Dangers of Strut spacers

Re: Dangers of Strut spacers

Postby Abtheman on Sat, 09 Aug 2014 9:13 +0000

Any spring which is higher than stock will effect the angle of the cv. All i know is anything from 3" upwards requires additional mods, like spacers for the sway bar, diff drop kit and so on..... I now have a 2" lift in my hilux and using dobinsons springs in the front with monroe shocks and nitro raw rear shocks. I have not changed the leaf springs as i am happy with the way it sits now and i never carry a load more than a few rubbish bags etc. On the road it handles great and a noticable change over stock setup. I ended up selling the front strut spacers and rear extended shackles for the same price i brought them so was happy with that haha. In regards to the lift i have done on my hilux i has some people say if i didnt raise the back as well it would be like i was looking at the sky....but this is not the case at all! It now looks like a normal level vehicle
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Re: Dangers of Strut spacers

Postby twake34 on Tue, 26 Aug 2014 5:19 +0000

Skog07 wrote:
twake34 wrote:Wow - I've read the whole thread and still have questions…

How do I level the front end SAFELY without chucking out the OME suspension kit that I have and starting again? (Who makes a suspension system that leaves the nose dragging!) If strut spacers are the answer, what kits do I need?
- Diff drop kit
- Bump stop extensions

In a nut shell my question is:
- CAN strut spacers be done SAFELY/PROPERLY and if so EXACTLY what kits do you need?

Twake34 another bit of a reading exercise mate Sorry about that.
Have a look at this thread.
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=2339&start=160
I ended up fitting some King springs into the OME front strut. Got some good results out of it until I replaced it with Ultimate gear last year. I got the springs from Repco for about $170 for the set. I have a write up in the link on how it all went. Brought it back up to +30mm which is where I wanted to be.
Cheers
Skog


Question...
Will fitting these springs affect the CV joint still? Is it something that I can safely run permanently? Are there any other bits and pieces I need to buy to go with it (packers???) or just get the springs and chuck them in?
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Re: Dangers of Strut spacers

Postby Rocket55 on Tue, 26 Aug 2014 6:32 +0000

With a 2" lift your CV's will be fine, the post above and hundreds of others tell you this. The biggest risk to your CV's is a big dose of right foot when off road. Most CV failures are driver error and coincidently most drivers don't like to hear that so the suspension lift cops the bulk of the blame. Strut spacers on the other hand are evil and DO CAUSE damage.
Cheers Rod
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Re: Dangers of Strut spacers

Postby VMN on Tue, 26 Aug 2014 6:44 +0000

Rocket55 wrote:With a 2" lift your CV's will be fine, the post above and hundreds of others tell you this. The biggest risk to your CV's is a big dose of right foot when off road. Most CV failures are driver error and coincidently most drivers don't like to hear that so the suspension lift cops the bulk of the blame. Strut spacers on the other hand are evil and DO CAUSE damage.


X 2- if a front wheel is in the air, right foot should be too!

You can read my thoughts on strut spacers in a future edition of 4WD Action after their Journo was on the phone to me today!
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Re: Dangers of Strut spacers

Postby TOYZX on Sun, 08 Feb 2015 7:16 +0000

Sorry if I'm digging up an old thread but I just learned the hard way why these things are bad! I was lucky it didn't snap off so I was able to get home. Image
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Re: Dangers of Strut spacers

Postby kizza1 on Mon, 09 Feb 2015 4:20 +0000

i worked with a bloke who was very hard on his work ute and snapped 2shocks in the space of 3months. i was in the car when it happened once he was doing about 60kph on a dirt road and hit a pothole. made a hell of a bang and clunked over every bump but still managed to drive 70k's to get back to camp. he didnt have strut spacers though.
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Re: Dangers of Strut spacers

Postby MLTZER on Sat, 21 Feb 2015 5:08 +0000

EFS just posted this on their FB page.... 10-12mm lift what do you all think?

