2” Spacer Lift vs 5100 the truth

This post is 5100 vs the 2” Lift spacer (1” thick top hat spacer which lifts Tacoma’s 2” actual lift) and if u not jumping, catching air wit ur Tacoma imho 2” spacer lift is cheap an get the job done both 2wd n 4x4! Here it goes, u be the judge n wat u think. The facts!!! Myth buster
2020 Tacoma sr 4x4 stock suspension measurement with 265/75/16 ko2 ground to fender, Spring at ride height and full droop. spacer lift on stock hitachi shocks No spring at full compress Till bump stop. As u can see at full compressed u will not bottom out shocks as wat a lot of pics on here showing shocks being bent. I don’t have pic at full droop but at full droop theres no axle binding While spinning the hub. But u always can add diff drop to b safe..They say u over extend the ball joints but with this 2” spacer lift (1” thick) its the same as 5100 which 5100 is about 1” longer than stock plus for taco lean another 1/4” u do the math.
These next pics is 2nd gen 5100 On 3rd gen Tacoma set at 1.75” spring at ride Height same as stock So idk when they say when u Preload the spring gives stiffer ride? Its the same. If it was set at 2.5” it mayb a stiffer ride but not caused by the spring preload it is caused by the shock piston moving closer to the max full droop so when ur tire goes in a deep pot hole it will pull the truck down Cause the piston is that closer to the Max full droop. Same when use lift springs, u put on 2.5” lift springs ,5100 Set at zero the piston will end up the same place ,as setting the 5100 at 2.5” notch with stock springs. Or u use 3” lift springs it will move the piston way more closer to max extend on the 5100. Look at my stock ground to fender measurements 36” at ride height and 40” full droop just when tires get off the ground. 4” of down travel
Now with the 5100 set at 1.75” measured left n right no taco lean spacer completely same on both sides and since its a 2nd 5100 I have a lil bit more down travel.
So now u compare with stock shock Down travel stock is 4” 5100 3.25” I lost 3/4” on the 5100 so just think if u have 2.5 Or 3” lift springs u will lose more down travel.so if I went with 2” (1” thick) spacer lift I would still have my 4” down travel and still be safe in up travel because lower arms still hits the bump stop..So for some deciding to go spacer or 5100..I think the 2” (1” thick) spacer is the maximum lift for stock shocks. Anything thicker will cause the horror pics of shocks breaking in half. IMO At the end if I knew these measurements and test I would of stick with the 2”spacer lift and a diff drop for as I don’t jump or catch air or abuse my truck but still go 4wheelin i believe the spacer would of get the job done for me. Hope this helps . Aloha

 

I'm @ 37" with my 5100s set @ 2" with 265/75/16 Duratracs.

 

I think you have some good stuff here, but I suggest you translate it into English.

 

Mines stock

 

Your lawn is too nice to be parking your truck on it

 

One thing I picked out is that it seems you are implying that a 3rd gen Tacoma has 4” of down travel from the factory, but as far as I know it only has 3”. Perhaps you are thinking about a 2nd gen.

 

That’s weird u said that my friend has the trd off road and Compared to my sr front view Side by side it definitely Looked like mines was an inch higher(both trucks were stock height) then his. Mayb base models has less gadgets den trd’s so is lighter so sits higher?? Hehe idk

 

3” That’s wat the internet said But my measurements On my 3rd gen is real life numbers. Maybe Specs online is 3” down travel at the strut? Makes more sense, I’m measuring from ground to fender and it will be different numbers vs measuring at the strut area. My Truck is the base sr model black shocks. Not sure if it’s same specs (Collapse And extended )as the factory trd model shocks.

 

The auto caps and auto spell was messing me up when I was typing this. Hehehe

 

pee pee poo poo, your logic is triggering and therefore must be shoo shoo

 

Not that nice is half dead. Hehe and Only for the pic hehe.

 

Must be because the truth hurts. Lol real life info vs online bs. Lol

 

I had the rough country 3" front "lift puck" with diff drop kit and 2" rear aal. This lift performed for me at Moab flawlessly. Many argued that my 285/75/16 km3's rubbed at full lock . BS never rubbed at all in Moab . Believe me Moab exercised my suspension plenty . So I support your above statement and evidence. Good job and nice to know someone else backs on what I knew was true the hole time.

 

OP... it's better and more accurate to measure from center of wheel to bottom of fender, for your comparisons.

 

TBQH, I neglected to measure my truck pre lift, but based on my current measurements combined with stock measurements reported by others I believe the stock down travel to be about 3” (5” up and 3” down).

I have found it’s easy to be off by 0.5” when making these sorts of measurements, so I tend to take them each at least 3 times.

It would be easier for me to compare to your measurements if you measured the center of the hub to the bottom of the fender flare as is popular on the forum.

Is your truck a double cab or access cab? Long bed or short bed? 2.7L or 3.5L? You Differences in weight cause differences in ride height.

 

Prolly would be more accurate but since my wheel is deep dish Its harder to get a solid measuring point in the wheel area, but for my comparisons I used the same measuring points, yes my numbers is different than others that measure hub to fender but the differences between stock vs 5100 in down travel (I lost 3/4” of DT with 5100) is goin to b the same. If that make sense?.hehehe

 

Yes I understand, but I’m trying to understand why our mutual measurement of down travel is different. Either my measurement/estimate of down travel is wrong or your truck sits 1” lower.

I regret not measuring my truck pre-lift.

 

Was your ground to fender 36” measurement with the stock 30.6” tires or the 31.6” tires?

 

If we are talking about stock travel numbers u r right my numbers is off because of my measuring points (ground to fender). my wheels are deep dish I couldn’t get a solid measuring point in the wheel area to fender.
the way I did it is Measure at ride height then jack up the truck till tires are just off the ground, tire bulge probably threw off 1/2” to 3/4” To the measured droop height.
But In this post I’m measuring the same truck the same measuring points for the differences of the stock strut vs 5100 set @ 1.75 the lost 3/4” Of Down travel Is still going to be the same if u were to measure hub to fender. What I’m getting at in this post is if I used the 2”lift spacer It would been fine for my use but because of the online horror pics of a spacer lift, I ended up purchasing 5100. So thats why i did my own testing. I’m happy with the 5100, ride came better over bumps. I wanted to put the spacer on The stock strut since only had 10k on it but since I had it apart I just did the 5100.. so hopefully this post help others to decide.

2020 Tacoma SR base model DCSB v6 4x4 ..I know the trd off road coil springs are different than sport,sr5,sr trims From the look of it, idk if all the same for factory Strut specs (Collapse , extend measurements) between those trims..
Try to do it my way of measuring stock strut down travel and compare the numbers to mines I’m curious wat it will b. Hehehe