[Bubba Wolf]

Hey all -

After scouring the forum, there seems to be some conflicting information around the Jsport lift kit. Hopefully someone who has it installed could chime in here:

1. My local Honda dealership partners with Jsport, and does the installation themselves. The advisor confirmed that the lift kit will not affect the manufacturers warranty, which directly goes against everything I’ve researched.
2. The standard Jsport left is 1.5 in the front, .75 in the back. It seems this is to support the factory rake, but I can’t seem to find the impact to actual ground clearance. I’m hoping a 1.5 lift will get me closer to stock 4Runner height, but would like to confirm before pulling the trigger.

Thanks!

 

[Cilles]

I have that lift, got a bit of lift as I can fit my 255/60 R18 112S (rating) M+S which are 30" tires (roughly) and I don't think they would have fit without rubbing before the lift. That said the Traxa lift (3"?) is much more noticeable.

 

[REALM]

If you buy the lift from your dealer, that dealer will "most likely" fully honor the warranty, other dealers would be a toss up.
Having lifted over 8 vehicles however, I've only once had a dealer deny warranty due to the lift, and that was 100% an issue that was caused from the lift itself, where a hose was too short and stretched and pulled off a Toyota Tacoma. They were awesome and fixed it with a longer hose on my dime. No one else has ever asked about the lift or tried to deny anything due to the lifts I've had. "Most" dealers don't care from my experience.

As for the lift amount, I have the Traxda 1.5" front and 3.0" kit in rear, which comes to an actual 1.5" lift front and back.
Based on my research (and experience), you aren't likely to get the factory rake with 1.5" front and .75" rear, but you'll most likely come out with it the opposite, and nose high.

I say that as the first lift I did was Traxda 1.5" lift in front, and Traxda 1.5" lift in rear (which is really a .75" spacer), and I ended up nose high. It was annoying as I can't stand that nose high look, so I spent the money and replaced the rear .75" spacer with a 1.5" spacer set in rear (that Traxda calls their 3.0" rear lift kit), and I ended up with the 1.5" lift in rear I was looking for.
As it stands now (with 1.5"/3.0" kits) my rear is about 0.3" higher in back than front.

In summary...
Lift manufacturers don't all rate their lift inches the same. Some rate for the size of the spacer, others for the amount of lift they think you'll get from the spacer.
With the Passport you'll likely get a lift equal to the amount of the actual spacer size.

 

[ScopeTS]

Curious about this too as I’m looking to buy a lift. Wanting to keep the rake same as factory so when it’s loaded it sits level-ish. Was looking at the Jsport kit as well. Unfortunately not too many choices as of today. Seems like everyone is reusing Ridgeline lifts which have a different lift increase based on the spacer

 

[Bubba Wolf]

I have that lift, got a bit of lift as I can fit my 255/60 R18 112S (rating) M+S which are 30" tires (roughly) and I don't think they would have fit without rubbing before the lift. That said the Traxa lift (3"?) is much more noticeable.

Thanks Cilles, have you noticed the Passport being nose-high after the lift? I’d rather go with the Jsport just for reliability sake, however it makes no sense that a shorter rear lift would keep the factory rake 🤦‍♂️

 

[Bubba Wolf]

If you buy the lift from your dealer, that dealer will "most likely" fully honor the warranty, other dealers would be a toss up.
Having lifted over 8 vehicles however, I've only once had a dealer deny warranty due to the lift, and that was 100% an issue that was caused from the lift itself, where a hose was too short and stretched and pulled off a Toyota Tacoma. They were awesome and fixed it with a longer hose on my dime. No one else has ever asked about the lift or tried to deny anything due to the lifts I've had. "Most" dealers don't care from my experience.

As for the lift amount, I have the Traxda 1.5" front and 3.0" kit in rear, which comes to an actual 1.5" lift front and back.
Based on my research (and experience), you aren't likely to get the factory rake with 1.5" front and .75" rear, but you'll most likely come out with it the opposite, and nose high.

