New TRD PRO lift kit option?

So just wondering what the difference between a preload spacer (one that goes between the spring and the perch, not one that goes on top of the strut top) and lets say a set of bilstien 5100 and moving the spring perch on the ring clips, or something with a threaded body that you can move the spring down?

From what I am seeing,
the bilstien 5100 moving the spring perch up puts more preload on the spring giving you a lift
the trd pro spring spacers moves the spring perch up and puts more preload on the spring giving you a lift.

So, really both methods are doing the same thing. They are lifting the truck in the same way, they both maintain the same spring regardless of setting (bilstein) or spacer (trd pro), neither one of them will allow the strut to bottom out as the down travel is stopped at the same point as the factory bump stops allow. If you were to take a set of bilstien 5100, set them on the 0 clip, but put a spacer on the strut that brings it up to the 2 mark, it is the same as having the clip at the 2 point. The spring is at the 2 clip mark just like it would be if you just put the clip at the 2 mark.

I am mostly talking about the revtek kit here
https://www.carid.com/revtek/1-5-x-1-25-front-and-rear-complete-lift-kit-mpn-427ap.html

Now I just want to say again, I am NOT talking about the common spacer lift that bolts to the top of your strut, I am talking about the kind that you have to remove the spring, put the spacer on the spring, then put the spring back on the strut.

 

It's tough for those of us that have a Pros that want that little bit of extra lift 1-2". A good percentage of people on here will hate on a spacer lift when they've never actually ridden on one.

It would obviously make sense to want to keep the nice Fox setup that the truck came with, but that limits our options. Other than the obvious alternatives, a Pro owner realistically has to either choose which direction they will go based on the type of driving that they do.

For instance, I DD my Pro but am also an outdoorsman that loves to hit some dirt/gravel roads. Am I going to just rid of the entire Fox suspension just to buy an inch or two, when I don't have $3,500 to have a shop purchase a new Icon setup? Nope - so it makes sense to find a middle ground, such as a leveling kit or spacer lift.

If you don't beat your truck or plan on taking it off of pavement more than twice a year, then I'd look into the Revtek 427AP. There have been a good number of Pro owners that went this direction, and a good number of those have little to no complaints. It allows to lift the truck, and will buy you some room for larger tires (if you'd like). But beware of the other sides of this decision; if you take your Pro offroad multiple times and push it, there's a good chance that you're going to damage some aspect of the suspension.

Don't worry about all the hate that might come your way on this one; just do your research on the matter, and you'll most likely end up with satisfying end result.

 

What is this based off of? Lots of people ran them.

The reason there is a lot of hate is because a lot of people have had really bad luck with them or didnt like them at all.

We see a lot of negative feedback regarding spacers and blocks.

 

Buy new springs from eibach when they come out.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/taco-pro-owners-interested-in-a-spring-upgrade-for-front.643212/

 

This has nothing to do with the spacers, let's just clarify that right now before this gets out of hand...

 

How the heck can you believe it's not! I would say at the very least the bottom pictures failure was due to the coil stacking on compression with the combonation of the strut spacer creating a strut overall length to long for the suspension geometry/ improper bump stop settings. Please explain your reasoning for how a catastrophe like this happens. Ever see this failure on stock suspension...can't say I have...

 

Those pictures have nothing to do with spring spacers and everything to do with top strut spacers.

Spring spacers keep the factory bump stops doing their job, strut top spacers push the bump stops further from the struts compression limit. The kit shown in the first page has replacement spring perches that push more preload onto the spring (though it does include some thin top spacers).

Spring spacers seem to get lumped into the strut top spacers too much, they are completely different.

 

I agree mostly. I'm not at all saying the OP's find was going to cause these failures. I was simply replying to someone inquiring about what can go wrong with spacer lifts in general. I was and am not saying everyone with spacer lifts will have this happen (depending on driving /abuse)

 

Here's my experience. The previous owner of my 2nd gen put a spacer lift on it. The front end felt stiff. It wasn't horrible, but I could tell it was stiffer than it should have been. The blocks in the rear prematurely wore the shit out of the leaf springs because of the extra axle wrap. After about a year the truck was an inch lower in the back than the front, but I don't know exactly how many miles he put on it with the blocks before me. I've since replaced them with Dakars and Sway Away coilovers in the front. Spacer lifts aren't terrible, but they aren't great either. It really boils down to what you're planning on doing with the truck. If you're going to offroad it then a spacer lift won't be very comfortable and will wear out the leaf springs. If you just drive it on the road then it probably doesn't matter.

