Front 3" Lift Issues

I know lifts have been covered extensively for 2nd gen tacomas, but i havent been able to find anything to answer this issue. Heres the short version then ill get into the long version: I have a 4" front lift that only came out to a 3" actual height change.

Now heres the details:
I bought a 2013 tacoma trd sport (double cab long box) completely stock. I had a grand vision of what i wanted it to look like, but as a stepping stone i started with just getting a simple leveling kit to bring the front level with the rear, i.e. i bought 2" lift spacers for the front, and yes i know the spacers are less than 2" (more like 1.5" or around there) to provide the actual 2" lift difference. I installed them myself and it looked great, nice and level. Fast forward a year and now im looking to get a little more height and put some bigger tires in with new rims. I'm no mechanic and had a hell of a time putting the 2" level in so i take it to my mechanic who has his own taco (2018) with the exact lift and wheels i want installed, plus he has lifted many other tacomas, and has a resident toyota expert in the shop working for him. So the plan is hes going to order the lift which comes with a new bigger front spacer for a 3" lift and a 1" +some change (probably like 1.25") lift for the rear with new shocks. he will take out the old spacers i put in and put the new thicker ones in. Ok great, everything seems fine. During the install i get a text from my mechanic showing me that both coils on the front struts (stock Bilstein's) have sheared and he will need to replace them. no problem, he can get some aftermarket 1:1 replacements in easy, hes done this loads of times. Perfect, continue. Keep in mind at this time the tires/rims arent in yet so its just the lift on stock tires/rims (265/65R17, i think?). I pick up the truck and see that it now has a significant rake towards the front, where it was level when i brought it in. youd think that after removing a 2"/0" level and putting in a 3"/1" that it would still be level, but no its like a rake of 3" towards the front. In fact, the front height of the wheel well is back to stock! so somehow after removing a 2" lift and adding a 3" lift, it lost 2" of height. I brought this back to the mechanic and he is equally as perplexed and we are trying to trouble shoot. I recall that he had mentioned to me that he would need to get 17" rims instead of 16" rims, i thought that was weird since the stock rims are 17". then it hit me, maybe he had assumed i had a base model tacoma which has the 16" rims and maybe the base model tacomas have shorter struts! he agrees that could be it and he orders longer struts. Fast forward and the truck is finished again so i go to pick it up... and it STILL HAS THE SAME RAKE. This time the new tires/rims are in. So he tells me, with the new longer front struts, he could not get the 3" lift spacer in as well, there was no room, so he left them out. He also tells me that he has been in contact with toyota dealerships and other experts to figure this out, and he finds out that the original struts were in fact the correct ones, he compared them to my old ones and they were the same length, the new ones should have added a 2" lift, but it was still at stock height, maybe 1" higher. so i tell him ok put in the original 2" lift spacers that i installed previously. He does and it works, now there is only like a 0.5" rake.

we never figured out exactly what went wrong or why, but currently in the front, with the longer struts and 2" lift spacers, i should have a 4" lift but it has only worked out to just barely 3". Im skeptical, but has ANYONE encountered this before?

 

This sounds like a shit show. I'd get a new mechanic. Or someone who actually knows what's going on.

Other than that, I don't know where to start with your problem.

 

Thats what I thought too, but he has a toyota expert in house and has been talking directly with toyota regarding the issue and no one can figure out what is going on. We compared stock distances between the centre of the wheels to the inside of the wheel well both before and after and havent been able to get the numbers we should be seeing. Its "fixed" as it is, but seems more like a feeble band-aid than an actual fix, and provides no answers. My best guess is he just fucked up originally and got the wrong struts

 

This stood out to me. Lifting the front is 2:1. A 1.5" thick spacer will provide 3" of lift.

 

I don't think Toyota, dealership or corporate, would involve themselves in this problem. You say he's got an expert in-house AND he's got a 2018 with the exact same lift, but wasn't able to get yours right? If so, that's concerning they can't get this right and are just guessing and throwing parts at it.

I'd get the truck back, order a 3" spacer lift off Amazon after reading the reviews and either do it yourself again or take it somewhere else.

 

Pics please!

 

There are no struts on a Tacoma, just shocks. And shocks don't set ride ht, they control spring action.

My WAG is the new springs are either the wrong length or weight

 

Take out all of your spacers, order OME front coilovers, put an add-a-leaf in the rear spring pack and do a cab mount chop if needed for clearance. Ran mine like that for years. It looked like this:

Ideally you want new upper control arms to get some of your caster back after lifting as well.

 

Ditch the spacer lift, and buy some nice adjustable coilovers. Post some pics of this mess also. Good luck with your truck.

 

It sounds like you had a 4 inch lift initially. If a spacer is actually 2 inches thick, it will give 4 inches of lift. If it was 1.5 inches then you would get 3 inches of lift.

FYI.

Toyota isn't answering your mechanics phone call trying to help install a lift kit into a 10 year old Tacoma lol. He's lying to you.
The front suspension is so simple on these trucks it shouldn't be hard to figure out.

