front spacers/trim packers

[20005spd]

why do you need the spacer, brian? just for looks? because its just gonna make it easier for you to bottom out your shock or it'll stress out your lower balljoints.

not worth it. a little rake looks good, esp if you load the rear down before wheelin'. with what you have now, you can clear bigger tires so you should be worrying about 33's!

i only want the spacer so it dosent have to much rake. i figure it will still have some rake even after the extra spacer. as of right now my rear sits a tiny bit lower with toytecs 3" springs, cant remember if they are the 890 or 891. and im only semi loaded down. on a trail day i still havta put in more tools, cooler, spare cvs, and lets not even get started on what i bring to rausch creek also ill be making a rear bumper soon and thatll take up alot of weight. i guess first thing i should do is just put the lc coils in and see what i have and figure for a little extra weight once its loaded more. im in the process of buyin a 410 elocked 3rd and housing to bolt in so i dont have to mod my housing. when i get that ill put the lc coils in. ive been looking at new tires, ill be getting some after the elocker is in and the rear bumper is built

[Lee]

dude you shouldnt stress about this, this is silly. the front end can only be lifted so high, the rear should be lifted to fit 33's / handle gear.

dont worry about leveling things out, these trucks look great with some rake

[MillerPKA]

i tell you what, i have 4 ome 5mm trim packers downstairs, if you want you can double those up on each side. 20 bucks shipped and their yours, pm me if you're interested

[bamachem]

i only want the spacer so it dosent have to much rake. i figure it will still have some rake even after the extra spacer. as of right now my rear sits a tiny bit lower with toytecs 3" springs, cant remember if they are the 890 or 891. and im only semi loaded down. on a trail day i still havta put in more tools, cooler, spare cvs, and lets not even get started on what i bring to rausch creek also ill be making a rear bumper soon and thatll take up alot of weight. i guess first thing i should do is just put the lc coils in and see what i have and figure for a little extra weight once its loaded more. im in the process of buyin a 410 elocked 3rd and housing to bolt in so i dont have to mod my housing. when i get that ill put the lc coils in. ive been looking at new tires, ill be getting some after the elocker is in and the rear bumper is built

you can get a 3/8" thick steel spacer + studs from wheeler's offroad. you can't buy just the HDPE spacer from steve as far as i know (he only sells complete kits for a reason), and since you got an attitude with him, good luck with any help that he *was* going to offer.

if you have just tundra coils w/ the studs and/or spacer, then you don't have 3" up front - more like 1.5". the spacer will add 1/2". it's a lot of work to take the spring packs out and essentially rebuild them for 1/2" at this point. are you sure 1/2" is worth it?

if that's all you have, then you'll be fine on CV's, as long as you're running the correct shocks - which you are. if you have something long like OME's, then you WILL eventually break your front CV's if you droop them all the way (like climbing over the crest of a ledge). they will bind with too much droop. i had 2" of lift (tundras w/ one topout) and i broke two CV's due to over-extension at tellico. people who run over 2.5" are flirting with breakage, and if you're over 3" and you haven't broken anything yet is because you have some really short shocks (and therefore no down travel in the suspension) or you don't really wheel it all that hard. at 3.5" of lift, you only have a couple inches of downward suspension travel before the outer CV's begin to bind. the idea behind lifting a IFS runner is to move the "at-rest" point a couple inches higher, but keep the point of full droop very close to the factory point. that way, you can guarantee that the CV's won't fail prematurely, but you can run larger tires for more clearance under the body and axles.

anyway, the last thing that you said is that you're looking for a 4.10 e-locked third so you "won't have to modify" your housing. you couldn't be any more wrong here. you should look for one that matches your current gear ratio (3.90 or 4.10 - have you verified your ratio?) so that you won't have to change out the front differential at the same time. you will STILL have to cut/grind, weld, and tap your current housing in order to install the locked third member. the only thing you will be saving yourself from will be having to swap the front diff so that the gear ratio matches the new e-locked rear. as far as i know, tacomas came with either 4.10 or 4.56 (4cyl - 5spd) lockers. 4runners came with 4.30 or 4.56 lockers.

[20005spd]

look i didnt mean to come off as an asswhole to steve or anyone else, its just that i thought i clearly stated i had tundra coils and was only lookin for the small topout. i did make it tough to understand when i kept sayin match the lc coils. i didnt mean to say match. but when i kept gettin replys sayin i was going to high in the front i got a lil frustrated. i knew what i wanted would work cuz steves kits were using it, and i like all the research him and others put into this setup. i didnt think he would have sold me the topouts since he states that on his site but i figured i could get a direction to look. i never thought this thread would turn out this way i figured a few posts would show me diff places to get those spacers and that would be it.

as far as the rear end. i know i have 4:10s for sure. i want the entire housing and 3rd member from an elocked 3rd gen 4runner with 4:10s. that will deff bolt in with no problems. i dont have the time to modify my non elocked housing to fit an elocker and would rather just spend the extra cash.

[bamachem]

i understand on the rant about the topout. the problem is that they're not readily available. your choices are wheeler's or toytec. how thick is the toytec spacer? the wheeler's spacer is 3/8" thick and yeilds 1/2" of lift.

on the 4.10 - you won't find a 4Runner with 4.10's and a locker. they don't exist. 4Runners with 4CYL engines and locker got 4.56 gears and 4Runners with v6 engines and locker got 4.30. to get 4.10, you have to get a tacoma third. you can still get an e-locker 4runner axle housing, but the third will have to be from a tacoma to match the gearing.

