Hey all, I hope that this review is of help to some of you. I know I had a lot of questions about Pro Comp's 4" kit and now I have a couple of answers. I won't fill this post with pics of it installed, because people have already posted those. Instead, I will show some of the pieces pre-install. But let me know if you want a specific pic of anything.
Why waste money on a 4" kit?
I went with this kit for 2 reasons:
1) The truck had to remain under 7' of total height.
2) The steering geometry needed to remain as close to stock as possible
Criteria #2 ruled out just about every other option.
The difference is a lot less then you might think. Here is the front crossmember. The 4" is on the top and the 6" is on the bottom. The 4" is a 4" drop bracket whereas the 6" is a 4.5" drop bracket.
Here is the rear crossmember. Again the 4" is on the top and the 6" is on the bottom. Notice how the 6" one screws to the uncut section of the factory crossmember and has tabs for the compression struts. Despite only a .5" difference in drop, Pro Comp apparently determined that all of this was necessary to compensate for cutting the factory crossmember.
For further proof of the fact that the kits are not that different, check out the knuckles. Again 4" on the top, 6" on the bottom.
But one area where they do diverge quite a bit is in how the struts are dropped. The 4" is on the left and the 6" is on the right. The puck on both is 1 5/16" thick.
How does the 4" kit avoid cutting the crossmember?
This is the biggest question I had about this kit. Pro Comp works around it with two compromises. Compromise one is they don't quite drop the diff the full 4". The CV angles will increase by 5 degrees. The second compromise is the rear diff mount. Can you guess which of these is the 4" one? It's the one on the right. In other words they angle the diff down. Surprisingly the U-joint angle doesn't look that bad though.
How is the quality of everything?
I would give the kit a C+ for several reasons.
1) Its not the thickest metal I have ever seen used.
2) It has the 90s and earlier era bracketry hell thing going on. There are several pieces that could have been incorporated into the crossmembers.
3) The instructions suck, plain and simple. They have very few pictures. Some of the diagrams are reused from the 6" kit and incorrect.
4) Several parts have no part number label to identify them.
5) The powder coating has poor coverage in some areas, leading to flash rust already. You can sort of see it in this pic.
It is a serious pain in the ass. I did the rear of the kit and ran into a lot of corroded on parts, which isn't Pro Comp's fault but does make the install a witch. After that I gave it to my shop to do the front. This was their first time working on a Tundra. They normally take about 1.5-2 days to install a full lift. Installing the front kit took them a solid 3 days of pain and agony... and fire. They had to use a whole lot of heat and an air hammer to get the lower control arm bolts out. That was followed by a lot of wasted time figuring out the jigsaw of pieces that are poorly described in the install instructions.
Summary
Pros -Best steering geometry of what is available. Tie rods and control arms all stay at the factory angles.
-Good handling kit.
-Still fits in parking garages and car washes.
-Fits 35s without a problem.
-All grade 8 hardware.
-Excellent tech support when you do finally throw in the towel and call them for help.
-Steering stops are included. This is a pro because it will help save the steering rack. It actually feels soft now when it hits those versus the harsh whack I would get when I maxed it out before.
-The power loss of going to 35s isn't that bad with the factory 4.30 gears. Even when the wheel and tire package runs 110lbs a corner.
-You can actually get under the thing with a creeper without putting it on jack stands
-And of course, it just looks so damn awesome!
-Crappy instructions and poor labeling of parts.
-Subpar powder coating. The parts really need a shot of paint across the bare areas followed by coating everything with a layer of clear.
-The factory tie rods need to be cut down to work. Note, the 6" kit includes replacement tie rods.
-You do loose some turning radius with the included steering stops.
-Part of the rear lift is accomplished with AALs. I highly recommend that you skip those and put on a set of CB shackles like I did.
-The rear shocks are valved fairly stiff. Combine that with adding the puck to the strut and the whole truck has got from Caddy to bone jarring (although my E-rated tires don't help either). I will definitely be upgrading to some Fox shocks next spring.
-No skid plate option. I had a basic one fabbed up to protect everything.
-Not at all a cheap modification. The total bill was about $5,200 for the kit, install, fab work, shackles, wheels, tires, etc.
-And yes, it requires you to roll on dubs.
The final specs are 4" of front lift, 2" of rear lift, 35x12.5x20 DC Fun Country tires (the new ones), and 20x9 Ultra Mavericks with +30mm offset. Overall I am happy with my decision and I really like this setup. I think that it is perfect for a daily driver. Here is a pic of the final result.
A pic of it next to the backup vehicle.
And a pic of the basic skid plate that the shop added for me.
Posted by: vincevincekeelinowe0266581.blogspot.com
Source: https://www.tundratalk.net/threads/pro-comp-4-lift-review.197225/
