Front suspension spacers/levelling kit, do they work with the GX470?

[Redlyne]

I picked up a front levelling kit for my GX. I have a mechanic friend who was going to throw them in for me. He's saying that he can get them in but then he won't be able to reinstall my front ride height sensor in the proper position. is he missing something or is this a problem when doing a levelling kit on a GX? What are others doing?

thanks for the help.

 

[mercedeezel]

i dont think the GX front has a ride height control - only in the rear to level things when towing. However, there is dampening control (sport / comfort setting dial in the cab) that controls the dampening of the front struts. Maybe that's what he's saying will be out of position once the spacers are added.

 

[GXO]

There is a plug at the top of the strut tower. Depending on the spacer it could block the plug.

 

[mercedeezel]

yeah, basically the spacer will bring the strut down, so the plug Dan mentions and all its related bracketry ((circled in red below) will have no place to go.

 

[yackowski]

I used a 2" Toytec spring in the front and tricked the air bags in the rear for the additional 1/2" to perfectly level my GX.

 

[Scat Adams]

You should really think about avoiding the spacers all together and going with a new spring & shock combo up front. Your truck probably has a decent bit of miles on it with the stock components, adding those spacers is going to put more stress on those already worn parts in addition to making it ride worse. This route will allow you to ditch that bracket entirely, improve your overall ride/off road capability plus give it the lift you wanted.

Just my two cents, good luck!

 

[Snowrydr01]

You should really think about avoiding the spacers all together and going with a new spring & shock combo up front. Your truck probably has a decent bit of miles on it with the stock components, adding those spacers is going to put more stress on those already worn parts in addition to making it ride worse.

I certainly don't want to be that guy but I would like a little more explanation on this one. What components would a spacer stress?

Wouldn't the vehicles weight pushing down on that spring be exactly the same with or without a spacer? The shock would start its compression stroke at a different point but that shouldn't change the actual ride or create any different stress on it. If any thing the only thing i could think of that would change is that you would lose functional down travel because the shock is essentially already drooped the height of that spacer when it is static.

The rest of the suspension and axles wouldn't have any different forces of geometries it wouldn't see from the equal amount of lift with a new spring or shock.

 

[Hoosier Daddy]

It depends on the spacer. With a 1.5 inch spacer you can simply turn the bracket 180 degrees and it works fine. With a 2 inch spacer you have to trim the bracket so it will still fit. Either way, it's possible to use a spacer. I've done it, and I liked it a lot.

Spacers are totally fine for most people like me who don't do anything worse than dirt roads. A top mount spacer will not have any significant impact on your ride quality, so no worries.

 

[ronvdp]

I'm planning to do the spacer lift initially and am wondering if there is a certain brand of spacer that is recommended for this. Also, Hoosier mentioned a 1.5 spacer and a 2 inch spacer. Is that the thickness of the spacer or is that the resultant lift from the spacer? My guess is that's the lift amount. Thanks for any help! I may be one of the odd people that love the stock ride and want to keep it adjustable for the time being. I do look forward to getting legit suspension upgrades at a later time.

 

[Arailt]

If you go the spacer route, make sure you lower the bump stops at least as much as the spacer lifted the vehicle. That way you won't bottom out the strut.

 

[Bluetribal]

If you are going through all that work you might as well put in brand new coilovers. I regret putting in used lift components let alone just a spacer.

Just save up until you can do thing right. I wheeled mine for two years stock.

 

[DRANGED]

I'm fully in this conversation right now too so I'd like to tap in.

I'm similarly considering a 1.5" levelling spacer (actual puck metric is .75") and I think I've been seeing different styles of puck.. Some (like what I'm considering and what I think what @Hoosierdaddy is suggesting) would push the whole strut down not effecting spring compression or spring shock length.
I think the toytoc levelling kits, typically the 2", 2.5" etc, use the spring for lift by compressing the spring within the strut topmount, (and maybe a longer shock...? to counter what I'm about to observe). This would (my understanding) extend the shock a bit more at rest and therefore reduce droop limited by shock travel b/c the shock is extended a little bit more than fully stock configuration. Conversely (also my potentially flawed understanding) the strut-top doesn't effect either and just pushes the strut and all points south down a little.
This appeals to me for a couple reasons: A: it maintains all stock ride quality (in this family hauler and long road trip comfort cruiser) and shack dampening variability (sport to comfort), and B: (in my case) KDSS travel but C: pushes the skids away from the ground by 2x the length of the puck (ergo in my interest a .75" puck tields 1.5" lift).

In my world, KDSS is fine for my moderate needs and I like the ride comfort controls. I understand a coilover is the right solution and affords variability in height and effective spring rate and I have my eyes on the toytec 5100 CO, or their ultimate kit (and still have a bit more research to fully understand the differences in offerings there) vs the boss coilover but until my airbags crack the sad I'd be happy with otherwise stock ride and a scosh of levelling (ergo up an inch and a half) front to push that skid up...
Am I on point with that synopsis?

Of course a $50 magic bullet seems too good to be true: gain an inch and a half clearance w/o negatively effecting travel or significantly increasing axle angle while otherwise retaining all stock ride qualities and travel...

And, I know I know, being psyched about stock isn't typical here, and I'm rather pleased with the stock abilities of this GX (comparing to the highly modified car left for the GX)... but in time things may change. ..

and here's one on the same topic to review...GX470 front spacer lift kit comfort/sport control - ClubLexus - Lexus Forum Discussion

 

[DRANGED]

In this thread, I see on post 11, his 2.5 spacer doesn't look to compress the spring, but just go between top of upper spring perch and the mount...and the shock mounts to it in native extension of stock.

