Who has had problems with spacer lifts?

widow, the entire ASSEMBLY of the front suspension is lengthened when you add a spacer. Assembly meaning the parts between where it attaches at each end.

 

I think the whole travel is the same vs 1.5 more is the fact that the shock travels the same, but that travel is now 1.5" lower than before due to the spacer up top.

 

I'd like to switch catagories Alex.
Let's go with "Why Fords suck" for $500.

 

Dude, "still waiting for an answer"....Ummm I went to sleep, can't write back when I'm asleep, or did you complete forget the fact I told you I live in cleveland ohio???? It was late here. As for the comment about "Im thinking you havent seen a top plate spacer on a Tacoma Spring/shock assembly, nor installed one." Do you even read what people write, or are you just so quick to respond back because your pissed that someone disagrees with you. Start reading this whole thread, from the top. You'll find in there a post where I said I had one on my 2000 tacoma with about 60k, and now my 2009 with about 14k miles on them. You had the same problem in the other thread, I'll list the link, so you can re-read that and so others can make their mind up for themselves.

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/sus...acer-lift.html
read #11 on. mainly #11, 13,15,35,36,37,38,39,41,42,43.

Now, to used your words..."I'm thinking you" don't know what your talking about when it comes to this issue; or that you have some other agenda when it comes to the spacers, because all you do is put them down and keep referenceing that same old pic about a broken shock, who by the way, said he broke it because he hit a deep hole hard enough to launch his truck in the air!

It.s simple, I totally disagree with you on the spacer issue. I think they are perfectly fine.

And to get back to the other issue...A SPACER DOES NOT LENGTHEN THE COIL OVER!!! all it does it push the coil over down lower on the frames mounting point!!! would YOU say that the coilover was lengthened if you cut and re-wedled the mounting point 1.5 inched lower on the frame and installed the stock coilover back in without the spacer???

 

Aww Snap!!!
Round two ding ding ding!!

 

EXACTLY MY POINT!!!! THANK YOU!!!

 

i mean there was nothin left to them internally. you could here all the stuff inside sloshing around in them and you were able to compress the shock with zero effort.

 

your best bet is to keep it stock...

coil spacers are good on road and for the slower 4x4 crawling type of stuff, but take them on anything faster paced and involving any amount of time off the ground, and you will run into issues...

driving style and terrain dictate the type of lift to go with...

 

Subbed to see where this goes...

 

Exactly Chris' point too. the 1.5" spacer allows for lift but also allows the suspension to travel 1.5" further down.

when you install a spacer you are changing the mounting point making the assembly "longer". the distance from the top of the top plate to the heim on the bottom of the shock is now longer than a stock assembly or a 5100.

instead of the travel being limited by the shock it is limited by the ball joints.

im not saying i dont like spacers, nor saying they are the best out there. I have done some crazy shit in my tacoma with no issues.

FWIW i tightened my upper ball joint on my spacer install before putting the lower bolt in my shock. I used a pipe in the lca to line up the bolt hole so i am not actually convinced the shock is longer than the CA travel

 

Ok, first let me say that I am not yelling when I use capital letters or colours, or bold lettering or anything like that. I am just useing them as tools to better expalin what it is I'm trying to explain. It's hard when your typing.

Ok, so to respond to this comment and hopefully clear up any missunderstanding that I am try to explain...

Chriss you said "Now...Being as its pushing down 1.5" more, its pushing down more than what the suspension was designed to move." It is not being pushed down 1.5 inch more then it was designed to. It still will only extend to it's maximun "droop". Compare a stock truck sitting on the ground,...now pick the truck up, either a lift or a jack. The suspention extends and look at the angle of the 'droop" in both the upper and lower control arm. Now do the same thing with a truck with a spacer lift and one with an extendable coilover. The angle of the upper control arms will be the same on all three, and so will the angle of the lower control arms on all three. So it is not being push down 1.5 inches more. NOW, if you want to say there is more force pushing down on the lower control arm when a spacer is being used, that would be correct! Because there is more compression on the spring when the truck is in the air because of the spacer. HOWEVER, once the truck is lower back to the ground, the compression on the spring is the same...spacer or no spacer because the truck weight has not changed.

