Yours just looks "short". You removed your Air Dam right?
Yes, removed the air dam. Your measurements are almost 1" higher than mine so I guess mine is just sitting lower. I have been next to a stock TRD Off Road and it is definitely higher than my TRD Sport.
IFS got a bad rap I think mostly because of the smaller 7.5 diff they used and IFS was released in the middle of the mega-lift 80's era
Agree with everything you said. I am looking forward to seeing how far I can go down this IFS rabbit hole