1/2 Inch Spacer Lift

Hi all,

I want to add 1 inch of height to the front of my Taco. 4x4 DCLB OR. Whats the best 1/2 inch spacer kit? Im looking for the plate plus any type of nut/bolt addition.

Also my truck will only be driven on roads, so I shouldnt experience any drivetrain / suspension pre mature wear from this right?

thanks

 

Seems the toytec 1/2” spacers give 3/4” life and they come with longer studs. I’m debating going that route myself. Haven’t been able to decide between the 1/4” or 1/2” spacers...

no matter where it’s being driven you’ll need to go get it aligned after making the change.

 

https://www.headstrongoffroad.com/store/p30/HS_1/2"_Top_Plate_Spacers_-_TT05512-TPS.html

I would also get a 1 inch rear Tapered block lift to compliment the front and keep some factory rake. Youll have a much better overall look than just doing the front alone. 1 inch all around.

 

I used the Headstrong shown above. It comes with new studs and nuts, if you use the supplied nuts you don't need to replace the studs. I got just a bit over one inch of lift.

 

This! Keep a little bit of rake. Looks a thousand times better and when you throw camping gear in the back it sorta levels out.

The toytec spacer works pretty well, especially for the cost. I'm not sure if the studs they provide fit snuggly to the oem struts, but with my dobinsons struts I had to weld the studs to the top plate. No auto shop in my area had studs that were the correct size for the dobinsons plate

 

Yes. I started my build off with only a 1/2 front spacer. Then later added the 1'' block in the rear, and truck looked overall much better and more lifted.

I then later went to the Eibach pro kit with AAL in rear, and wish i did this from the start.

 

Im working completely backwards from you haha. On my last Tacoma I went straight for the eibach pro kit and loved it, just traded that truck in last week and took all my parts except the lift.

So with just buying a new truck my wife said I can’t immediately buy a lift so I threw in a 1/2” top hat spacer and 1” rear block.

 

Did you get a pic of it with just the front installed? Can you do that first and let me know your before and after numbers?

 

The danger of top hat spacers is lowering the strut so the bumpstop doesn't contact the strike pad anymore. This caused your shock to essentially act like a bumpstop, which its not meant to handle that. At 1/2" I do not know personally if it will be an issue, the proper way to check would be taking the spring off the coilover and cycle the suspension seeing if the bumpstop contacts.

Here's a great YouTube channel to learn some more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_68Hc8GtLko

 

Good point. I forgot to tell OP that I have extended bump stops in the front as well to prevent that from happening

 

Completely agree. Do I think the 1/2” spacer will be an issue? No. But it’s not my long term solution. I will go back to a full suspension lift once my wife forgets that I bought a new truck, and the supply chain possibly gets back to not having 5 month lead times.

 

Thanks all. So its sounds like the consensus is:
-1/2 Inch Headstrong plate for the front
-1 Inch block for the rear
-Potentially add a bigger bump stop (Anyone have a recommendation of where/what to buy?)
-No expected pre mature wear since its such a small change

Does anyone have a side pic of their truck with a 1/2 inch plate installed in the front?

 

I highly recommend Streetrays 1/2” spacers over the other brands out there because you won’t need to disassemble your struts to put longer bolts in, and they’re $35 for the pair! They come with shorter nylon lock nuts that are just low profile enough to thread onto the factory studs, so they’ll save you the hassle of dealing with spring compressors and installing longer studs. The Streetrays are aluminum just like Toytec, Headstrong, etc… I’ve been running them for about 6 months now and they worked out perfectly for just a hair over 1” lift and I retained 100% of the factory ride. As others mentioned, with larger spacers you have to worry about shock damage from over-compression, but with a .5” like these, they aren’t big enough to be an issue and extended bump stops are not needed (lots of people use these in addition to their coilovers just the level out taco lean).

Here’s a couple shots of mine with the .5” front spacers (and 265/75/16s with Headstrong AAL in the back)…

 

Hello Sir- this is great info. Do you mind sharing a link to both the spacer and the AAL. Does AAL add height? If so, do you recommend an AAL instead of a block? Im guessing AAL will add stiffness to the ride?

 

Actually after watching part 2 of the video, I think I understand it as if you add 1/2” spacer to the front, your basically in great shape and not affecting the limits of the control arms or suspension. I think, and I could be wrong that your essentially accomplishing duplicating the extended travel shock as shown in part 1. Again, I could be wrong. But now I’m going ahead with the 1/2” spacers in lieu of the 1/4”. If I need to I’ll deal with 1/2” block in the rear simply for rake.

 

Here are the spacers: https://www.streetrays.com/sr-1quot...-for-05-18-tacoma-fj-cruiser-4wd-2wd-blk.html Mine came with nylon lock nuts instead of the normal nuts shown in their pic. They say ‘05-18 Tacoma, but they’re all the same for ‘05-22, they just haven’t updated the page in a while.

Yes, the AAL gives about 1.5” lift, but with my camper shell’s weight, my truck’s sitting pretty much exactly at 1” lift all the way around. I put the AAL on about 2 weeks before I got the shell installed, and I can’t say I really thought it felt any stiffer. Maybe a slight amount if anything, but this AAL rides very nice with or without additional weight back there. Also, 3 leaf progressive AALs tend to ride smoother than the single AAL leafs. Mine is the “no cut” 3 leaf from Headstrong, which is nice because it’s the only one you don’t have to grind off the 2 factory leaf shackles to install. So it’s easier, but also gives you the option to return it to stock. https://www.headstrongoffroad.com/s..._AAL_with_u-bolts_(PAIR)_-_HS-TOY516-3AL.html

I recommend an AAL over a block because it increases payload capacity to support things like a shell. If you won’t be running significant additional weight back there, you could save some cash and do a 1” block (I wouldn’t go higher than that personally though). Whatever you go with, I agree with the others who said to lift the back and the front together to keep some rake. That way you won’t be dragging ass when you load it up to do truck stuff with your truck.

 

Here is mine with just the street rays spacer on the front.

 

To install the spacers , can you undo the sway bar, the upper control arm, the wire to the abs , and lower and upper bolts for the shock and push down on the Lca and remove to put the spacer on ??? , I don’t want to loosen and take out the lower control arm cam bolts …….

 

I bought 3/8” spacers from wheelers , thinking of putting 1/4 on the passengers and 3/8 on the drivers side , have a Dclb 2 wd with 5100 and 884 ome coils , want a little more lift . It’s even right now 37” floor to fender front and back .

 

I went through all this months ago, you should be able to find the thread somewhere but the long and short of it is a .5 spacer up front is no problem. Outback I happen to add a 1 3/8 spacer or something like that because my topper and I always carry some gear. I’ve wheeled my truck and done tons of back country exploring with no issues. I also loaded my bed completely full and towed several thousand pounds when I moved. It worked out great, I’m very happy with the results and the truck drives stock. I also had zero issues with the alignment. I have a few random photos from my recent trips over the last month but if you want better comparative photos then find that thread. It’s probably on my post history but honestly don’t waste your time. Get the .5 front spacer and 1 inch rear blocks, done.

Good luck!