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Re: Dangers of Strut spacers

Postby webbo on Sun, 22 Feb 2015 6:24 +0000

I can get 10-12mm lift by pumping my front tyres up :D
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Learning about strut spacers the hard way

Postby suchawally on Sun, 19 Apr 2015 12:06 +0000

Today I learnt what happens when you stress front suspension with strut spacers fitted. Hit a mud hole at a reasonable speed and bent the bottom of the strut 90 degrees. Luckily I was with mates and could limp the car home.

The spacers were fitted on Friday and I had done about half an hour off the bitumen before this happened.

I hope everyone else can learn from this. Doesn't matter what dribble the website has in their information for the product, it's bullshit. Do not buy them.

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Re: Learning about strut spacers the hard way

Postby Pete'90 on Sun, 19 Apr 2015 12:54 +0000

Should post it on the n70 hilux page on facebook. Not alot of belief on that page. Lowering the top of the strut 35mm to gain 50mm height requires you to also lower the bump stop 35mm as well this will prevent the shock bottoming out causing the above bent struts.

Heres a link to another thread on this subject
http://www.newhilux.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=5959
Build thread:
viewtopic.php?f=41&t=23139

Regards
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Re: Dangers of Strut spacers

Postby Talktheroo on Sun, 19 Apr 2015 1:28 +0000

I think with the information that is on this thread, forget about spacers.
That would make sense to me.
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Re: Dangers of Strut spacers

Postby Rocket55 on Sun, 19 Apr 2015 4:05 +0000

Here you go Suchawally, now your bent strut can fell right at home with the rest of the bent struts from strut spacers.

Threads merged
Cheers Rod
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Re: Dangers of Strut spacers

Postby Hutchy on Mon, 04 May 2015 8:14 +0000

Hi Guys, I've had a flick through this thread and have seen some bad results from these strut spacers, however most seem to be from installing 35mm or bigger. I have just installed a 20mm spacer, and now a bit on the nervous side. Has anyone been running with a smaller spacer (25mm or less) and is fine?

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Re: Dangers of Strut spacers

Postby TOYZX on Mon, 04 May 2015 9:44 +0000

They r all bad news! But less so if you modify your bump stop by the same size a s the spacer you put in, prevents the shock from bottoming out.
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Re: Dangers of Strut spacers

Postby nivloc89 on Wed, 10 Jun 2015 9:35 +0000

This is an interesting thread. But no one has mentioned if you run spacers with an extended ball joint or with adjustable UCA.

If you run a 2inch suspension lift with a 25mm spacer to give 3inch of lift over all, and then run adjustable UCA will this solve this issue of the ball joint binding??

Should the bump stops still be extended?
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Re: Dangers of Strut spacers

Postby Rocket55 on Thu, 11 Jun 2015 5:45 +0000

No. The UCA and ball joint has nothing to do with it.

If you put a 25mm strut spacer in the you need to add 25mm to the bump stop otherwise you will bottom out the shock and bend it.
Cheers Rod
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Re: Dangers of Strut spacers

Postby chada398 on Mon, 15 Jun 2015 3:26 +0000

Would people also be averse to 6mm EFS spacers MLTZER referenced earlier on this page to level out efs struts after bullbar install? Cheers
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Re: Dangers of Strut spacers

Postby fourby4diesel on Tue, 29 Mar 2016 4:25 +0000

Don't use them, they can cause so many dramas.

Upper ball joint damaged
Image
Image
Way too much travel, the UCA is well in the coil.
If this was to go offroad it would likely bust a c/v easily.
Image
Lower ball joints not happy either
Image

Quality brands make the limit of the travel for many reasons, do yourselves a favour, don't use strut spacers.

Want to raise the front a bit? A set of coils is all you need. $200.
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Re: Dangers of Strut spacers

Postby ktm300 on Wed, 30 Mar 2016 3:55 +0000

Poor Man Pays Twice ! Do it right the first time and not the cheap arse way .

It always amazes me what people pay for the pride and joy (hilux) and then they go all cheap on the mods ???


Never understood that ..
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Re: Dangers of Strut spacers

Postby rds_929 on Wed, 30 Mar 2016 12:20 +0000

went back to the shop after my suspension install and they said if i wanted a bit more front lift that 10mm spacer would be the way to go ?? they assured my they would still be safe
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