Toyota FJ Cruiser Forum banner

Do I need a lift?

9K views 23 replies 15 participants last post by  Behnam22 
#1 ·
ALCON,
I'm installing the ARB front bumper + Warn M8000. Do I need a lift in the front?
I'm not really into lifting my FJ.

-How much(2" or 3")?
-What product do you recommend?

2010 TT, everything is stock.

V/R
Ben
 
#2 ·
Probably. The ARB bumpers are incredibly well made and incredibly heavy especially combined with a winch. 6 year old suspension is likely going to sag under its weight and dive a bit on heavy braking. You may want to consider HD aftermarket springs/ shocks vs a lift though. Hard to go wrong with OME stuff. HTH
 
#3 ·
You will need to beef up the front suspension to support the weight of the bumper & winch. The next question to answer is what type of wheeling do you plan on doing? When considering the suspension other mods are planned?
 
#5 ·
I hear you! I'm in the military that responds to mostly natural disasters in Texas such as Hurricanes. So, I will be driving thru high waters if anything.

I'm installing the ARB snorkel as well.
If I were to get the minimum I need to compensate for the extra weight, what would it be? Is OME an ARB product? Item #?
 
#4 ·
#7 ·
#11 · (Edited)
I am running Warrior Products front winch bumper with a Smittybilt Xrc95 with synthetic rope. It's about 150lbs. I am running 5100's set to the 4th notch and stock springs. I added 1.5" daystar blocks in the rear and it sits perfectly level. I got about 2 inches on lift on the front with the 4th notch andthe extra weight. I also run an Arb mesh roof rack with 5 gallons of gas, a 60" hilift, rock rails, a steel rear bumper, an oversized spare on the back, and about 100lbs of vear constant load. My stock springs are 10 years old with 132k miles on them, and i find the front to be a little squishy. SO, the 5100's will getyou level, but probably decrease your handling and ride quality a bit. I plan to upgrade to the toytec/eibach springs on the 5100's later, which i hope will help. You will be limited on your spring options with thet 5100's. Going at it again, i'd just do the OME lift and be done with it. You can find pics ofmy rig showing ride height after bumpers and before bilsteins, and after bilsteins by searching my posts. Good luck!:clap:
 
#10 ·
Personally from the use you said you were going to do with the FJ ( Hurricane response and disastrous zones ) i would try to get as high up from the ground as possible... I would think about skid plates ( because the stock ones won't protect you from anyting bigger than an egg size rock ) and bigger tires to get ground clearance.
 
#14 ·
#18 ·
One thing needs to be clear, a lift will NOT give you anymore clearance than you already have. It makes the suspension better for the added weight of bumper + winch and gives more space for bigger tires which is the only thing will give you more ground clearance.

Look into the Scuba mod too, VERY important if you plan to play in water.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FatJohnson
#21 ·
Going to have to disagree. A lift absolutely gives you more ground clearance on every part of the vehicle that is supported by the suspension (i.e. anything attached to the frame). Obviously it won't lift anything not supported by the suspension, like the rear axle, but saying it won't give you more ground clearance anywhere is simply not true.

As for the scuba mod, let me echo that this is a very important mod if you'll be driving through any water. MUCH more important than a snorkel (which is mostly just for looks). I never drove through very deep water, but I've done a lot of creek crossings, and when I drained my diff fluids at 30K miles there was water in my diffs.
 
#19 · (Edited)
I had the ARB deluxe FJ bars installed on my otherwise-stock 2013 FJ, and only needed an inch or so of a levelling kit to compensate for the extra front weight, aesthetically (details are out in the glovebox; If I remember to dig 'em out I could be more specific). I haven't done anything to the suspension yet/still.

It does roll/dive a little more on turns and braking, but it's at the bottom threshold of barely-noticeable. IMO, if you do any kind of actual upgrade to the suspension after swapping the stock bumper for the ARB deluxe bars, I can't imagine that you'd notice any kind of performance degradation.
 
#20 ·
I leveled with an adjustable front coilover setup before lifting, which is a nice way to future-proof and avoid re-buying a front suspension if/when you decide to lift. As others have said, the scuba mods would be good, as well as some serious rust prevention. If you're feeling really adventurous, you could experiment with better door sealing, etc as well. I believe the official Toyota water crossing number is 27.5 inches or so.
 
#22 ·
You could go with 6112 front shocks and put 650 or 700 lb springs on with the clip on the lowest notch. You'd have the springs to carry the weight and better shocks to control the weight with little or no lift..
 
#23 ·
So the new bumper is on! Broke my back. My luck, it was 85 degrees out side and at one point I was so dehydrated, I brought the whole bumper inside and sat it in my living room! I took me forever to figure out the winch and to install it. My first impression of the whole thing is: WOW....great product and quality! I need to finish up everything tomorrow.
 
#24 ·
Here are some pics of the finished product. According to the tape measure, there's about half an inch drop in the front. But I love the new look. Thanks for y'alls all feedback. OOOORAH!

P.S. I don't know why my pics are upside down :surprise
 

Attachments

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top