ATTENTION! Read my OME shock page if you are planning on mixing OME shocks with a spacer lift.

Today there are two types spacer lifts available for the front of Toyota 4Runner/Tacoma. The first kind goes inside the spring pack/strut and the second goes outside. Let me first describe the two types and what is good and bad about each. It may take some careful study and reflectioin on your part to see why and how these two types of spacer lifts are very different. They look deceptively similar. The only difference being on which side of the strut top plate the spacer is mounted. How they perform can vary.

The inside type currently made by Cornfed Suspension is placed in between the top of the spring and the outside of the strut housing. It creates lift by preloading the suspension/spring and thus causing the strut to remain at a more extended position.
Pros: Retains stock droop settings to prevent ball joint damage. Comes in many sizes. These are very popular and well tested. Here is a review of the Cornfed Setup http://www.tacomaterritory.com/~faqsection/content/liftinst/liftinst.htm
Cons: Requires spring compressor to install. May increase ride stiffness. May decrease suspension travel by limiting compression. These are very popular and the guy making them is overloaded. Be prepared to wait a while for even an order response.

The outside type currently made by All Pro Offroad is placed in between the top of the strut and the body mount. The spacer is shown in black. It creates lift by moving the strut unit downward from the stock position. It essentially makes the strut longer or you can view it as moving the body mount downward. In this picture the stock strut is replaced by All Pro's adjustable unit. This adjustable unit can add more preload to also adjust ride height. This adjustement will not increase droop because the strut rod remains the same length. The only thing that changes is the rod position in the shock like in the Cornfed spacer.
Pros (spacer only): Retains stock spring ride. Increases droop travel. Easy install without a spring compressor.
Cons (spacer only): May put additional strees on ball joints if the extra droop is excessive. Only comes in 2" length.

Excessive lift will decrease CV boot life, CV life if extreme and ball joint life in all situations. General opinion indicates that IFS ADD vehicles should not exceed 2" of lift through spacers or springs. Manual hubs can go to 3". Revtek Industries produces a combination spacer kit which uses both spacers inside and outside the strut to give a 3" lift. The idea being to limit the disadvantages of each type. This kit seems excessively expensive. Opinion runs that a 3" lift is too much for the CV boots to handle continuously. CV boot failure will quickly lead to CV failure. Here is a review of the Revtek setup http://www.off-road.com/toyota/taco/revtek.html

	For the front I went with Daystar Products 1" coil spacer kit. They make a 2.5" kit, shown at right, as well. You can buy them online at http://www.macromotive.com part number DAY-KT09105BK. You may have to search by Tacoma 4x4 as opposed to 4Runner 4x4. The front suspension is the same on both vehicles. Cost was $97 with shipping and they came in only a few days. The spacers are 1" thick, 4.5" in diameter, the top hole is 2" and tapers to a 2.75" hole on the bottom, the 10mm stud holes are about 3/8" OC from the outside at 120 degrees apart. The spacer is made from polyurethane and the markup must be incredible.
	Here is a picture of the strut still installed. The instructions say to remove the upper balljoint. I found this joint difficult to remove and passed on disconnecting it. All the other instructions with the kit were right on.
	Though the Daystar spacer fits outside the spring pack, longer studs have to be installed in the top plate so you will need a spring compressor. Make sure to grab as many coils as you possibly can and make sure the clamps are 180 degrees apart. A little extra time here will save you at assembly. Before removing the compressor clamps, test fit the strut to make sure all the holes will line up.
	Getting back to that upper ball joint... the reason for removing it is so that the lower suspension arm can be lowered enough to fit the longer strut package in. I found that the OEM bottle jack came in handy here. This isn't the first time the factory jack has come in handy for more than it's intended purpose.
	Here's the finished product nestled in. It installs in the same position as the Allpro unit, but it is only 1" thick. The danger with this sort of spacer lift is that the suspension has a considerably longer droop. At full droop, the upper arm will actually just touch the spring. I'll have to keep an eye on this.

