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Hey, guys. It's Sara with extremeterrain.com, and today we have a review and install of the Rough Country 2-inch Leveling Kit, fitting your '05 and newer six-lug Toyota Tacomas. This will work well for Tacoma owners who want a budget-friendly leveling solution, to even out their factory rake, and make some more room for wheels and tires. This kit provides 2 inches of front lift, reducing your factory rake, and giving your truck a more level appearance, while maintaining a stock ride quality.These spacers feature a billet aluminum construction with a red anodized finish. They also come in a raw billet aluminum finish for the same price, and include all mounting hardware. So, these spacers themselves measure in at about an inch, and you'll get the rest of your lift in the front end by the change in suspension geometry when you install these spacers. So, the manufacturer recommends a 31-inch tire with this kit. We installed some 33s just to let you see what they look like and where they might rub. And sure enough, they did rub in several spots, so it's safe to say a 31 is a much better bet.So, as far as price goes, this kit comes in at around $100, making it one of the most budget-friendly ways to level out your Tacoma and get some more room for wheels and tires. And as far as the install goes, I'm giving this one a three out of three wrenches on the difficulty meter. It does feature a direct bolt-up install, with no modification required, and can be done in approximately four hours. So with that said, let's get into our install.For this install, you will need a rubber mallet and a hammer, a pry bar, a cutoff wheel or grinding tool, needle nose pliers, a flathead screwdriver, 14, 15, and 19-millimeter wrenches, 19, 17, 15, 14, 12, and 10-millimeter sockets. You may want a swivel extension and an impact gun or a ratchet, as well as some eye protection.All right, so the first step in our install. We're gonna grab a needle nose pliers and we're gonna remove the cotter pin that goes through the castle nut that holds on your outer tire rod. You can turn the whole hub assembly if you need to. Make sure you bend it straight and then grab it with the needle nose pliers and wiggle it out. Now you're gonna take a 19-millimeter socket and remove this castle nut.So, the next thing we're gonna do is take a hammer and we're gonna hammer this part of the knuckle to release this ball joint out. In order to protect the threads, we're gonna put the castle nut on a few threads up top here. Just in case we miss with our hammer, we're not gonna mess up the threads. We have the knuckle turned all the way out so that we can have some more room to hit the side here. So what you're gonna do is just aim for right here, and go ahead and hit it. And you'll see it release, and then you can remove your castle nut.All right, this next step is optional. Just to give our brake line a little bit more room, we're gonna disconnect three bolts, this one, this one, and also one up here as well, just to give the lines a little bit more room when the knuckle comes forward. Grab a 12-millimeter socket and remove these two bolts.Once the bracket is off, you can thread back in your bolt just so you don't lose it.Moving on to the next one.And finally, a 10-millimeter bolt on top of your control arm.All right, so next up, we're gonna disconnect the sway bar end link from the knuckle up top here. Now, there are several options with this. You can use a 17-millimeter socket on a gun, and it should come off. However, if it does spin on the other side, you're gonna need to use a wrench with an Allen key, to hold it so it doesn't spin. We're gonna start with the gun first and get it off.Now you can remove the end link out of the knuckle. All right, now you need to repeat that process on the other side to remove the end link on your passenger side. Once both end links are removed, we're gonna remove the skid plate so that we can remove our sway bar. Grab a 12-millimeter socket and remove the four bolts that are holding on your skid plate.Now, the front is held on by two hooks, but it is still important to keep a hand on it or support it somehow as you're taking the bolts out. Once all the bolts are out, grab it and slide it over the hooks. Now that we have access to the sway bar bolts, we're gonna remove them with a 14-millimeter socket.Now we're gonna repeat that on the other side. Make sure you keep a hand on it, or grab a friend, to make sure that it doesn't drop.Now you can tilt the sway bar and slide it forward, so that leaves us room to remove the strut. Now we're moving on to the upper ball joint. First, we need to release the cotter pin that's holding on the castle nut for your upper ball joint. Grab a set of needle nose pliers and remove it. At this point, we can remove the castle nut. We're gonna use a 19-millimeter socket with a swivel extension, and we're also gonna put a pry bar on top of the upper control arm, to control it as it releases.We're putting the castle nut back on to protect the threads because we're gonna need to hit the top of the knuckle in order to release it from the control arm. We're gonna aim for this spot on the knuckle in order to release the ball joint. Go ahead and give it a couple hits with a hammer.Once it's released, you'll wanna grab your pry bar at this point again, in order to pry down. Remove the castle nut, and release it from the knuckle. At this point, you're gonna grab a 14-millimeter wrench to remove the nuts on the top of your strut.Moving on to the back nut. That's when it might be a little bit hard to see because it's all the way behind your strut. Remove this one as well.And finally, the nut on the front side as well.Finally, we're gonna use a 19-millimeter socket and a 19-millimeter wrench to remove the bolt in the bottom of your strut.Now, if your bolt doesn't wanna come out easily, you can grab a rubber mallet and tap it out from the other side.You can also use a punch or a screwdriver to tap it all the way through.At this point, with everything out of the way, you can remove the strut off the truck.All right, so at this point, we're gonna install the spacer. Now, once it's installed, you'll notice the studs stick out past the end of the spacer, and we can't have this. We need a flush surface. So what we're gonna do is take a grinder or a cutoff wheel, and we're just gonna take the very tip of each stud off before the threads start. If you're worried about nicking the threads, you can thread a nut on there and do this work with the nut on, and then pull it off after you're done. So what we're gonna do is just eyeball where this was. It's just the very end here. Take our cutoff wheel, and we're gonna take the very end off.Now that we've made our cuts, you can double check that you've taken enough off. Now, if you need to clean any