 

The coil bucket in that second picture exploded. Do you know how hard you'd have to hit that thing to do that? Like another member already said, that's from jumping your truck, or maybe hitting a speed bump at like 70mph. The first picture looks like they bottomed it out in a similar fashion. I'd guess they didn't adjust the bump stops to keep the shock from bottoming out and then drove it like an idiot. The spacers didn't do that.

 

I agree regular strut top spacers can be bad, but I think most of this thread is full of people who read "spacer" and jumped on the "its bad" bandwagon without looking to see that this kit is mostly a replacement spring perch for the trd pro struts that just moves the whole spring up creating more preload and giving you a lift.

These kinds of lift are the same as a threaded coil over strut thats threaded up to give more preload on the spring.

The kit does include top spacers, but at what looks like .5 inches shouldnt cause much of a issue.

 

Simply put- proper suspension setup is key. These failures were clearly not setup right one way or another.

Someone went on a wild ride to blow up that coil bucket for sure!

 

Maybe jumped it 90’ like this Raptor dude...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKQdlXvbWSU

 

full send baby!

 

I think the driver wanted a spine compression.

 

its the exact same garbage. Springs dont cause "lift" period. the end.

 

OK buddy.

 

im so tired of people like you. If springs cause lift, why dont you all just buy 16" springs and be done with it?
the OEM spring is 13" and you want "hurr 3" of lift" So buy a 16" spring right? In the name of GOD this place needs a useful sticky. it has been discussed ad nauseum here.

Its dishonest Language gymnastics for a block spacer kit. Notice how they explain NOTHING how it works in a technical sense. Instead, they spend the entire product description refuting all the reasons one wouldnt want the product, all while its doing exactly what they say it doesnt do, through deception.
-do you see a longer shock shaft or longer shock body here? The answer is NO
So its a block spacer kit. period, except they move the block to the bottom perch instead of the top.

Its essentially pre-loading the suspension by adding those thicker pieces to simulate how a longer spring would pre-load the suspension without needing to move perch mounting points. (pictures are not clear, no technical info provided)

Here is the deception: they mean this all in a literal sense.
-The Kit will simply have LESS USEABLE travel, but it wont quote "limit" it (Limit it to what?) its a relative term.
-and by "extend the travel past factory" they mean, "will the shock shaft travel to a value it physically cant?" and the answer is NO obviously, because the shock shaft is remains a finite size and wasnt changed by the kit (duh).

it takes a little common sense and rational thinking.
-If springs cause lift, then why not just make a 16" spring, and give everyone "3 inches of Lift" they all clamor for? (OEM13" spring)
-If this ISNT A BLOCK SPACER KIT, then how on earth could ALLLL the factory parts stay the same (shaft, body, mount points), yet this mystery-kit just magically gets put on and nothing bad happens, no changes in travel, no changes in extension, and poof 1.5" of lift. It begs the question."Then what exactly IS the kit doing?" "HOW is it doing it?" "what are those items in your picture?"
Hopefully its starting to sink in to some readers exactly what this industry is doing. Remember the TRD PRO FOX™ suspension is equivalent to a level ~4ish kit. (2.5 front AND 2.5 rear) close to $2700-$3000. Please dont put dunce blocks on your truck.

 

Wrong. Taller springs don't place any metal objects inside the coilover or outside the coilover. Spacers lessen travel because when the spring compresses it now has another object also taking up space. Lifting with coil springs moves the ride height higher on the shock. So you lose up travel, but gain down travel (hence lifted). Stock spring will bottom out faster/easier than a taller coil spring. With Taller spring it will top out faster because the shock is closer to limit of topping out.