lee

i think i've put my time in here and earned the right to an annoying lift thread!

so im all set to buy my daystar 1.5" spacer lift kit from wheeler's (thanks for all your help, guys -- esp. bamachem, bob, mike from xtreme and cebby).

i was wondering if i could mix the daystar kit with the pp 1" lift springs?

i did a search and the only reference to it i could find was a guy named gene saying "Just don't mix the progressive springs with spacers - its a bad deal."

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/show...77&postcount=3

why is it a 'bad deal'? i cant find any more info on it.

thanks.

SloPoke

Progressive springs get progressively stiffer as they compress, thus riding better on road. As far as what I've heard.....using spacers (depending on design) pre-compresses the soft part so you bounce around on the stiffer part of the srpring. It really comes down to spacer design. Not goina go there.
This can get alot more complicated to explain but that's the basic jist of what I believe Gene is getting at.

GodwinAustin

Lee - bad ride when preloading a progressive rate coil - also premature coil sag

dont know why that is.

why not just go with an OME 881 - that will give you 1.5 - OR go with some tundra coils by themsleves and that should give you 1.5" and a nice ride Plus better off-road articulation - for margianlly more than a spacer setup.

lee this is from 4x4wire -this guy basically ran the same setup you are looking at:
When I got the new 4Runner, not many people were lifting their trucks and having the spacers already, I decided to go with my original thoughts. I bought a set of used PP 1" springs to go along with Bilstein shocks and the Cornbred spacers (1.5" front and 2" rear).

The lift combination gave the truck a very aggressive stance. I ended up with 23.5" in front, fender lip to center of the hub, and 24" in the rear. With the addition of 285/75R16 Goodyear MTR tires, I was ready to roll.

On-road this setup is pretty good but it has stiffened up the truck a bit too much. You do feel the bumps. Off-road the added height helps along with the 33" tires. Articulation is very limited. Stiffness and lack of articulation is due to the spacer/spring combo, too much preload of the progressive rate springs.

lee

hmmm... ok, thanks.

i think what i'll do is, ill go for this 1.5" kit now, and if i wanna upgrade later, ill switch it out to a 2.5" kit, and sell the 1.5".

im so psyched... to get this installed... too bad it wont be for a couple weeks, as im going on a 5 day vacation next week.

lee

ah, just saw your edit.... ill consider the tundra coils now... thanks. i decided against OME due to the cost.

FilthyRich

i had the PP springs. you don't want to run them w/ spacers b/c they are progressive. they advertise them as 1", but it is more like 1.5-1.75" They ride wasn't too bad. a little stiff. I found w/ HD billies, the PP setup works/rides bettter on my wife's SR5 than my limited. they are the same year and I have nothing, but seat of the pants to reach this conclusion. I would run either the PP setup or the Tundra route. When you comapre cost to lift, the Tundra setup is the best. 400 bucks for PP springs is a lot, but if you on do mild wheeling i would suggest it.
I ran 265/75/16 w/ the PP setup. No diff drop, no trac bar. If you want pics comapring the Tundra setup to PP, let me know

lee

i do want those pics, yes! ill pm my email address to you. thanks!

so ive read a little on the tundra setup... all id have to do it seems is buy 2 pairs of tundra coils (and maybe andy's top out spacer)?

that may be an awesome route for me...

SloPoke

I can't understand how a Tundra coil on a 4Runner or Tacoma increases articulation. Unless some considerable weight is added to the vehicle it will hinder articulation by not letting the wheel travel up as far as it used to before lifting the vehicle.

Care to elaborate or provide before and after articaltion figures? or perhaps link me to "the" thread??? I just don't see it.

lee

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/new-suspension-setup-trd-front-lift-3rd-gen-4runner-41848/

thats "the" thread

Bennito

I searched around a bit on the net (its not on Yotatech) and found someone using cornfeds on top of PPs. He had no issues. But that's only one person.

By chance do you already own the PP springs? Do you see yourself losing the dollars already invested? (I ask because I'm in this boat; I wanted a small lift; and thought I could spacer later w/o dumping the cost of the PP springs)

Personally, if/when I want to go to 285s I'll swap the front for tundras and find some cheap route for the rear.

lee

i dont own anything yet, no.

i was gonna do just the PP springs or the daystar kit. wanted to know what doing both would mean... which is apparently a very stiff ride.

so im gonna go with daystar unless i can convince myself that tundra coils are better.

SloPoke

You need to know if he was using the first or second generation of Cornfed spacers. David's fisrt gen. spacers fit on top of the stock top plate whilst his second gen. spacers replaced the plate. I bet, if he had no issues, he was using the 2nd gen. spacers.
Like I said, this can get really complicate when talking about spacer design.

I'm off to read that thread yaul linked.

Edit: K read the first 3 pages and then scanned over a bunch of it. In the first post there are measurments "after" but not "before" so there is no info to compare. I still fail to see how they will yield more travel.
He's listed 7.5" of travel and that's what it is stock.
I just don't see more travel coming from a stiffer coil.

Great info in that thread though. Way to go Bamachem!!!

FilthyRich

don't count the PP setup out. It will cost around 700 bucks w/ shocks, but it is all new suspension. the daystar setup, i believe, reuses your existing shocks.

FilthyRich

PP 1" coils w/ HD Billies 265/75/16 Revos

GodwinAustin

Lee - thats the thing - when it all said and done an OME front or tundra front with OME91s will cost you approx $230-250 - the spacers are $150 or so right? Youre really not saving that much money.

And unless you plan on installing yourself - you will be paying 100-200 dollars for a shop to install those spacers for you - and you will still be running your old worn out shocks.

If you look at it from the point of view of just buying new shocks for your truck and using the spacer money to purchase coils to lift it doesnt seem so bad.

FilthyRich

it isn't all about money. It also depends on the need/use of the vehicle.The tundra route will end up being more costly due to added parts(diff drop, trac bar and probably the desire for larger tires, etc) The PP setup at 700 bucks is 4 new springs and 4 new shocks. It is hard to argue about a funtional NEW suspension that works well and looks good w/out any other needed mods.

lee

i wish those pp coils werent SO expensive. seriously, whats up with that! =[

anyway, im loving the setup you have pict'd there, filthy. wheres the cheapest place to get bilsteins? which do you have on there (part #, etc)?

thanks for the advice guys. godwin, you make a great point, but i just dont want to spend all that money. i got around $385 from insurance for getting rearended recently, and i am trying to not spend more than like $100 more than that of my own money. i have a family friend who owns a shop and hes as excited about this as i am, so hes going to do a majority of it for free... so shop time isnt much of a concern.

thanks again.

edit: i should mention i'm trying to reserve some money for some KO's or revo's to follow, so thats the other reason im concerned about spending above my NEEDS.

AUJWE

Check out the link in my sig for lots of pictures of a 4Runner with the PP/Bilstein lift and 265/75/16 Revos. But, I am 2WD so my truck was a little shorter than the 4WD to start with. Regardless, I got more than 1 1/2" out of the lift setup, if I remember correctly it was around 1 7/8".

I was in the same situation that you are in. SO I bought the PP coils used from a member on here. Great buy. I did however have them sandblasted and powdercoated black. I got my Bilsteins from Mike at Xtreme. I hear that shox.com has great prices too.

AUJWE

Also, I love the way it rides. Definitely stiffer than stock, but in a good way if you know what I mean.

lee

thanks. i did some research, and found i need bilstein BE5-2450's for the front, and BE5-2451's for the rear..

i found 'em for $79/shock for fronts, $69/shock for rears... gonna see if i can beat that price. if so, im gonna get those & PP springs.

thanks again.