2 inch leveling kit

hey everyone,
I have had my 2014 taco TRD sport for a couple years now and have recently made a friend who sells tires. I've always wanted bigger tires for my truck but never really got around to it. Now I actually need new tires and have a hook up on cheap ones. So thinking about throwing in one of those 2 inch spacers on the front end to level it to fit 32's.

Problem is I heard the spacers fuck up ride quality. .....and I've also heard that there is no difference and that they are the quick and easy fix I'm looking for.

....so which is it?

 

i keep hearing both some say it rides good some say not. i think it depends on your preference and if you go off road or not. same as some say use differential drop and say not too. im beginning to think its trial and error for each of us lol

 

Go with Bilstein 5100's (middle setting). I've had Readylift level kit and it rode fine, then later upgraded to Bilsteins. Either way, you'll need an alignment. You might as well upgrade your stock suspension and do it right, IMO and experience.

 

This is the logic I usually give someone that wants to buy a leveling or spacer lift kit..

"Hm, $200 'lift kit' on a $32000 truck..makes sense"

Do it one, do it right; buy once, cry one.

 

My stock suspension is harsh as could be. I couldn't imagine what it would be like with a spacer kit.

 

Geekhouse23 I get what you're sayin and have thought about that myself. Also this isn't the first time I've been told to upgrade to the bilstein 5100s so I think I'll find a solid lift kit that isn't a cheap piece of Chinese machined aluminum and while I've got everything apart in the garage, throw in the new shocks as well. Thank you all for your input.

 

A top plate spacer kit will give you EXACTLY the same ride as you had BEFORE installing it. Same shock....Same coil....Same ride..... Where the problems can crop up is if/when you take the truck off road. Spacers push the suspension down, away from bump stops. If you compress the suspension far enough, the shock becomes the stop, rather than the bump stop itself. In a hard hit, this can bend/break the lower end of the shock. One remedy is to use a spacer equal to the thickness of the top plate spacer to move the bump stop down to where it makes contact before the shock bottoms. I wouldn't recommend using a spacer lift, but they aren't quite as evil as many portray them. If you ever plan on doing any real off roading, coils and shocks are the way to go.

It is far BETTER to use longer coils/adjustable shocks. But, many many people have successfully used top plate spacers for a cheap alternative to full suspension lifts.

Spring spacers...? Run away as fast as you can. They simply preload the coil which is always a sure bet to get a horrible ride.

 

Thanks for the info, that's exactly what I needed to hear. No I don't do a ton of off-roading, mainly getting to the mountains for skiing and back but I do have to go off the beaten path for work a lot so all that info helps alot

 

Suspension lift ... nuff said... if you can't afford it, pinch your pennies till you can. Don't cut corners... do it right once. You'll be glad you did.

 

1. had a 2inch leveling puck with stock shocks and crap tires (33s). <- dont recommend this, its a bad ride, rubs all the time!
2. replaced stock shocks with 5100s (still had 2 inch leveling puck and crap 33s) <- ride was better, but not good, still rubbed.
3. replaced crap tires with KO2s (32s) <- much better ride, but not as good as it could be. no more rubbing

4. she's going into the shop soon to have the puck removed and the 5100s used properly to level the truck on the KO2s (32s)

learn from my stupid, do it right the first time instead of making adjustments the wrong/cheap way.
my process ended up costing me more from not just going to a proper shop and having the 5100s put on correctly the first time.