Why exactly are front spacer lifts bad?

I have a Prerunner and have zero interest in off-roading it. I have firestone airbags for the rear to help with heavy loads and towing. Why is a spacer lift to level the truck bad? Wouldn't the ride be better then preloading springs or using longer/firmer springs to lift the front? I read everyone trashing spacers but I don't understand why.

 

I'm curious as well, almost every truck I see around here has a spacer lift. I know it's not the right way, but what do I know. The only thing I can think of off the top of my head is, if you hit something hard enough, you may bend or break your stock shocks. This is because you have lengthened the OE strut assy, which shortens the OE shock travel, causing it to bottom out on the LCA.

As far as ride quality, I have no experience. I road in a friends GM 1500, 4x4 a week ago, he just put a spacer kit on that, and it rides the same to me.

 

On my first gen it screwed my cv's, but my 2nd gen has a spacer leveling kit and everything seems to look good. Rides really nice and I have Firestone airbags also

 

im in the same boat, want to lift ,but dont off road,only for looks and dont mind a rougher ride,but how much rougher is it?
night and day or just a little difference?

thanks guys

 

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/suspension/183368-tacoma-lift-options-must-read.html


Lots of posts and research on this already. If you're not going to be off roading or cycling your suspension through it's range of travel anyway then put whatever you want in it.

 

Not cool. Not expensive. Not interesting. Not showy.

No problems on road. Some problems offroad.

 

I'm putting some on mine. Just 1/2 inch ones to give me about an inch of lift to level. I'm also going to install some bump stop spacers so the shocks never bottom out. That's all you need to do to negate the offroading problems.

 

the negative is, that if you were to cycle your suspension all the way to your bump stops, then your shock would bottom out prior to reaching your bumpstop. In turn it has the possibility of destroying your shocks. I am not sure of the height of the spacer that this happens at but thats the issue. also... why not just do it the right way the first time and not have to worry about it? Wait until its time to replace your shocks or springs, then put taller springs/longer shocks on. I don't see any reason to lift for looks but thats just my personal opinion.

 

90% of TW is lifted for looks. And probably 90% think 5100s are drastically better than a spacer.

Both are half ass. 5100s are everybody's baby, though, and spacers aren't. Its silly

 

your shocks are just that-shock absorbers- they dampen the movement of the coils so that your truck doesn't bounce around all over the place as you're driving.

at full compression, our trucks have bump stops- rubber pads that stop the suspension from over-compressing- if you compress a coilover too much, the coil binds and all the weight of the truck is transferred to the shock itself, usually destroying it

when you add a spacer, you add length to the coilover setup with no extra travel

the now-lengthened unit makes the bump stops useless- as your shock can now be completely compressed before hitting the bump stop


then, this happens

 

you're comparing apples to oranges

and lots of people have sploded their shocks going over speed bumps

 

Job right and job good enough are different things. Any mod needs to be done properly and cover all bases to make sure they function properly and safely.

Lots of guys do dumb things in a dumb way that are just fine when smart guy does it smart way.

 

90% of lifted trucks in my town are for looks only, and that's fine (I like looking at them lol) but very few people are going to wheel a truck they have $50K or more into.

To be honest, I'm more likely to put hard earned money into a dedicated trail rig, over my daily driver every single day of the week. Nothing worse than tooling around in my wife's car ('13 Subaru Outback) or a rented Fiesta or Chevy Aveo while my daily driver is in the shop getting repaired due to my off-road honing.

 

Why buy a brand new 30k$ truck and then throw a cheap shitty lift in it?

 

Finances going to pay off the truck that's why.

No, but I totally agree with this. Was planning on putting a spacer lift cuz its cheaper. But this comment alone made me think otherwise.

 

Who said it's a new truck? Btw I have 5100's with OME 883 springs from my last Prerunner but I really was not impressed with the ride quality. Why would a spacer be shitty, because it doesn't impress anyone?

 

Point still stands it's the second most expensive thing most people own why cheap out on it?

You can get a spacer lift I don't really care but spacer lifts are objectively the worst way to lift a vehicle.

 

If all someone does is drive their truck on the road then why is a spacer bad? Who said money is the reason for a spacer lift? I bought 5100's and OME springs but the ride sucks. The pot holes and road trash on the shitty highways here in Northern CA would rattle my dash etc. Even switching lanes and hitting the dots rattled the dash. All I'm interested in doing is leveling my truck and maintaining a good ride. Spacers sound like the best option aside from spending a grand on coilovers.

 

Youre question was answered by Konaborne

 

did you not see these?