Lance, Thanks for the comments. Your obviously trying to think it through. I'm heading down to Phoenix at the end of the week and will do a show and tell with Daystar. I'll keep ya posted; and I think your right with the spacer set-up and Doug's concern of over stretching the shock. I'm gonna get in there and measure it for sure.


And Doug, I'm definitely holding off until I hear/see more about your experience. No sense in reinventing the wheel. I can't wait to see your pic's. Yaaahooooo!. I'm so excited about the possibilities now! Good job Doug!

 

Michael:

The Downey Website is really not to date. That information was first announced back when the product first went thru initial testing.

From what I've learned after talking to the owner on Sunday is that the front coilover will just be the coilover itself. Nothing will change. The coilover is adjustable therefore you can crank it as high as you want (except try to keep it under 3" as if you crank it too high, you'll damage your cv's permanently).

I believe the rear will come w/ what I have written earlier. It is unlikely that they will just sell the coils only as you will need the other parts. I suppose they are willing sell parts separately as well.

Sedonaz:

I don't think you really need to worry about the lack of stretching the shock as the shock travel is the same as the previous gen 4runner. They were able to stuff the spacers in there without any problems so I wouldn't worry about that. The only concern will be making sure that the fronts fit perfectly w/o damaging the XREAS lines.

I truly feel that the spacers will work with the XREAS. You just have to find someone willing to install it w/o damaging the XREAS lines. Damaging the lines will result in a non-functioning system. Therefore I really doubt anyone(store) will be willing to take in that liability. You're best bet is trying it on your own w/ people who understand the skills and the system.

Good luck

 

Lance,

Good news for I: Talked to Daystar as you suggested and I believe we will be working towards a lift install next week. Turns out they are ready to try a XREAS lift.

I'll keep my fingers crossed and will keep in touch. Thanks for the suggestions.

Their lift is a 2.5"/front and 1.75"/rear lift. Sounds like your's but I'm not sure. They say it will be more of "leveling" effect than others out there. Does this sound right to you?

In your pic you posted with your camera phone, what size tires are those? Do you think I can get those on mine assuming I'm successful with the lift?

Also, anything new on the front bumper your working on?

Adam.

 

Daystar does make nice stuff, but.......

I think Revtek is much more inovative. Seriously consider them as well. More or less my ulitimate spacer combo is nothing more than a Revtek 2" lift instead of a 3" lift. The Revtek ideas are the high point the actual implimentation is not that spectacular. Useing a cast lower spacer and the stock plate is kinda chinsey, which is why Cornbreds spacer that repaced the top plate is superior. The Revek top out spacer is a very nice piece as well. The right springs and shocks are just as vital.

Daystar will split the pack 1/2 on top and 1/2 on the bottom, the goofey part of their set up is the long bolts through the top plate.

What they should do is machine out a top plate replacement spacer like Cornbred and add the top part to the spacer as well like Doweny and Revtek. Or Instead of the cheesey long bolts provide longer studs like Revtek.

If you want my vote, Revtek all the way. With a spacer you will have ZERO issues with X-Res, it will not even know or care how high the truck is, that has no brearing on how it works.

 

Revtek will put a smaller spacer on the top. Which will be perfect for this.

Keep in mind that Daystar does not warn people that their kit MUST be used with stock front shocks. With aftermarket shocks the Daystar kit is a dud. The back of the ball joint seriously impacts the spring.

Take it or leave it, I warned you.

 

Hey Steve:

Since we're on this topic, now that I have the Downey Coilover, at full droop (front), my upper a-arm hits the spring on the coilover.

Any ideas on how to remedy this problem? Btw, the swaybar has been removed for the time being.

Adam:
285/75/16 Goodyear MT/R on 16x8 American Racing AR-23

 

Lance----Where are the pics from last weekend???

 

Marc:

As requested here are a snip of pictures that I was able to get. Sorry for the bad images, ran out of slide film and was forced to use regular film and just had em develop em (somehow came out all washed out... too bright... dang it). I'm gonna work on scanning the slides and post it up when I have the chance.









I was looking thru the search to find that one thread on flex (front/rear). I know mine isn't much but whatcha think?

 

I like, but I think you better get down here for the next run so we can see that bad boy in action!!

