height so the change was necessary.

Dobinsons states publicly the springs do not settle. But they do. In my experience they even start sagging over time... I'd run them for a while and let them settle before fiddling with it again.