	For the back I went with JCWhitney generic rubber coil spring spacers. The part number is 84ZX0661Y and the link above will take you there directly. Several people on the web have used them with success and at $9 each, you can't beat the price. The spacers are grooved on both sides so they are intended to be inserted between coils but this isn't my intention. The meat of the spacer is about 1" thick so that is how much lift I expect to get.
	Pulling each rear spring is about a 10 minute operation. Disconnect the sway bar link. Partially jack up the car to almost full droop. Disconnect the shock from the axle. Jack up the car until the wheel lifts off the ground. Pull the spring out. I have the new style multistage bump stops and elected to insert the spacer between the stop and the spring instead of between the stop and the frame mount. This allows more travel before the bump stop intervenes and may actually smooth out the ride more.
	If you just finished the front then you have a spring compressor handy. The easiest way to load the spring back in is to compress it a bit. Note that the spring fits only one way into the lower bucket. Place the compressors on so that they can be loosened once everything is in. The rear shocks are definately the droop stop for the back. Longer shocks would be the next thing to fiddle with but the OEM units don't easily max out so I'll be leaving them for now. Longer shocks will mean the handbrake cable is going to cause some trouble. After that probably the brake line would need some care. The ABS sensors, and in my case, the ARB air line and raised breather line run along the upper control arms and won't need further lengthening. You may notice from the two pictures that the spacers are grooved for springs on both sides and that they are bulging out. This concerns me. After a week of driving the situation is getting worse and I haven't yet been off road. I considered cutting them down and attaching a 1/2" backing plate on them but instead I will switch to Daystar's in the back.

	After some consideration, I decided that the JCW spacers will not have the longevity needed for the sometimes demanding offroading I do. Back to the internet and after tracking down the Daystar 1.5" rear spacers part number KT09107 I ordered them from Macromotive. At about $92 they are pricey too but they should last without problem.
	I'm getting good at disassembling the rear end. It's worth renting a spring compressor though. The Daystar spacer measures 6" in diameter with a 4.5" hole on the top that tapers to 4". This fits well over the factory progressive stop. The fit is more secure than the JCW and I look forward to hitting the trail.

Here are some before and after pictures.

Before lift	After front lift.	After lift.
Front before lift.	Front after lift.

From the results it is obvious that Daystar hasn't done their homework. The  kit is represented as a 1" lift. After receiving the kit but before installing it I emailed them inquiring why the spacer was 1" thick. This would push the lower control arm down one inch at the strut mounting point which would translate into more movement at the spindle. Imagine holding up your outstretched arm and moving the elbow down one inch. Your hand will consequently move down about two inches. This effect worried me however they assured me that the lift would be 1" to 1.25". The CV boot bellows touch slightly in one place and since I have the ADD system, the boots always spin. This isn't really the lift I wanted for that particular reason. It does however look pretty tough and the ground clearance has taken a leap. My preliminary test of going over some three foot wide rounded speed bumps has elicited a light clunking from probably the front end. I will have to track it down. Other than that the car drives pretty much the same. After an alignment it drives as nice as before.

Keep in mind that spacer and spring lifts do not, generally, limit up travel. Your wheels will still go in to the wheel well the same distance. In other words, lifts like this do not allow you to fit larger tires. To fit larger than 32" tires you will need either a body lift, bashed wheel wells, limited up travel or a full diff drop like the Procomp 4".

Update: After many trips offroad I can truly say I am happy with this lift. Clearance, approach, departure and break over angles are greatly improved. Other than the untraceable clunk which happens on rare occasions, I have had no problems. Overall the lift has settled to about 1.5" front and rear. The rear also does not bottom out on the stops as it does in factory trim. Due to the change in suspension geometry the car does not ride as smooth and the road can be felt through the steering wheel a bit more but I'm pretty picky too. For an update see my Camburg and difdrop Pages.

Update 5/5/07:
I have since removed the stock rear springs, airbags and spacers and replaced them with a set of stock front FJ80 springs. These springs provide 3.5" of lift over stock and have a ride very similar to stock. In the picture you can see the '99 spring with the 1.5" spacer and air bag without the bump stops compared to the shorter of the two FJ80 front springs.

Make sure to install the longer FJ80 spring on the heavier side of your truck. This will likely be the drivers side with the gas tank and front drive on a 3rd Gen 4Runner. I'm happy with the ride. The springs gave another 2" of rear lift and now the truck has a front rake versus being level. This is good for carrying load but looks a bit odd. From my limited tests, articulation of the axle is still very favorable for offroad.

You may be interested to know that the rear FJ80 springs will fit the rear of a 2nd Gen 4Runner and also provide lift.

My brief article at 4x4wire http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/4Runner/tech/suspension/lars.htm

http://www.larsdennert.com 3/4/2001