Finally ! A production 4th Gen lift !!
 

After what felt like eons, I finally have the production Daystar lift on my 4th Gen. It is essentially the same as the prototype that was on my truck since February, minus the "tooling" that occurred on that one. I'll save everyone from the details and pictures on the truck since that information has already been posted since that time (Hint: do a search on "Daystar").

In the end, the net lift was just over 2" (about 2 1/8", to be exact). Sooooo..... combined with the 265/75s, the lift has netted me just over 2.5" of increased ground clearance. The lowest point on the vehicle, which is the skidplate directly under the exhaust cross-over pipe, is now 10 5/8" from the ground.

In conclusion, I'm impressed by the lift. Installation was a breeze (if you have a spring compressor !), taking 3 of us less than 4 hours to complete the installation. Other than renting a spring compressor and having an alignment done, there are no other costs associated with the lift. Riding characteristics changed very little, with the exception of additional "tippiness" encountered during cornering (Lefty's note: Get wheels with less offset !). Finally, and most importantly, I never once had an issue with the spacers over more than 7000 miles of driving on and off road. Yes, I know it's only 7K miles, but based upon the condition of the prototype that we took off the truck, it could last more than 10 times as long.

'nuff said.

Steve

Cool now I have to wait for their to be some kind of X-reas add on so I can lift my truck but still have that option that I wanted, how hard is it to extend the pipes or tubes 2/3 inches

Great news, thanks Lefty.

Edge, my understanding is that with the Daystar kit, there is no need for tampering with the X-reas. I think Lefty posted that in one of his earlier posts, about wo months back. Not absolutely sure and I don't have the time to look for it right now. I will get to that and re-post here if someone doesn't beat me to it.

Doug

Daystar kits uses spacer technology. For those of you that don't know what that is, it's basically a brick of metal that goes between the spring and the top plate. Some mounts them outside of the top plate and the actual frame while others put it between the spring and the top plate. Either method is fine as both are considered spacers.

Anyway, for all you x-reas owners, the only way to actually lift your truck and maintain the x-reas would be spacer technology only. If you want to change your spring and shock, then you're basically removing the x-reas system so that makes it futile. You can add spacers inside the shock and still use the factory shock. All it does is lift and limit the shock travel. Kinda has both pos's and neg's i guess.

Anyway, if you don't have x-reas or the rear air bags like me, then you're set with other options :)

Daystar Spacers (which should be available right about now since Lefty has the real deal now).
Cornfed Spacers : I prefer these but they're basically like Daystar but expect those to come later as I don't know if they have specs on it.
Downey Suspension: Front utilizes coilovers and the rear utilizes coil and shock (expect them soon I hope)
Sway A Way: Should have some front coilovers soon as the owner has a 4th gen that he can test on. (not sure on what their plans are for the rear)
Kings Coilover: Pending as I haven't had the chance to get with them on status for their coilover.
Fabtech: ?
OME: ? (i feel that they should have something as the new prado's are identical to the 4th gens....)
Others: ?

Hope this answers some of the q's for the 4th gen owners :)

Well you are part right, the Daystar kit does use spacer technology. But it's not a brick of metal, they use 2 poly spacers. They put these spacers both outside the top plate and inside the coil pack, thus minimizing the negative affects of both type of spacer. In fact, I believe that the poly spacers have actually increased ride comfort due to the poly cushioning the ride.

Just my $.02...

Jim:

I was just trying to keep it simple for people that have no idea what it is :) figured I'd keep it general so it's easier to understand. some people have a hard time understanding how and what it is because they're soo used to seeing just the coil and shock.. trying to add spacers, they get kinda confused (but after they see it in person, they get a better perspective)

but anyway, either way it's just another way to lift your ride :) but if you plan to go some aggresive stuff i'd say get some shock/coil setup or even the more expensive coilover setup. or better yet, go for a sas but then again that's just abit much for most of us anyway! (hehe)

I was just adding to your description for clarification. There seems to be a poor general feeling about the Daystar spacers for some reason on this board (probably because they are cheap)...it seems that I always have to "stick up" for their use.

I have had mine on for about 6 months and almost 10k miles mostly on-road but I have done some fairly difficult off road stuff and have had no problems. In fact for a IFS rig the SAW's or Kings just seem like overkill unless you are jumping your rig or something. There is very little travel difference between spacers and SAW's.

Again, just my $.02...

I agree with ya Jim on the overkill on the use of the coilover for basic applications. I feel that coilover systems should only be used if you really plan to do add a front steel bumper as the additional weight will definitely take a strain on the front suspension. With the additional weight, you'll be forced to crank the front up, whereas with a coil/shock and/or the combination of spacers would only just sag up front with no way of sustaining the additional weight.

so I feel that coilovers should be used if you really plan to go all the way. spacer technology is probably the cheapest way in gettin lift that actually works :) then would be just gettin some coil/shock combo.

but you know as they say, if ya got the $$ to fund your toys, then so be it! some people go fo that bling bling just to be cool and never use their applications! hehe...

Enough said!

How about posting a link to a site where it can be ordered and pricing information? Thanks

canine:

good luck finding any info on the shelf stuff. it's still new. Lefty's daystar is just finished, so it'll take em some time to get the stock ready to ship out to the stores itself.

i would say that the daystar spacers should be on shelves by sept 1 (i'm thinking) and should have the same price tag as their previous spacer items (not sure how much but they're relatively cheap).

the other companies i mentioned above do not have any ready for full production like daystar so you're gonna have to wait and see. spacers are easier to make so they'll be on the shelves first. then the full suspension applications.

when the items start hittin the street, i'm sure lefty will tell us where and how much as he's the guy to goto for the daystar stuff :)

Just my 02 cents on spacers and X-Reas....


While you are correct in saying they can be used with X-Reas, how the phreak can you install them without having to remove the front shocks/strut assy from the truck ?

This means you have to break the fluid line and then re-fill and bleed the system...

The rears should be straight forward.

Anyone with an FSM have any insight on servicing X-Reas ???

David

david:

good question :) i guess i'd have to physically see the x-reas lines as if they have the stainless steel lines like the brake lines, then you can just add the spacer while you're in the wheel well (prob risky) but it's possible. i would guess it'd be a pita but if someone wants some lifting then i'd say that's prob the only way.

i'm sure someone w/ the x-reas will be able to provide us w/ some pix or something so we can see. (i'm happy i didn't get the x-reas! hehe)

I finally pick mine up Saturday...

I will post some X-Reas Pics next week.

The upside is Toyota's finance rate dropped .8% last week and I am not locked in yet...

David

Coyote, you should be able to contact Daystar directly regarding these lifts. You can get to it at www.daystarweb.com. As Goodtimes said, this is a NEW kit, so they may not have it out there yet, but I bet if you drop them an e-mail about it, they will give you the info you are looking for.

David, I have absolutely no idea how you would do this. You are correct, we had to take the front struts out of the vehicle, so any attached hydraulic lines would cause problems. By the way, getting those struts out of the truck was a royal pain, too. So I don't envy anyone that wants to try doing this lift on an x-reas truck.

Steve

you have not looked to closely at your truck, the brake lines are plastic;)

more the reason to get em upgraded too ;P

Too much talk not enuff pics!

Picture good, talk bad!:bounce:

hey lance, what is this sas you speak of? haven't heard of this yet. thx

Solid Axle Swap...
and don't look at me to do that on my 4runner anytime soon :hillbill:

Just pointing out other options. Just depends on how far you want go to w/ the mods!

As for pix, Lefty already has pix up with the lift (using the pre-production spacers). It looks good btw and i'm sure you can find it using the search feature here on yt.com