OEM vehicle mods are great. First, they’re usually covered under a warranty (although read the fine print like “as long as it’s dealer installed). You also don’t have to worry about the risk of voiding your vehicle warranty. Plus, you can get them installed at a dealer, which again, helps with the warranty. And with the recent explosion of enthusiast vehicles coming to market, automakers have been giving those customers a way to get exactly what they want. Such as Toyota, who’s typically great with mod availability, and just dropped a new lift kit from TRD for the recently redesigned Tundra.
The lift kit, developed by TRD, is unique in that Toyota says it was engineered to work in conjunction with Toyota’s safety suite: Toyota Safety Sense. Without the development, the system could get confused with the higher center of gravity.
The lift kit has everything you would expect it to need, like red coil springs tuned by TRD, Bilstein monotube shocks, and upper control arms sourced from Roush Performance out of Detroit. In all, there are 11 unique parts in the kit:
Bilstein front & rear shocks
Taller front coil springs
Roush forged upper control arms
Front lower knuckles
Front stabilizer links
Front outer tie rods
Front tie rod sleeves
Front extended drive shafts
Front bump stops
Extended brake flex hoses
Rear spring spacers
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Together, the kit raises the Tundra 2.6 inches (but Toyota likes to call it a three-inch lift, for marketing). This is a two-inch lift, with leveling. If that’s not that impressive enough — the kit also helps with off-road performance. The Tundra’s approach and departure angles increase, with the approach angle increasing five degrees from 21.0 to 26.0; the departure angle increasing just one degree from 24.0 to 25.0.
If you’ve got a 2022 model year or newer Tundra, and want to lift it, you can contact your local Toyota dealer, as that’s the only place the kit can be installed. Excluding installation and labor, the kit costs $3,995 and comes with a 3-year/36,000-mile warranty. But that warranty only applies if the kit is installed before or at the time of the sale of the vehicle. If you purchase the kit after you purchased your new Tundra, the warranty coverage drops to just 12 months.
But wait. The kit isn’t available on every 2022 or newer Tundra model. It’s only available for those models with the iForce or iForce-Max engines, four-wheel drive, and the 5.5 or 6.5-foot beds. That means no TRD Pro, TRD Sport, or Tundras that come equipped with the optional Adaptive Variable Suspension or air suspension setups.