How bad is a spacer front lift?

I've got about a 1inch lift out back and want to level the front. I know 5100's would be best but 1/4 inch spacers will be much cheaper and easier to install. How bad would they be?
Also, if I go with the spacers is it just a matter of unbolting the top 3 bolts and putting the spacer on top?

 

They are super easy to install. I did it on my truck. Now I'm looking into an ome lift. Do it right the first time. I wish I had. Makes the suspension a lot stiffer. Spacers are of course are a lot cheaper than a full overhaul but like they say, you get what you pay for.

 

Spacers aren't good because while you are indeed lifting the truck, the stock shock doesn't get any longer. So you end up stressing the shock much more and actually loosing travel.

Get the 5100s. They are pretty cheap from down south motor sports with the TW discount. Plus your ride will be MUCH better and you'll gain a bit of suspension travel.

Do it right. Or don't do it at all.

 

YOU ARE LITERALLY GOING TO DIE












seriously, if you are going to take the time to rip apart your suspension you might as well put a real lift on it. 1" in the back and 1/4" in the front is useless, a waste of time and nobody will notice, not even you. Do it the right way. The cheapest "right" way to lift your truck is with the 5100s at 2.5" with stock coils and a 2" AAL or 2" Shackles. You will be glad you waited and spent the extra money to do it right.

 

If your not offroading or if you want a little stiffer ride theyre fine. I think it kinda stiffened my 150k mile shocks back to how they were originally. Ill sell you my 3" spacers for $35 shipped i switched to a different lift.

 

I did too do it right. I got a lift coil and a longer shock. WAY better then any spacer. Cause like you I couldn't afford 1200 dollar coil overs. So yes..I did do it right.

My rear billies are leaking due to the length. Not the shocks themselves. I needed new bump stops to prevent my problem but didn't. User error. Marks are actually too short.

I'm sure you can look at your own shocks Ben and tell they have leaked a lot. Last time I rode in your truck they didn't dampen anything and I'm sure it hasn't gotten any better.

And as I said in my previous post it's more about the shock then the coils. The 5100 is designed to articulate much more then your stock Trd shock. That's why even pre compressing with the 5100 is much better.

I give your truck a year max of wheeling before the ride is total shit. Either that or you'll just be used to it and not notice till you actually put some real shocks and coil/leafs on there.

And Ben. I love you too man haha but please..don't encourage someone to put these on. It isn't worth it for most ppl.

 

I like my spacer lift...cheap and effective. fuck the "ride quality...its a damn truck ya pussies

 

Any small spacer lift is fine OME sells them with their lift coils to get more lift. So it shouldn't be to harsh or bad ride with such a small top plate spacer. With 1/4" you can use the stock length bolt anything larger you need extended bolts. Yes just remove the 3 top bolts and slide the plate it.

 

It was too right. The Toyotech Eibach coils are designed for the 5100s. They work perfectly with them for the ammount of travel they provide. And yes they do give more travel then stock shocks. They are longer..thus more travel. Not a HUGE improvement in travel like MidT or LT. But still better then stock.

I will agree that the OP 1/4'' top plate spacer isn't going to hurt anything. But I would never go higher then that personally.

And Ben totally fucked up his truck at Moab. The CV breaking wasn't in part to the spacers..but i am pretty sure that the way he abused it and the spacers is why his alignment went to shit.

Either way..upgrading a shock is way better then putting a spacer on..EVERY time. Putting a better part on the truck is always the right way. A spacer is not a better part. Its jeopardizes other parts of the truck more then a 5100 will ever do. Thats why its right.

 

No. The top plate spacer shoves the entire coil over down further. There is not preloading with a top plate spacer. The entire coilover just gets stoved down farther.

The difference between a preloaded 5100 and a preloading spacer is the shock. A stock shock with a preloaded coil loses a lot of travel cause the shock limits it.

A 5100 preloaded doesn't because its designed for a lift in the first place as its a longer shocks.

While yes a preloading spacer and a 5100 do the same thing in general, a 5100 is better due to it being made for a lift and its ability to actually handle the precomression unlike a stock shock.

 

SPACERS+TACOMA= NO

 

If you are not pushing the suspension to the limits, you will not have a problem (not offroading hard) . If you do use the entire travel of the front suspension, YES you will have a problem.

 

Wow, I never thought there would be this much disagreement. Maybe a little more info from me will help things. Originally I put 1.5 aal's on because I had a CPA and my stock leaf springs were sagging (they were brand new because I had the frame replacement). A year later I sell the cap and now the rear is higher than the front. I didn't want to take out the aal's since they do help when I put a heavy load of logs or whatever. I do off road a little but nothing too extreme, and I was looking at top plate spacers for just a little bit of lift front. I'm looking at spending 50 for the spacers vs 200 for bilsteins.

 

I hate these threads, so much misinformation.

above coil spacer - ride quality doesn't change, possible damage to shock if you wheel it because you'll bottom out the shock before hitting the bumpstop
I installed this with a 1'' rear block in 3 hrs.

in coil spacer makes your ride stiff because the stock coils are progressive, also much more labor intensive install.

5100's are useless without non progressive coils (eibach or ome), and is nothing more than an in coil spacer lift if used with stock coils.

 

it's not a longer shock, the reason they don't lose travel is because when you use an eibach coil, the coil is longer, and is preloaded, but being a non progressive coil, it doesn't get stiff with preloading.

 

SR5 and base model coils are the same and they are linear and they work fine with 5100s, even set at 2.5. Agreed that the TRD progressive coils are too harsh offroad with any preload and that the more expensive ome or eibachs would be more compliant offroad than either oem coils.



As far as the 1/4" taco lean top plate spacers go, they will give 1/2" lift up front, they fit with stock studs & level out some of the oem rake when not lifting the rear. I put them in when switching out my oem tokicos for the free TRDs left in the attic from another truck that got 5100s to level out my RC Prerunner using the linear base coils. It does make noticeable difference if you are only after slight posture correction and it rides just lovely. I would not suggest any other spacer lift. If you want lift enough for bigger tire clearance and robust offroad action then bigger spacer lifts are not it.

 

All depends on what you do with the truck really. I went with 5100s all around eibach coils and wheelers 1.5" AAL. For me I think that was a mistake because I spent way too much. My truck was a street princess and I don't take it wheeling at all. The most it does off road is Drivin up our old bumpy farm road about once a year pretty much. Looking back I should have just gone with a top plate spacer and blocks in the rear and it would have been just as effective for my uses.

 

I just don't get it, for 50 bucks you can get some spacers that do nothing for your truck other than just lift it, or for 150 you can lift your truck with a shock designed to lift it the right way and upgrade your front shock in the process with brand new shocks.

Ben I realize some of us have not run spacers, but you don't need to personally do a mod to know that it is not the best way to do it. I mean we do this each time. Can we just agree that 5100s even on stock coils are better than spacers, and it is not that much more to just get a lift and upgrade the shocks.

My 5100s don't leak, I was just paranoid

 

no we can not, I don't agree that 5100's on stock coils is any better than an in coil spacer, and I believe it is worse than an above coil spacer if you are trying to get 2.5'' - 3'' lift. ESPECIALLY on an older truck, the old coils can't handle it.

I had 5100's and stock coils on my 01, it literally lifted 2.5'' and sagged back down about 2 inches within months, and rode like a brick.