Daystar lift

[Bobby]

And here's the final pic of the side. Don't mind the dirt, I don't .

The nose is kinda high. I think the front is lifted about 3" and the rear is 2". You can definitely feel the difference in height from front to back. I don't like it too much but I'm getting used to it.

 

[Bobby]

And here's a pic of my truck before.

 

[dcampen]

Yeah, as me and others have commented before, I just don't understand why the spacer lift kits are being designed to lift the front more than the rear. And, if you put some heavy stuff in the cargo bay the tilt will be even more pronounced.

 

[Bobby]

Yeah, as me and others have commented before, I just don't understand why the spacer lift kits are being designed to lift the front more than the rear. And, if you put some heavy stuff in the cargo bay the tilt will be even more pronounced.

I was one that brought up the issue . I was originally going to go with the Revtek but didn't like the idea of the front being higher than the rear so I went with Daystar. I cut the front spring pad and installed it with the Daystar lift because I thought the front bull bar would bring it down some so I wanted a 2.5" front lift but it looks like that didn't happen so the front is higher. The strut really doesn't compress much even with a 5' pole and some leverage. I ended up almost taking apart the whole front suspension to get that sucker back in. If I had to do it over, I would've left out the original spring pad.

Its kind of a funny feeling driving around with the front higher than the rear. I'm going to have to adjust the headlights too. Hopefully, the fronts will settle a bit.

 

[bulldog-yota]

I dont think you are supposed to still use the OEM coil spring isolator. It is repalced by the Daystar spacer.

Shouldn't make too much difference. Drive around a bit and then have th alignment done, the front should be a bit lower then.

 

[Bobby]

I just wanted the extra 1/4" or so to compensate for the bull bar, or so I thought.

I was going to get an alignment this weekend at my bro-in-law's shop. Looks like the fronts have positive camber. Maybe .5 deg or so. Rears look ok.

 

[4RunningGuy]

Looking good! :bigok: How much does the bull bar actually weigh that it brought the front end down?

 

[4route]

hmm ... that lower daystar spacer looks squished and soft. is it?

also, there is a very good reason the lift is higher in the front than in the rear. as you know, in stock form, the runner's nose is lower than the rear. it rakes down in the front. to level it out and bring the nose up some in comparison to the rear, you lift the front more than the rear. hence why the companies state that they are "to level your 4Runner" ... it actually takes about 1" more lift in the front than in the rear to level out your rig, but the .5" differences the Daystar and Revtek have is still helpful.

 

[bulldog-yota]

The coil spacer is not made of hard material as it performs the role of coil spring isolator as well. The pics look a bit worse than it should because of the sttock coil spring isolator that is still in. But nothing to worry about. If mine hasn't broken, I seriously doubt anybody's would

 

[4route]

oh, okay, gotcha. Revtek's is very firm and hefty, so i just wondered what that was about.



makes sense though! and yeah, if yours hasn't broken, i too highly doubt anyone else's would.

 

[Bobby]

The bull bar is probably about 40 lbs or so. When I lowered my spare tire, the rear of the truck came up almost an inch. I figured the front was the same and adding more weight to the front would lower it. That's why I put the stock pad on with the Daystar spacer.

The spacers are very firm. Almost like hard plastic. I wouldn't be able to bend it like that with my hands but there's a lot of weight on that as well as the stock spring pad which compresses the spring a bit more.

I really don't agree with the "leveling" idea. Toyota has incredible engineering resources and I don't think they'd sell a car with the nose 1" lower w/o reason. Others mentioned that if you look at the running boards, it's level with the ground when stock. I think the front fender is just lower than the rear for whatever reason. Now that I have the lift, it does feel like I'm facing upwards rather than straight ahead.

Now that I have the lift, it's time to start doing some off roading. I'll probably have to (yes, have to ) get new tires this summer.

 

[TranceKrayz]

my thinking is that the rear fender has more clearance for hauling and towing. a lot of trucks are like that. when you add the weight of cargo in the trunk and your trailer...the rear will be lower, and you don't want to be dragging your @$$.

 

[bulldog-yota]

The rear coils in the 4R is a bit soft to my liking. Whenever you add a little bit of weight it quickly sags. It works well for ride comfort and stability, but sucks when you carry load.

The front is a bit lower as most of the weight you carry in the 4R goes to the rear. So the reason why people do leveling is for the unladen look :

Besides you need more lift in the front for offroading as tht is the lowest part stock and scrapes the most offroad. Next you will notice the gas tank is becoming a pain ater you lifted. My gas tank skid has been "excersized" pretty well now. (I think Good Times got me beat there though)

 

[MAC4Runner]

I dont think you are supposed to still use the OEM coil spring isolator. It is repalced by the Daystar spacer.

Shouldn't make too much difference. Drive around a bit and then have th alignment done, the front should be a bit lower then.

I have Daystar spacers in my T4R as well and as stated above the OEM spring isolator is meant to replaced by the Daystar spacer. Removal of the OEM isolator will definitely lower your front-end.

 

[MAC4Runner]

I really don't agree with the "leveling" idea. Toyota has incredible engineering resources and I don't think they'd sell a car with the nose 1" lower w/o reason. Others mentioned that if you look at the running boards, it's level with the ground when stock. I think the front fender is just lower than the rear for whatever reason. Now that I have the lift, it does feel like I'm facing upwards rather than straight ahead.

FYI - The front-end of the T4R is lower to meet laws regulating front bumper height more than anything else.

 

[4route]

I really don't agree with the "leveling" idea. Toyota has incredible engineering resources and I don't think they'd sell a car with the nose 1" lower w/o reason. Others mentioned that if you look at the running boards, it's level with the ground when stock. I think the front fender is just lower than the rear for whatever reason. Now that I have the lift, it does feel like I'm facing upwards rather than straight ahead.

I never said that they did it without reason. They did it with many reasons in mind - towing, bumper height, safety, etc. As you know, lifts are meant to give ground clearance for off-roading, and also help the approach angle. If you look at an older 4Runner next to a 4th gen. you will see, noticeably, that the 4th gen. is angled down toward the nose of the truck whereas the older 4Runner isn't.

Yes, they did this on purpose, so part of what the lift manufacturers sought to do was provide a kit that would level it out from front to rear. That said, it looks more like the stance of the older runners now, gives more ground clearance, and makes it so that if you're driving up to a pile of mud, you have less chance of digging your nose down into it.

or something.

 

[Bobby]

This is the first time someone responded to my concerns about lifting the front higher than the rear and a few people responded. Thanks .

Now that it's been a couple of days and it actually looks like the fronts have settled a bit, I went to my b-i-l's shop and aligned the wheels. Actually the fronts only. I'm already liking the solid rear axles :.

I'm still getting used to climbing in and getting out.

While my 4runner was on the lift, I decided to take pics of the rear spacers.

 

[Bobby]

And the passenger side:

 

[4RunningGuy]

Did you install the little round bumpstops with the bolt sticking out of it? There is no instructions of where that goes....... Atleast I think it's a bumpstop.

 

[Bobby]

I didn't install the bumpstops or the shock covers. I couldn't figure out where they went either and the shock covers didn't fit so I left them out. No problems so far .