Lifting a ‘21 ORP w/kdss

Hi everyone!

looking to put a lift onto my ‘21 ORP w/kdss. It’s going to be a garage project- I’m just looking for a little guidance on my setup.

we purchased the Bilstein 5100 2.5” lift kit with the heavy load springs and the diff drop kit. Includes all 4 shocks.

I’d like to: lift, level and minimize any KDSS lean that may pop up.

What’s the best way to go about this? We’d like to go as high as possible with the kit already purchased

 

Looks like a job for Thatbassguy. Not tagging him since its not nice to force members to comment. But if he see this he would definitely have good advice how to do it.

 

I just lifted my KDSS ORP. See my post here:

https://www.4runners.com/threads/trd-pro-some-general-questions-and-fox-shock.31646/#post-451574

I’ve almost got it all level. Last piece is a Dobinsons 16mm rear spacer and it should be dialed.

You may want to set your 5100’s even on both sides. Get the Treaty Oak rear spacers, and I run the KDSS sway bar adapters up front without the front treaty oak slacer.

I didn’t do a diff drop, but I did do an ECGS bushing to replace the needle bearing that will fail.

 

I wouldn't bother with the diff drop.

The spacers mentioned by @BortisYeltzen are a good idea.

I don't recommend opening the valves at all, unless it's absolutely necessary.

FWIW, you might not want to make it completely level, because you could end up with a squat when loaded or towing. I went with the 2.3 or 2.4 in setting in front, and 1.5 in heavy load springs in the rear, and this maintained a slight rake.

 

I have gone through 3 suspension lifts on my 2016 Trail Premium with KDSS (which became ORP in later model years). One installed by a shop and two done by myself. I had never worked on cars prior to the first suspension I installed myself on my 4Runner

I am no expert and just sharing my experiences of what has worked.

Most recent was last month installing Kings with about 2-2.5in for both the front and rear.

Before that was a 2/1 lift with Dobinsons IMS installed in 2020, and before that I leveled the 4Runner with Bilstein 6112/5160 installed in 2017.

I agree with @Thatbassguy about having some rake for payloads.

With the 1st time I did it myself I opened the shutter valves (no more than 2 turns), dropped the LCAs, and detached the front KDSS sway bar. It was a pain to reconnect the sway bar on the passenger side but finally got it connected. The rear I also detached the panhard rear kdss swaybar.

For the most recent last month, I didn’t touch the shutter valves and it did not feel that much more difficult than previous time when I did. Having 2 floor jacks is very helpful as you need to jack up the kdss hydraulic cylinder to get clearance to remove passenger side shocks.

This last time I just detached the UCAs and left the LCAs alone. I had less change to my alignment that way. I probably prefer dropping the LCAs but recommend marking the cam bolts so you can get close back to alignment to drive to shop for proper alignment. I did NOT detach the front KDSS sway bar this time around and found no issues.

In the rear, I detached the panhard and the KDSS sway bar. I also installed the rear KDSS spacers this time around and agree with @BortisYeltzen. These are a must. Ironically, the hardest part was getting the nuts on top of the rear shock top hat started.

Both times I did it, it took me a weekend to complete. I am a newbie wrencher still so I am sure more experienced will get it done in 1-day at home.

Supplies to have on hand from my challenges - spare cotter pins (UCAs), KDSS bolts (easily cross-threaded and I mangled one on the rear when reconnecting the sway bar), 2x4 block for floor jack (you will need the extra reach when compressing the KDSS cylinder to creat space passenger shock install)

 

You should be an expert on this by now! Interesting to hear the different methods. I chose disconnecting the front KDSS sway bar at the LCAs so I could do the ‘no spring compressor method’ of swapping springs onto Eibach shocks by lowering then raising the LCA with a floor jack. It wasn’t too hard to reconnect the sway bar. What I did did not involve the rear other than swapping shocks.

 

Ha! Fair enough! I am definitely not scared to do it again. Next time I will rent a lift and cut the time even more.

Once I figured out I just needed a punch to get the passenger sway bar connected it was easy. I was just afraid I was breaking something as a first timer at that time.

interesting what you did. May need that if I get the hybrid bumper (as I will need to swap springs).

 

one bit of advice is to start and finish at the drivers side if you’re manipulating the kdss sway bar esp if youre unbolting from the LCA.

avoid trying to trim level using any sort of spacer or packer at the spring to correct lean. spacers at the rear spring work great for static sway bars but the dynamic nature of kdss will usually work any lean out if you do mild off roading or drive the truck around a bit under 12mph.

 

I’m tinkering with driving around and off-roading/flexing the suspension to see if I can get the last 0.75” of rear end lean out. I’ve got everything within 0.5” now which I’m happy with, but the driver rear seems to constantly want to be 1” taller. I was going to put a spacer there the even it out but I’ll see if KDSS levels itself out with some slow speed flexing first.

 

great point about starting at drivers side!

To add to it, remove front driver side, remove front passenger side, install front driver side, and finally install front passenger side. Repeat same sequence for the rear.

I was certainly confused about spacers for KDSS when I did it first and didn’t realize there were different types (and assumed any rear spacer was bad). Agree that trim spacers that attach to shock or spring isn’t needed. BlackGate KDSS rear spacers, or similar, at the rear sway bar were strongly recommended as a must to get the sway bar into stock orientation and away from contacting the panhard bar. It changes (in a good way) how the backend feels.

 

really good point about not leveling- thank you.

 

any help is appreciated. I lifted 2.5" and want to level out the lean on the driver's side. Is it just the rear spring that gets the spacer?

 

a couple of off road sessions or driving up and down a few driveways usually help level things out on KDSS 4Rs.

 

Appreciate your insight. So use the driver's side rear spacer or not?

 

Consider my build results in your decision as well, goodluck:

-3" lift with 5100's
-light load 2884 OME springs in the front, medium 158506 ICON coils in the rear
-no spacers for lean. Not much lean at all;
After lift. Centre of wheel to fender:
FD: 22"
FP: 22-1/4"
RD: 23-1/2"
RP: 23-3/4"

 

those are great numbers! Did you open the kdss valves to reset it after the lift and alignment?

 

How did you fix the lean? Spacer work well?

 

I haven't personally touched the valves ever, maybe my local shop has?

And buddy said his driver side is an inch higher, I think he means passenger

 

no spacer at all. no kdss valve opening. just do some off roading or crawl diagonally over some curbs a few times.