I say that as the first lift I did was Traxda 1.5" lift in front, and Traxda 1.5" lift in rear (which is really a .75" spacer), and I ended up nose high. It was annoying as I can't stand that nose high look, so I spent the money and replaced the rear .75" spacer with a 1.5" spacer set in rear (that Traxda calls their 3.0" rear lift kit), and I ended up with the 1.5" lift in rear I was looking for.
As it stands now (with 1.5"/3.0" kits) my rear is about 0.3" higher in back than front.

In summary...
Lift manufacturers don't all rate their lift inches the same. Some rate for the size of the spacer, others for the amount of lift they think you'll get from the spacer.
With the Passport you'll likely get a lift equal to the amount of the actual spacer size.

This is a huge help!! Thanks Realm, your posts have been monumentally influential in my decision to go down to 17 inch wheels. I’m taking the passport in today for unrelated reasons (metal clanging under the car while driving over washboards & an extremely annoying rattle in the dash), so I’ll find out more info when I’m there. I have a feeling the dealership will want a small fortune for the install, so my best bet might be to find an independent shop & go for the Traxda lift, especially since I need my No-Lo skid plates installed anyways.

With your current setup, are you seeing an actual 1.5 inch increase in ground clearance? This would get me into 4Runner territory @ around 10 inches, and would greatly help navigating over small obstacles.

 

[DSN46]

If you buy the lift from your dealer, that dealer will "most likely" fully honor the warranty, other dealers would be a toss up.
Having lifted over 8 vehicles however, I've only once had a dealer deny warranty due to the lift, and that was 100% an issue that was caused from the lift itself, where a hose was too short and stretched and pulled off a Toyota Tacoma. They were awesome and fixed it with a longer hose on my dime. No one else has ever asked about the lift or tried to deny anything due to the lifts I've had. "Most" dealers don't care from my experience.

As for the lift amount, I have the Traxda 1.5" front and 3.0" kit in rear, which comes to an actual 1.5" lift front and back.
Based on my research (and experience), you aren't likely to get the factory rake with 1.5" front and .75" rear, but you'll most likely come out with it the opposite, and nose high.

I say that as the first lift I did was Traxda 1.5" lift in front, and Traxda 1.5" lift in rear (which is really a .75" spacer), and I ended up nose high. It was annoying as I can't stand that nose high look, so I spent the money and replaced the rear .75" spacer with a 1.5" spacer set in rear (that Traxda calls their 3.0" rear lift kit), and I ended up with the 1.5" lift in rear I was looking for.
As it stands now (with 1.5"/3.0" kits) my rear is about 0.3" higher in back than front.

In summary...
Lift manufacturers don't all rate their lift inches the same. Some rate for the size of the spacer, others for the amount of lift they think you'll get from the spacer.
With the Passport you'll likely get a lift equal to the amount of the actual spacer size.

@REALM
Quick question for you. I have the 2" Traxda lift and am about 0.5 inch higher in the front. Not that noticeable at first.... until you notice it... now it drives me crazy. Were you able to just call Traxda and get them to sell you the rear spacers from the 3.0 Inch kit by themselves? I'm looking to do what you did to get a small rake back into the Passport. I may be PMing you soon to ask about swapping the rear spacers if you don't mind. To the OP of this thread, I'm sorry for hijacking, but maybe someone else might want to know also.

 

[REALM]

@Bubba Wolf … I haven’t actually measured the ground clearance under the vehicle, but more so the height of ground to top of the wheel well is where I’ve been measuring, but my best guess off that is yes.

 

[REALM]

@DSN46 … here’s what I did… and it looks like they may have changed some of the parts on their site and what I have is now actually not 3” rear, but 2.5” of kits in their terms (which gave me about 1.5” of lift in the rear), so I’ll have to change my signature from 3.0” rear.

So confusing I know, but…

What I did was combined their 2” kit #202038 with their 0.5” kit #202035, and stacked them on top of each other as I called Traxda and they said that would work. The 3.5”/3.0” kit I don’t believe was quite out when I fixed mine, or else would have called about the rear 3” spacer they now have to see if that would work or not.

