Anyone have a 3" lift on their truck?

[DonC]

I just found a 2006 Tundra with 60k miles. Original owner, looks beautiful. But... it has a 3"lift. I don't know anything about these things, prefer stock, so am wondering what this lift might mean for performance, stability on mild off-road, mpg.

The owner describes it like this in an email:
"It is a 3" suspension lift sold by Fat Bob's Garage. It is a very simple lift to install and remove. I put it in myself (I was a mechanic for 8 years) without a lift and using hand tools in about 2 hours total. There are spacers attached to the top of the front struts and spacer blocks between the rear axle and leaf spring. It would take about 2 hours to remove. However, you should really see the truck before writing off the lift. It is a very mild lift, and is actually more of a leveling kit. The truck looks much better with it installed and it handles and drives just the same.

What do you all think?

Buy it and leave as is, or remove?
Or walk and keep looking for another truck?

 

[SunMan]

Don,
I put a 1.5" leveling kit in the front and a 2" block in the rear of my 06 DC and I did not notice any difference stability or steering wise. I did this to accommodate 285 series tires which did affect my gas milage by about 7%. I'm guessing that if the truck you are looking at has a 3" lift it also has oversized tires so that is something to consider if you plan to replace them.

I think the seller is correct about removing the lift being a fairly easy process (and you could probably turn around and sell it for a few hundred on Craigslist). I'm far from being a serious offroader but have been very happy with the extra clearance the lift has afforded me in certain situations. I guess it all depends on how you plan to use the truck.

 

[pods8]

Lifts in general will cause extra stress on components to an extent. I'm not overly familiar with the tundra specifically but a 2-3" lift is pretty mild usually and I wouldn't be overly concerned by it. As mentioned I'd be more interested to know what tires it was running, if the previous owner stuffed the biggest/widest tire possible on there then that'll add extra wear on the steering etc.

So my $.02 is check it out and see if you like the truck in general and get a feel for the condition, I wouldn't be worried about it being difficult to remove the kit if you didn't want it.