Poll: long term spacer lift members

This poll is not to talk about pros and cons of spacer lifts, there is a ton of info and posts out there to make an informed decision. I know alot of us fools choose to go the spacer route despite all the info out there. This is a poll only for people who have ran spacer lifts for a Period of time and have either had problems caused by spacers, or if you lived a long happy life with no issues. We know... buy once cry once.. but let’s see the outcome for people that actually run spacers long term.
I know this does not take into account a lot of factors like pavement princess vs. off road frequency ect. But let’s just start with the basics.
Last disclaimer: please don’t vote your opinion or stories you may have heard. Please only vote if you have actual personal experience.
Also, if you went 50k with no issues then decided to upgrade to a suspension lift, please go ahead and vote your experience while you had them

 

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haha what did you expect???

 

There are tons of people using spacers. And people are always asking questions about their longevity. IMO this would be interesting to see. I actually expected people to chime in

 

I now there are tons of people using them. Because they are cheap.

Of course it's possible to get 100k miles out of a spacer lift. You just have to drive it like its made of glass.

I'm not sure what you are looking to get out of this thread. If you want someone to assure you that you can get mileage out of them, then let me assure you that you can. Just don't take any hard hits and you'll be fine.

 

The shaft of my stock shock broke during mild off-roading right before a holiday weekend. I ended up spending $600 on some cheap replacements, and put on 6112 when they came off back order. So I had to buy 2 sets of coil overs to repair damage from a spacer lift. I bought truck with spacers, and knew they were trouble, but I did not get to it fast enough.

 

I have personally seen over a half dozen trucks over the years break coilovers on the trails because they had spacers.

 

My Tundra had them when I bought it. Couldn't get them off fast enough......well actually I did...heh..heh..

 

I’ve had my spacer lift for 9k miles, switching to 5100s.

 

Truck came from PO with a spacer lift. I had Toytec/Eibach coilovers swapped on within 4000 miles. I had a spacer lift on my 4runner for about a year and couldn't tolerate the handling characteristics, so I knew I wasn't keeping these.

I didn't have issues. But the PO also didn't put extended bump stops on, that's the main cause for failure. The shock collapses under load and acts as the bump stop.

 

Not looking for reassurance I’ve read all of the threads talking about the problems. This is just data of people that used them. Good and bad. Just valid data of users. It seems like it would be pretty useful imo

 

Is this spacers wedged in the coil or on top of the shock?

 

This is a good question to clarify. I was speaking in general terms. But I know people talk more highly of in coil spacers. I would say top spacers are more common. I will edit

 

Hockey Puck leveling/lift comes to mind. I had no issues with mine. Probably had 1K miles while I had them on. Not sure when they were installed.

 

I have maybe 15-20k miles with a coach builder spacer set on my truck. 2 on each side. got about an inch of lift iirc. there was one occasion where I made a hard right turn while breaking heavily into a side street that had a bit of a dip then ramped up. heard a loud clunk on front left of truck. loud enough that I pulled over and got out to inspect. no idea what it was but since then have put lots of miles on it and no issues.

I feel like if I was over compressing the shock there I'd have seen leakage and felt a difference in ride. its in the back of my mind to pick up a lightly used set of Pro shocks or go new bilstein at some point but it's not a rush.

 

Our 2007 2wd has a spacer level kit. We acquired it with the truck when we purchased about a year ago. At 130k miles , no known issues. 99% pavement for us, would assume same from previous owner.

 

I went 4 wheeling last week. 3 inch front top spacer. I had the same clunking when I hit a solid bump or rock at some speed. I am ordering a set of upgraded bump stops and I will report back if I see any changes

 

There's a very good chance that clunking is your coiliver bottoming out. Without longer bumpstops your coilover acts as the limiting factor for your positive travel.

That is the reason you see the pictures of the coilover stems snapped or folded. They're not that strong and not meant to take that type of impact.

 

I have a hair under 30k on mine. 6” pro comp. came on the truck when I bought it new. I know what the risks are with blowing out shock mount bolts and the limited travel due to the pre load. I bought my truck like most as a DD. The last time I checked(other then giant potholes) I’m not “sending my truck” it’s not a rock crawler, it is a lifted truck that when I go to the dunes I could go drive around and play with....cautiously though of course. After all if I was going to the dunes I had quads to get stupid on. At least those can get put back on a trailer and towed home.

I have played with the idea of swapping out the spacers. They aren’t my first choice admittedly but spending $2500 or more on coilovers and some UCA’s so that I can drive my truck the exact same way but say I have cool kid coilovers is nowhere near a priority for me.

If your going to beat on it sure start with coilovers because it makes sense. But if you are just a DD you should be fine for quite a while. Maybe upgrade if you need to get new shocks someday down the road.

 

Had a RC 3” spacer for 7 mos - 10k miles

No issues, but I couldn’t handle the stiff ride. Teeth chattering and sore tailbone, not to mention the constant despair that I might’ve broken something going over potholes (Memphis is TERRIBLE about that) or snailing down trails to get to my hunting/fishing grounds. Ponied up for Toytec BOSS C/O and haven’t looked back. Peace of mind is definitely worth it to me.

 

211k, 1.75” on my taco, no issues. Spacer lift really isn’t any different than 5100’s or anything else. Just changes the control arm angle.

No lift on my tundra, no lift planned.

 

The spacer is probably fine for street driving. But offroad you have to limit up travel since the shocks travel arc is now different than the control arms travel arc

 

I’d assume there are a lot of folks that take spacers off-road, but I bet there’s a lot more that don’t.
My previous owner never took my truck off-road, and the spacers were good to him for 40K.
I get the truck - and boom. Within 10K blew a shock. I think I wheeled more in my front yard over a week than the previous owner did in 2 years.

 

@Disfigurative bought my Tundra used with 26,000 on it, was lifted by dealer, now I'm close to 64,000 starting to hear some creaking metal banging noises up front not sure what they are or where coming from, no serious off-roading, just beach drives or dirt roads, city highway mainly, it's ok rough ride, so far only complaints are those noises