Now as far as the rest of the comment, THIS IS WHERE MY DISAGRREMENT REVOLVES AROUND. Your possition is that spacers are more damageing (or at least have the potental to be more damageing) then replacement coilovers that are adjustable. My possition is that THEY ARE THE SAME. Let me explain...
.....1) The factory top mounting point is fixxed to the frame, it does not move.
.....2) The upper control arm extends out from the frame twards the wheel, then the ball joint (and rod/shaft) extend down to the hub and attach.
.....3) The lower control arm extands out from the frame twards the wheel, then attaches to the hub.
.....4) When the lower contol arm lowers, so does the upper arm; and when on rises, so does the other.
.....5) So if you add a spacer to the top of the factory coilover, you increase the distance between the top factory mount and the lower control arm. AND THE SAME HAPPENS when you put in an adjustable coilover. That is the purpose of the adjustable coilover...to spin the spanner nut causing the shock to extand further out of the spring, causing more distance between the factory top mount and lower control arm.
.....6) When you add a spacer to the top of the factory coilover, there will be extra force applyed to the lower control arm WHEN THE TRUCK IS IN THE AIR but not when it is sitting on the ground...BECAUSE the weight of the truck has not changed and therefor the downward force on the suspenion can not change. THE EXACT SAME THING HAPPENS when you use an adjustable coilover and extend it out (lifting the truck). In the case of the spacer, you are "SHORTENING" the distance between the factory top mount and the lower control arm mount when the truck is in the air; which is saying your putting a preload on the spring. In the case of the adjustable coilover, the distace between the factory top plate and the lower control arm is still the same factory distance, but when you unscrew the spaner nut, you lengthen the shock out of the spring causing compression on the spring, which inturn is the same as preloading the spring.
.....7) So, in both cases, spacer or adjustable coilovers (with them extended out to lift the truck) there is a preload added to the spring, which is only measuuable when the truck is in the air.

So that is what I'm trying to say...there is NO difference between a spacer versus an adjustable coilover.

You are saying there is, that the adjustable coilover is less stressfull on the control arms and ball joints. But that's not true. I'm saying is there is no difference, they both stress the same parts the same. And that picture with the broken shock, I find hard to believe that it broke when the spring de-compressed because the force that the spring de-compresses at, is LESS then what it takes to commpress the spring...if it was the other way around, our trucks would be sitting on suspention that is totally collapsed just from the weight of our truck. Think about this...that shock feels more stress when the truck is standing still with the weight of the truck on it, then it feels when the truck is in the aid and the spring is allowed to extend more then when weight is on it.

What I believe happened, and makes more sence, it that the shock broke on impact, either the first hit on the pothole "wall" (most likely explination, concidering only one shock broke), or possiblely when he was landing from the "air" he got from the pothole. But I don't believe that it broke from 'leaveing the ground" and the spring tryied to open up but got stopped because the lower control arm could not bend down any more.

And not to mention, even YOYTODA said in this thread, comment # 54 "FWIW i tightened my upper ball joint on my spacer install before putting the lower bolt in my shock. I used a pipe in the lca to line up the bolt hole so i am not actually convinced the shock is longer than the CA travel " Which means that there is not any real stress added to the control arms when the truck is in the air.

 

you dont need all this fancy math and science to figure out that spacers suck...

just go over a few speed bumps in a truck that has them...

 

6) When you add a spacer to the top of the factory coilover, there will be extra force applyed to the lower control arm WHEN THE TRUCK IS IN THE AIR but not when it is sitting on the ground

^^^ this. spacers do not potentially "hurt" the suspension when there is weight on them. with certain spacer, when you go full down travel (because of the spacer) there is still down pressure on the ucas.

stock legnth shocks are what limits the down travel. with a spacer, that 2" extra down travel caused by changing the mount position makes it so the shock is no longer what stops the down travel. with an adjustable coilover they are the same length as stock with more spring preload. this whole longer, not its not, yes it is...is a stupid argument.

Ireally dont see how you cant understand it makes the assembly longer... by changing the mounting you are essentially making it longer...

truthfully, spacrs and adjustable coilovers are not the same.

 

y'all just gave me a headache...

a basic 6" shock is typically 12" collapsed and 18" extended from upper shock mount to lower shock mount...

with a 3" pre-load spring spacer, the shock still remains 18" extended as the spacer is within the shock assembly but you effectively lose about 2.5"+ of downtravel since the shock shaft is pulled out to compensate for the lift...

with a 3" top mount spacer, the shock still remains 18" extended, but with the extra 3" attached to the top of the entire shock assembly, the overall extended length of the shock from top mount to lower mount is now closer to 21"

an adjustable coilover is typically 12 to 13" collapsed and 18 to 19" extended...

in the graphic below, you can see a significant distance in shock assembly lengths between a 5100, stock shock with a pre load spacer, and the stock shock with a top mount spacer...



all math aside though, the top mount spacers work for the vast majority of folks whose trucks stay on concrete most of the time...

 

^ your up early for the battle Chris... haha