[bamachem]

hey, here's a page (happens to belong to steve) that has the axle codes and gear ratio's, etc...

http://www.sonoransteel.com/Toyota_axle_codes.html

and here's a chart for tacomas:

http://www.vibratesoftware.com/html_...ota_Tacoma.htm

for reference, my 99 has VZN185L-GKPZKA and is 4.30 with a locker and 265/70R16 tires (limited 4wD)

[20005spd]

i understand on the rant about the topout. the problem is that they're not readily available. your choices are wheeler's or toytec. how thick is the toytec spacer? the wheeler's spacer is 3/8" thick and yields 1/2" of lift.

on the 4.10 - you won't find a 4Runner with 4.10's and a locker. they don't exist. 4Runners with 4CYL engines and locker got 4.56 gears and 4Runners with v6 engines and locker got 4.30. to get 4.10, you have to get a tacoma third. you can still get an e-locker 4runner axle housing, but the third will have to be from a tacoma to match the gearing.

toytec's spacer gives 3/4" of lift, more than i want. im going to try the lc coils without a spacer and see what it looks like. if it isnt to bad ill just leave it, if it is to much ill get the wheelers spacer.

and thanks for the knowledge on the elocker situation. looks like im now looking for a 4:56 front and rear, rear with elocker.

[bamachem]

you know the difference between what you have and what you want is 1/4", right?

you have more difference than that in the height of the truck if you measure it with a full tank compared to an empty tank, right?

3/4" vs. 1/2" isn't going to make a difference. going to 3.5" of lift (extreme) over 2" (sonoran steel front setup) will...

no prob. you can find 4.56 e-lockers once in a while, but they're a pretty rare beast. 4.10's are pretty common in the tacoma realm and 4.30's in the 4runner world.

if you're looking at a gear change in addition to an e-locker and new axle housing, then you might look at your options a little closer.

you can:

1. find a donor rig for a good price. buy it, swap the rear axle assembly and the front diff, then sell off the donor rig and possibly even make a few bucks. this one is VERY high in labor that you have to put into it, but the overall cost is minimal as long as you can easily flip the donor rig for a quick sale when it's all over with. that will take a very good price point on the front end, but it just might be worth it.

2. go with ARB's and new gears.
2a - buy a new diff and new third completely set up from randy's ring and pinion and then swap them in and sell off your stock stuff. you'll be out the most money, but you'll have minimal downtime and new stuff.
2b - buy some ARB's and gears online as well as some shells (empty/donor diff & third) and then have the lockers and gears installed locally (called a bench install)then pull your third member and front diff yourself to do the swap and save on some labor money. you can then sell off your stock diff and third when your done to offset the cost of the donors. downtime isn't too bad, but the cost is up there.
2c - buy some ARB's and gears online and then have them installed locally after pulling your third member and front diff yourself. downtime is longer, but cost is about as cheap as it's going to get - unless you can find a friend who is a gearhead to set them up for you.

[20005spd]

you know the difference between what you have and what you want is 1/4", right?

you have more difference than that in the height of the truck if you measure it with a full tank compared to an empty tank, right?

3/4" vs. 1/2" isn't going to make a difference. going to 3.5" of lift (extreme) over 2" (sonoran steel front setup) will...

no prob. you can find 4.56 e-lockers once in a while, but they're a pretty rare beast. 4.10's are pretty common in the tacoma realm and 4.30's in the 4runner world.

if you're looking at a gear change in addition to an e-locker and new axle housing, then you might look at your options a little closer.

you can:

1. find a donor rig for a good price. buy it, swap the rear axle assembly and the front diff, then sell off the donor rig and possibly even make a few bucks. this one is VERY high in labor that you have to put into it, but the overall cost is minimal as long as you can easily flip the donor rig for a quick sale when it's all over with. that will take a very good price point on the front end, but it just might be worth it.

2. go with ARB's and new gears.
2a - buy a new diff and new third completely set up from randy's ring and pinion and then swap them in and sell off your stock stuff. you'll be out the most money, but you'll have minimal downtime and new stuff.
2b - buy some ARB's and gears online as well as some shells (empty/donor diff & third) and then have the lockers and gears installed locally (called a bench install)then pull your third member and front diff yourself to do the swap and save on some labor money. you can then sell off your stock diff and third when your done to offset the cost of the donors. downtime isn't too bad, but the cost is up there.
2c - buy some ARB's and gears online and then have them installed locally after pulling your third member and front diff yourself. downtime is longer, but cost is about as cheap as it's going to get - unless you can find a friend who is a gearhead to set them up for you.

when i first put my tundra coils in i used the toytec spacer i had and it was way to high. i think not only was it to high for the ome springs i had out back but i think it was just to high all together. i dont notice any difference with a full tank or an empty tank of gas, but i never measured. also my tank holds a few less gallons with it being smashed and all but like i said im going to try the lc coils out and see what it looks like. the rear of my truck is loaded up pretty well so who knows it might not look awkward and ill keep the front spacerless.

as far as an e locker i dont know what im going to do yet. i was tryin to cut some labor time out by not modifing a housing but if i need to swap a front diff cuz gears wont match then im really not saving any time, just spending more money and wasting more time. if tacos come with 4:10 elockers than maybe ill just get one of those and mod the housing i have. probably be the best way since all the other options you listed are kinda out of my price range.