Hopefully that makes sense… it cost me more out of pocket, but was worth it to me.

 

[ScopeTS]

Called Jsport and they said it would retain the factory rake. Wish these companies would stop recycling parts and make sure they are true to advertising

 

[REALM]

I agree it’s difficult to figure out and a pain. Looking at the Jsport rear spacers I’d be curious on how thick they are, as they “look” like they’re maybe an inch thick, whereas their front spacers you can tell are way thicker. That makes me think they went with the Traxda calculation betting a .75” spacer would give 1.5” of lift like on some other vehicles, and would therefore end up nose high, so I’ll be curious to see what you get and how thick the rear really is.

The official Jsport lift pictures they put out, most of them have it looking nose high like the above, BUT here it obviously has a lot of weight on it with the rooftop tent, and it may even have a rear tire carrier on it, which is going to weigh it down a lot and make it more squatty. So perhaps with that stuff off it indeed gets the factory rake, but there’s only one way to tell for 100% certain unfortunately.

For me it meant shelling out $$ for a lift twice, sigh, so will cross my fingers you get success right out the gate on one try.

 

[DSN46]

@DSN46 … here’s what I did… and it looks like they may have changed some of the parts on their site and what I have is now actually not 3” rear, but 2.5” of kits in their terms (which gave me about 1.5” of lift in the rear), so I’ll have to change my signature from 3.0” rear.

So confusing I know, but…

What I did was combined their 2” kit #202038 with their 0.5” kit #202035, and stacked them on top of each other as I called Traxda and they said that would work. The 3.5”/3.0” kit I don’t believe was quite out when I fixed mine, or else would have called about the rear 3” spacer they now have to see if that would work or not.

Hopefully that makes sense… it cost me more out of pocket, but was worth it to me.

@REALM Thank you for your response! I will just have to call them and see what they "think" will happen if I swap their 3" kit rear spacer. This is frustrating for sure.

 

[Bubba Wolf]

Called Jsport and they said it would retain the factory rake. Wish these companies would stop recycling parts and make sure they are true to advertising

Same. Honda wants between $1,500-$2k for parts + install. Their justification is that having Honda install it keeps the CPO warranty completely in tact…hard to make a decision with so much misinformation swirling around. I just want to be able to take the Passport on modest, mostly graded trails 🤦‍♂️

 

[Bubba Wolf]

@REALM Thank you for your response! I will just have to call them and see what they "think" will happen if I swap their 3" kit rear spacer. This is frustrating for sure.

Can you let us know their response?

 

[DSN46]

Can you let us know their response?

Will do!

 

[Bubba Wolf]

I have that lift, got a bit of lift as I can fit my 255/60 R18 112S (rating) M+S which are 30" tires (roughly) and I don't think they would have fit without rubbing before the lift. That said the Traxa lift (3"?) is much more noticeable.

Hey Cilles, have you measured your clearance? Would love to know how much the .75 rear spacer actually lifts it up.

 

[PNWGarageDad]

When it comes to mods and warranty , if you have a stellar relationship with your service depart ie, they do ALL of the maintenance, then you are good, but for a diy'er, its rolling the dice.

 

[DSN46]

@Bubba Wolf I spoke with the owner of Traxda, Greg, and he said is going to take care of me. I explained what was happening with the 1/2" lower in the rear problem and he said since I've purchased from them before, he would make me some spacers and ship them to me that would level it out or give a little bit of rake back to the Passport. For free... Great guy and good customer service. I will let you know what he ends up sending to me.

 

[REALM]

@DSN46 … awesome, and agree Greg and the entire Traxda team have been excellent. When you get the spacers can you please measure the thickness of the spacer before install, and then let us know before/after lift difference? That will give us a great ratio check on how much lift to expect from that size.

 

[DSN46]

@DSN46 … awesome, and agree Greg and the entire Traxda team have been excellent. When you get the spacers can you please measure the thickness of the spacer before install, and then let us know before/after lift difference? That will give us a great ratio check on how much lift to expect from that size.

I will definitely measure the current spacers against whatever Greg sends to me and let you know what each measurement is.