[RickNY]

Hi.. I was interesting in leveling out my truck a bit, as I rarely carry any type of significant load in the bed and the front seems like it would look so much better if it was even.. I don't do any type of four wheeling except for taking the truck out on the beach (ocean sand). I was contemplating the ReadyLift Frontier & Xterra SST Lift Kit: 2005-2010, 2WD & 4WD - 2.5"F/1.5"R kit and was wondering about a few things..

First, will this kit work fine with the stock 265/60-18 BFGs that came with the truck?

Second, does the kit reduce any of the suspension travel that I currently have stock?

Third - I know I have to get an alignment after the kit is installed -- but does the kit change the handling of the truck much, or at all?

Fourth -- will installing the kit cause any warranty issues?

And finally -- anyone that has had the kit installed on their truck, does it impact fuel economy much or at all?

Also -- if anyone has any before/after pictures of a 2009 or 2010 LE with the kit installed, I would love to see them..

Thanks,
Rick

 

[SDHarleydad]

I have it on a 2010 prox. I am running the stock tires and think it looks pretty good. I know yours are different but according to my handy dandy tire size calculator, the diffence between the 2 is .9 of an inch.

I think the handling got better. dont know why just feels it. I have had no coil bucket hits due to the bumpstops and if there was a loss. I havent noticed. I also have only run the truck on some fire roads and sand.
On your truck it should sit good and level. Because my pro 4x has a different suspension, the front of mine sits about .5 inch higher. Economy changes will be minimal. It is a great system. and there should be no warranty issues

 

[RickNY]

So I ordered the ReadyLift kit and its supposed to be delivered Monday.. I'm having some second thoughts on putting spacers in.. My primary concerns were from additional wear on the differential and the rest of the suspension.. I came to this conclusion after reading Bilsteins document here: http://www.bilsteinus.com/leveling/ARTICLE.pdf As I said originally, my goal is to just level the truck out, not so much lift it.. I'm keeping the stock tires on the truck, and don't plan on moving to larger ones in the future.

Can I achieve the same in a better fashion using the Bilstein 5100 adjustable shocks set to maybe 1" or 1.5" and leave the rear alone? How about ride quality, etc?

 

[SDHarleydad]

The 5100 will stiffen up your ride.

 

[RickNY]

Obviously the thing Im more worried about is excess wear.. How real is the possibility of messing up the CVs or the ball joints or differential prematurely with the ReadyLift kit? Also, with the stock suspension, there have been times when driving on beach roads where I hit a number of bumps in succession and I thought the suspension bottomed out -- is that going to be worse with the spacers from the ReadyLift kit?

 

[SDHarleydad]

Like I said earlier. I have only done mild off roading. I havent had any coil bucket hits that i can hear. I checked the bump stops and can feel minor marks there. Any lift will cause more wear than stock. I like the 2.5/1.5 on the truck. If you dont need that much then you can go small on the bilstiens and leave the rear alone.

 

[domoMKIV]

If you just want to level the front with the rear you are better off with the bilsteins, imo. Just set them at 1" and you should be good to go.

 

[RickNY]

Thanks all.. I think I'm going to give the Bilstein adjustables a shot set at 1". If later, I decide I want to do the rears on the truck with the Bilstein non-adjustables, how much should the fronts be set to in order to achieve a level rake?

 

[domoMKIV]

You can measure from the center of the hub to the fender and see what the difference is in height between front and rear. 1" - 1.5" lift in the front should be good.