 

The earliest I'm thinking of trying to head down to visit ya guys is sometime in March as I'm pretty swamped all of February.

 

Dang, Firsttoy, I'm honored !

Adam, Have you talked with Dan at Daystar ? When I was working with them on my prototype lift they were itching to get one built for the X-REAS. If you don't mind a couple trips to Phoenix and some alignment work done on your truck, they may be looking for someone to help them develop a lift.

Steve, Daystar recently replaced their bolts for the lift with true studs that fit into the top strut plate. I'm with you, the bolts sucked for appearance, but they got the job done...

Finally, I do bottom out my shocks quite often with the lift in place. Not the front ones, but the back ones. I've heard various stories ranging from "that will destroy your shock" to "No problem with it". I'm taking the easy route and letting it bottom out until they start giving me problems. Then I'll go for some of those nifty adjustable shocks....

Steve

 

No way to fix it, the aftermarket shock is longer to provide more droop/down travel. The only way to "Fix It" would be to shortn the shock. As long as it just touches or barely touches, that's fine.

Even my Frank setup just barely touches. The real problem is in a situation where you have the Daystar front spacers on an aftermarket shock, the extra 1" on top caused the two parts to colide quite hard. The Revtek 3/8" spacer is really the most you'll want to put up there on an aftermarket shock.

The Daystar kit is just fine on a stock shock. Here you can see the lenght difference between stock and Bilstein and OME shocks.

http://fastq.com/~sschaefer/rear_shocks.html

Scroll to the bottom.

 

Well that was my main gripe. Should be fine on a stock shock now.

I would look into the rear Downey coils, Stock REAR springs and spacers are OK.

OK is a good word to use here. A lift spring in the back is more desireable.

 

So, I don't have to worry about my upper ball joint gettin all torn up? Just making sure

 

Well there is really nothing you can do about it, as long as the boot around the ball is not coming in contact and it's only the back of the cast spindle pice like on the 3rd Gens you'll be fine.

If the actual boot from the joint is rubbing/hitting you got a problem.

 

I'll have to test it out tonight then

Thanks!

 

Boy that sounds fantastic Adam! You should start a new thread on XREAS lifts to keep things clean, can't wait to hear the details.
And 2.5/1.75 actually sounds perfect. The front does droop quite a bit more than the rear and it sounds like (from Lefty's experience) that less in the rear is good for stock shock travel.

Maybe you could tell SSchaefer's concerns on the bolt/top plate to Daystar. maybe they will revise/improve their spacers?

Lance, your truck looks awesome! Man, that thing looks like a total beast now! I guess no problems for you on hitting rocks!

Lefty, is your lift at 2.5/1.75? For some reason I thought your rear was at 2"...?

 

I like the contrasty print. It makes it look gritty.
This is a really nice angle-would look good poster size!

Send it to Toyota to show them how a TRD 4R should look!

 

Firsttoy, yep, that's right.... I got the spec right in front of me from when we put the lift on. Front is a little over 2.5" (actually is 2 5/8"), and the rear is 1.75 (actually 1 7/8"). But who is niggling over 1/8" ? This leveled the truck almost perfectly. When all was said and done, the front was still about 1/8" lower than the rear...

By the way, I've had a Daystar lift on this truck for almost 16K miles without a problem, so the "problems" with the lift are more cosmetic than functional.

Steve

 

FirstToy / Lefty,

If all goes well the XREAS will be rolling out of the shop, with the lift, early next week. They believe the biggest challange will be working around/with those pressurized lines in the front, but that they should be able to pull it off (not literally). I talked to them on Tuesday and should get the final go ahead tommorrow.

Needless to say, I'm excited and its long overdue. I'm not that up to speed with the technical know how of the mechanics involved but the lift should be fine for my day to day applications.

Sschaefer,

Where have you been the last couple of months when the rest of us, (those so fortunate to have the XREAS curse) have been struggling with what to do? It sounds like you are sure a spacer-based lift will work no problem. Why the concern from everyone else?

Are there other options for us with this "closed system" suspension? Can we combine the spacers, Daystar or RevTek, with the Downey coils for the rear as did Lance? I checked your web-sites out too, do you have other options?

Adam