Get rid of all the junk spacer lift crap and install a fresh shock and spring combo from a well know manufacturer.

 

I appreciate all the responses here. To be clear to people who have mentioned the ratio between spacer thickness and actual lift, I dont know the actual thickness, just trying to get across i understand that the thickness of the spacer does not equal the actual lift distance, it very well must be less than 1.5", but i know for sure that the level kit i bought was 2". Further, i do not plan on buying new shocks and coilovers, especially after i have spent all this money getting to where it is now, just curious if anyone had an idea of what was going on. Dont have much in terms of pics of the whole ordeal, but heres what it looks like now:

 

Sounds like softer springs.

 

Post pics of your suspension, even with the wheels on just take a shot from above the wheel looking at the coilovers. Same with the rear. And measure from center of the wheel to the fender above. Stock should be about 20" in the front and about 21" in the rear.

There's a lot to unpack here so lets start there and we can tell exactly what you have and how much lift you are getting.

 

I thought the stock rake was 2"? I assumed thats why all the level kits are either 2/0 or 3/1. anyways i just went out and took some pics, the measurements should be taken with a huge grain of salt as i was eyeballing to the centre of the wheel and the tape was pivoting on the tire, also its not on as level of ground as it could be. but here are the results:

Rear driver side: ~23-3/4"
Front driver side: ~23" (the pic was a bit low as you can see a bit underneath the fender)
Front/Rear passenger: this is where things got odd, the passenger side was somewhere between 0.5" - 1" taller than the driverside. I didnt bother taking pictures because it would look the same as the others, but i remeasured all of them twice, and checked measurements from the ground to the fender as well, all consistent with being taller on the passenger side. once i have some level pavement i will remeasure. Also, the difference between the front and back measurements was roughly the same on both sides, and the difference between the sides was the same on the front and in the back.

Front shocks and coils shown with spacer from my 2" level kit
Rear suspension shown with stock leafs, spacer, and new shocks. New lift kit is Rough Country Suspension

 

I don't see the issue here. Stock is what @Saskabush said, roughly 20" front and 21" rear so you're getting what you should. Lift heights advertised are always nominal.

Nothing is weird with the passenger side being higher - it's the Tacoma lean from the factory weight distribution. Battery, gas tank, etc are all on the driver's side and most people get rid of it by installing a small 1/4-3/8 thick spacer on the driver's side.

 

looks like theyre the stock front springs with spacers and regular old standard shocks..and rears are blocks with saggy sprung springs..looks like it is all installed correctly..

 

the front shocks and springs are longer than stock

 

So I'm seeing a ~1.5" thick spacer on top in front. And looks like a ~2" block under the factory leafs in the rear.

Not factory shocks though... Is this the Rough Country kit on the truck right now? You mentioned your guy replaced the coils, do you know what coils he put on? Just factory? Rough Country? Normally the factory coils have little bingo dabber like paint dots on the coil somewhere but I can't see any from this angle.

So there may or may not be some lift coming from the coilovers as well, depending on what exactly is installed. Regardless, if your measurements are correct you are basically at max lift in the front. Also kinda looks like you actually installed 3" lift spacers, not 2" ones. Typically the spacers actual thickness will be 1/2 of the lift it advertises. So if the spacer is 1.5" like you mention (and appears to be), that's a 3" lift. But on a DCLB you likely won't get the full 3". So I'm assuming the additional lift is coming from the coilovers.

The reason you were having trouble getting above the amount of lift you currently have is because these trucks don't have much more than 3" of downtravel to begin with. When you lift your truck, that lift height comes at the cost of downtravel. Lift too high and your wheels will have no droop left. You can test this yourself by taking ground to fender measurements and then start jacking up the truck from the front crossmember until the tires just lose contact with the ground. Then measure again and subtract the first measurement. You want downtravel though, too little downtravel and your truck will "fall" into dips and holes rather than extend the wheel down into it and "catch" the truck as it falls.

Now, I have no idea what your friend was doing. I think it's safe to say he had no idea as well. It didn't help that you are guys are trying to rig something up rather than just install a proper suspension lift. Basically there is no correct way to accomplish what you were trying to do. Spacers are already playing with fire and you were trying to get more lift by extending the height of the coilover assembly instead of adding preload to the spring. When you add length to the coilover, you fuck with the geometry of the independent front suspension. You can get away with adding a bit of length, but it sounds like you were trying to stuff an extra 2-3" of metal in there. That's simply not going to work well. And if you somehow manage to get it bolted up, it's going to ride like complete garbage and likely ruin your CV axels by pushing them out of their intended range of motion. You are basically at the max you can go with the setup you have. You won't get more lift in the front, you can get a bit more in the rear but I highly recommend ditching the blocks and going with a new leaf pack and shocks.

 

Op, here are some pics that have been around for years on spacer lift failures. Good luck with your truck.

 

Lol