Plain and simple - I want 4" of lift. No more, no less. Unfortunately from what I've seen, no manufacturer makes a lift over 3" in height for the 4th Gen. So I devised a way to make my own 4" lift.

Here's what I thought: I already have the Daystar 2.5" spacer lift on the truck (nothing wrong with it except it isn't high enough). I would leave the spacers on the truck and use them in conjunction with either the Donahoe/SAWs up front, and the Downey springs in back.

Doing the calculations, I should be able to get 4" of lift up front and a little over 3" of lift in the rear, making everything ride nice and level and get me the 4" of lift I'm looking for.

Sooooo..... The big question is: does anyone see any problems with this setup ?

I also realize I'll probably be looking at having to replace the rear shocks, get a new panhard bar/bracket, and possibly some high-misalignment upper control arms for the front, but am I missing anything else ?

C'mon, Lance, R0cky, and Andries, I know you guys (and girl !) have done something similar...

Thanks for all the help !

Steve

p.s. Don't even try to sell me any NE stuff either !

 

I can only imagine that you may need to drop the diff, but I think your cvs will probably handle it fine. Have you thought about a body lift of an inch?

Right now I'm at 39" front and 40" in the rear. This is sitting on 285/70/17's with 28-32 psi. (60 is recommended)

Doug M.

BTW: what are your lifted measurements?

 

Steve, do me a favor and just wait ... I am going to test this idea out, in the next week or so, but I don't want to say anything for sure yet because all the threads I've read on other forums have said it isn't possible and will cause the axle to fall out.



The thing is, you can't use the lower spacer on the SAWs (I don't know about the Donahoes) ... so you'd only be able to use the top 1.25" daystar spacer ...

I'm going to try it, unless any of you guys know of some big danger in doing it ... and I will let you know if it works but please don't start buying the parts until we know it works for sure. I'm a little nervous about it ... but, we'll see.

And your CVs will be just fine with 4" of lift. I have 4.5" of lift and they're still fine.

 

you will DEFINITELY need to replace the stock shocks if you do that 3" lift in the rear, but you will NOT need a panhard drop bar or bracket. Just ask Lance about that one!

 

p.s. the fact that NE did a similar thing with the downey coilovers makes me concerned about the safety of doing this type of setup. surely there is a reason people don't do it all the time ...

 

Yep ! That was the plan... Use the top 1.25" spacer + crank the SAW\Donahoes up to 2.75" and I should be set at 4" ! No rough ride from cranking the coilovers down too much and I get my lift !

It will be a couple months before I get into this lift, so I'm sure you'll have the chance you need to test things out. I hope it works since my only other option is to trade it in on a Heep to get the ground clearance I'm looking for !

Steve

 

Have you guys seen a diff drop kit for the 4th's yet? I'm thinking that someone made one.

Thanks.

Doug M.

 

I'm not too concerned about dropping the diff. I'm at 2.5" of lift right now and am no where near stressing the CV joints. Another 1.5" of lift should be no problem.

In addition, dropping the diff wouldn't get me anywhere since I'm trying to get the entire suspension higher off the ground. That's also the reason I'm not looking for a body lift, either...

Its good to know I might not need to adjust the panhard tho...

Steve

 

Steve,
Maybe do some reading over at ttora.com Spacers+coilovers=bad idea, just another perspective.
Diff drop & panhard for 4th gen is totally unnecessary as you prob figured out.

Maybe you could wait a bit, I know alot of stuff is coming out for 4th gens this year and viable options rather than stop-gap measures might make you happier in the long run.

Good luck Steve

 

No one ever said exactly why it was a bad idea other than the CV angles .... i searched and searched and no one really elaborated.

Can you explain it?

 

I literally HAVE to have 4.5" of lift in the front ... not because I want it, but because if I have ANYTHING less, I won't be able to drive my truck, period.

 

spacers and coilovers combination is a BAD IDEA. just get coilovers and crank em up to your ride height and your ride firmness.

If you need more lift, just get a body lift (1.5" max) from Roger Brown. If the truck can get more lift, the coilover mfg's would have factored that in as they know everyone wants to go higher. Ask them for details on why they limit it.

Diff drop and panhard bar/relocation/whatever is not needed with the lift we gain.

Good luck

 

Okay, yes, bad idea, but why? What makes it a bad idea? I don't see how it is any different from adding a top-out spacer to a coil.

If the lift manufacturers say the coilovers only give 3" of lift, then I don't know what to do. I have 1.25" body lift from RB ... and if these coilovers seriously only give 3" of lift, I'm screwed.

 

limitation on the geometry of the suspension. Just draw the lines of the upper a-arms and the lower a-arms and see what happens when you lift it too high...

to go around this, you're gonna have to get longer upper and lower arms or redo the entire suspension.

sorry guys.

 

but you said these would give me the necessary 4.5" of lift until i could get smaller tires ... that's why i went ahead and bought them ...

did i misunderstand?

 

OK, WHy is it absoltuely neccsary to get 4" of lift? Would 3.5" work for you?

I would be seriously worried about the structural integrity of adding a spacer on top of the coil-over. Look at the design of a coil-over vs the normal strut. If you really need to explore getting more than 3" up front, you might want to look into getting different coils in the front and using the thicker Daystar top spacer.

But Lance is pointing out a very important fact. Firstoy and I did a bit of testing on the front suspension flex of the 4th gens. In all reality you can get a little over 8" of total travel out of them. So if you lift 4" in the front you have very little droop left. You can probably do it if you want to, but you will really be pushing it. By repalcing the upper A arms you will gain a bit, which will make 4" more doable and usefull.

In the rear your idea seems good. You might want to see if OME will bring something out this summer (haven't heard anything lately) and see what that does for you as well. Or just do what you plan. What shicks are you looking at for the rear?? I know if you will need a panhard drop for 3" lft in the back, but lots of people are running 2.5 and are fine with it. SO I dont think another .5" will matter.DO it and see if the rear axle is psuhed to the side or if you have adverse conditions in the back when going over a bump.

The tried and tested options are Revtek and Daystar, but neither will give you the required lift. Downey also has has their kit out for a while adn you can crank the font up quite a bit, with Extra spacer on top og coils in rear and their shocks hmmmm ( might work, but their are new optionsas well now). The new options are SAW and Donahoe, their coil-overs seems to be rated higher than DOwneys (price is also higher) (As FT said look at TTORA).

If I were you I would wait to see how Rocky's work out. I will also check t4r.org for RL lemke, he had the Donahoes put in and loves them. You still have a problem in the back. The only coils availible at the moemnt is downey, but you will need extra spacers and shocks again Downey (DT shocks). WIth all the new options it might pay to wait a few months and see how the different coil-overs work out and what is avialible for the rear. This year is getting more interesting with lift options.

 

well now, i'm not even going to try it or bother with the install at all if the damn thing isn't going to work.

 

If you want to squeeze out that extra 1" of lift why not go up in tire size? 2.5" spacer lift + 1" + slightly bigger tires = pretty decent clearance I'd think. May have to do more trimming but may be safer and more reliable than compounding a coil lift.

 

Yeah, that would work for Lefty.

But someone please tell me - will I be able to get 4.5" out of these SAW coilovers? Because if not, then there's no reason I should even get started on the swap.

 

you already have the 1.25" bl right? then add the 3~" or so lift on the coilover and call it a day.

remember you'll still rub like there's no tomorrow though since the tires themselves are just too big in the front. do remember that you already have some custom trimming by yours truely (rem) so i believe you should be fine but i'm not certain as i have never seen your 4r in person to verify.

as for the rear.... everyone's in hot water so...