of these up or take a bit more off, you can use a grinder at this point.Now that we're all done, we can slide the spacer back on, and just double check that we took enough off.All right, at this point, you can install your nuts. Now, if you are worried about the raw metal on the end of this stud rusting, you can always put a little bit of paint on there before you install the spacer of course, just to ensure that it doesn't rust.Now, what we're gonna do is take a 14-millimeter socket and tighten them down.All right. At this point, we're gonna reinstall the strut. Now, it's important to note it's 180 degrees out of the way it was factory. Make sure you're lining up two studs on the front. Those will be the studs of your spacer.For now, we're gonna loosely install the nuts on the top of the strut. This will hold it in place while we install the bolt at the bottom.All right, we're prying down on the lower control arm in order to line this up. You may need a friend for this step, just to make it a little bit easier. And by prying down, we can also line up the bolts and slide it into place. If it doesn't go all the way in, you can also tap it in with your mallet.Thread your nut on the other side.At this point, grab a 19-millimeter socket and a 19-millimeter wrench, and tighten it down. All right, at this point, we're gonna grab a 15-millimeter ratcheting wrench and tighten up the nuts on top of your strut.All right, at this point, we've jacked up from underneath the knuckle, to be able to bring it up close to our control arm. Grab your pry bar. We're gonna pry underneath, to pry it down into the top of the knuckle. Once you have some threads exposed, go ahead and thread your factory nut on. Grab your 19-millimeter socket, and tighten it down.Make sure the castle nut stops in an area where there's an opening to reinstall your factory cotter pin.All right, at this point, we're gonna reinstall all of the brackets that hold on our ABS and brake line. We're starting with the line that's on top of your control arm. Go ahead and thread your bolt back in. Grab your 10-millimeter socket and tighten it down. Moving on to the line for your brake line, that's right below it. Line up your bracket, and reinstall your factory bolt. Grab a 12-millimeter socket and tighten it down. And finally, line up the line that's on your knuckle, thread your factory bolt through the bracket. Grab your 12-millimeter socket and tighten it down.Now we're gonna line up our outer tie rod with the end of our knuckle. Thread your castle nut over top of it. Grab a 19-millimeter socket and tighten it down. Now, at this point, we're gonna install a new cotter pin. If your old one is in good shape, you definitely can reinstall it, but I recommend while you're here to just replace it with a new one. Either way, make sure to bend the opposite side.All right, at this point, you're gonna wanna get the other side caught up so you're at the same part of the install on each side. Once you are, now we can reinstall the sway bar. We're gonna start with the brackets that hold it to the frame. Line up your sway bar, line up the bracket over top of it, and thread in your bolts.Now you can grab a 14-millimeter socket and tighten it down.Make sure your other side is lined up. If not, you may need to loosely install the bolts on each side before you tighten them down. Grab a 14-millimeter socket and tighten them down.At this point, we can install the skid plate. The first thing we're gonna do is hook it in each of the openings on either side of your frame. Once it's hooked in there, then you can press upwards and line up your bolts. Now you can install the bolts in the back side of your skid plate. Grab your 12-millimeter socket and tighten them down.And finally, we can reconnect the sway bar end link through the top of your knuckle. With a 17-millimeter socket, tighten down your nut. All right. Now this side is complete. Repeat those steps for your end link on the other side. When everything's all done, make sure it's torqued to spec, and you will want a professional alignment afterwards.But that's gonna do it for the review and install of this leveling kit, and remember, for all things Tacoma, keep it at extremeterrain.com.
Delivers Stable and Level Stance. The Tacoma has a nose-down rake at its stock height. With the anodized red Rough Country 2 inch Leveling Kit, you can improve the look of the truck by leveling the front and rear ends. Additionally, this increases the front ground clearance and allows for installing up to 31-inch tires. Furthermore, this kit doesn’t change the ride quality for comfortable driving.
Extremely Durable Strut Extensions. The 2-inch Leveling Kit features a pair of heavy-duty, billet aluminum strut extension. In addition to their outstanding toughness and durability, they have a hard anodized red finish for style and flair.
Straightforward Installation. Installing this 2-inch Leveling Kit can be done at home with common garage tools. The process doesn’t require disassembling the strut and will take just a few hours to complete.
Backed by Rough Country Lifetime Replacement Warranty. This 2-inch Leveling Kit is warrantied against defects in materials or workmanship for the lifetime of the vehicle. The product must be installed and used in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions. Exclusions will apply.
Application. The Rough Country 2 inch Leveling Kit with an anodized red finish is designed to fit 2005 to 2023 6-Lug Toyota Tacoma models.
Extended Warranty. ExtremeTerrain/Turn5 Inc. is proud to offer an optional 12 month extended limited warranty to our customers that purchase an eligible product. The program administrator will replace the cost of the covered part of a period of 12 months after the manufacturers warranty elapses, or from the date of purchase if the manufacturer does not offer a warranty.
Coverage. A Covered Part has failed when it can no longer perform the function for which it was originally designed solely because of its condition and not because of the action or inaction of any non-covered parts. The benefits available under this Limited Warranty are strictly provided to you for the replacement of the Covered Part(s) which fails due to a defect.
Notification Sent Via Email. You will receive notification of your enrollment in the extended product warranty program via email within 24 hours of placing your order. Please save this email for possible future reference.
No Deductibles Required. There are no deductibles required for use of this extended product warranty. If your covered part fails within the extended warranty time frame, simply call the program administrator at 1-844-870-4881 for instructions before any repairs or replacements have begun. Additional contact details and instructions will be included in your confirmation email.
WARNING: Cancer and Reproductive Harm - 