He also diod an airbag spacer to "trick" the rear..

But from my vantage, it just looks likt he strut bolts to that and that bolts in to the truck, so nothing (shock or spring) is oddly compressed or extended..so then I guess just the ball joints and axle angles change a tiny bit... Is that a correct understanding of these spacers that aren't compressing the spring in the strut??

He was asked, "Those spacers can be kinda harsh when you preload the spring that much, but maybe it offsets the cushy Lexus OEM ride to find a good middle ground." and the OP says, "My spacer in the front is not a pre-load spacer I got this kind specifically because it bolts on top of the shock top mount, so it does not compress the spring at all."

So it sonds like these strut tops could be fine...

I know there are view of experience here and I'd really like to hear them... Some say don't bother just get coilovers, others say spacers are fine, but there're preload and non pre-load, and I (and i assume OP here) think non preload could be totally fine for mild to moderate use and a gain of levelling height in front.

 

[BlackCat]

A spacer isn’t necessarily harder on the strut, but you lose the down travel. If you put a 2” strut spacer in, you’re effectively pushing your lower control arm down 2”. The only way a spacer would mess with preload would be if it was mounted under the top hat of the strut. Then, it would be pushing the spring down. If you do a lot of off-roading, you’d basically be using the strut bottoming out as a bumpstop instead of the actual bump stop, which obviously is no good.

 

[Arailt]

Yep. What BlackCat said. Using top plate spacers makes it easier to bottom out the strut, which can cause it to snap. To combat that, you can install bumpstop spacers to move the bump stop down at least as far as the spacer moved the strut. I wouldn't use this on anything other than a mall crawler though. If you're going to spend any time off road, you gotta pay to play.

I don't know of any "pre-load" spacers outside of the OME trim packers that are used on Nitrocharger shocks to offset the weight of the battery, gas tank, and driver on the driver's side.

 

[DRANGED]

A spacer isn’t necessarily harder on the strut, but you lose the down travel. If you put a 2” strut spacer in, you’re effectively pushing your lower control arm down 2”. The only way a spacer would mess with preload would be if it was mounted under the top hat of the strut. Then, it would be pushing the spring down. If you do a lot of off-roading, you’d basically be using the strut bottoming out as a bumpstop instead of the actual bump stop, which obviously is no good.

Yep. What BlackCat said. Using top plate spacers makes it easier to bottom out the strut, which can cause it to snap. To combat that, you can install bumpstop spacers to move the bump stop down at least as far as the spacer moved the strut. I wouldn't use this on anything other than a mall crawler though. If you're going to spend any time off road, you gotta pay to play.

I don't know of any "pre-load" spacers outside of the OME trim packers that are used on Nitrocharger shocks to offset the weight of the battery, gas tank, and driver on the driver's side.

...
I think i need a picture, or to go crawl under the GX..
If the spring isn't preloaded (because these spacers are on top of the strut, not in the strut on top of the spring) and otherwise effectively the bottom of the strut pushes the LCA into its droop travel a little, then... droop hits the bump stop before actual shock droop maxes out? So by swapping bumpstop to match the spacer do you retain stock travel w/o stressing things (ergo, NOT a preload spacer like toyteks) and gain lift? or does this drop add axle angles to in higher articulation the axles are moving into their red..?

 

[Arailt]

...
I think i need a picture, or to go crawl under the GX..
If the spring isn't preloaded (because these spacers are on top of the strut, not in the strut on top of the spring) and otherwise effectively the bottom of the strut pushes the LCA into its droop travel a little, then... droop hits the bump stop before actual shock droop maxes out? So by swapping bumpstop to match the spacer do you retain stock travel w/o stressing things (ergo, NOT a preload spacer like toyteks) and gain lift? or does this drop add axle angles to in higher articulation the axles are moving into their red..?

Bumpstops prevent the shock from bottoming out during abrupt uptravel. So, when you hit a bump and it pushes the tire up into the wheel well, the bump stop comes in contact with the LCA before the shock bottoms out. If you move the coilover assembly down X inches to lift the vehicle, you need to move the bumpstop down X inches as well so that it can still do its job.

Conversely, if you preload the spring, you're more likely to top out the shock on downtravel because you've pushed the shock toward the limit of its travel at resting height. The only thing to fix this is limit straps, and those are for desert prerunners and trophy trucks.

You're better off buying an entry level suspension lift and doing it right the first time.

 

[BlackCat]

...
I think i need a picture, or to go crawl under the GX..
If the spring isn't preloaded (because these spacers are on top of the strut, not in the strut on top of the spring) and otherwise effectively the bottom of the strut pushes the LCA into its droop travel a little, then... droop hits the bump stop before actual shock droop maxes out? So by swapping bumpstop to match the spacer do you retain stock travel w/o stressing things (ergo, NOT a preload spacer like toyteks) and gain lift? or does this drop add axle angles to in higher articulation the axles are moving into their red..?

Basically, by adding a spacer, (depending on size) you’re driving around at or close to maximum downtravel. Instead of the bumpstop maximizing UPtravel, you’re bottoming out the strut before it hits the bumpstop.

 

[Arailt]

This is what can happen if you lift with a top plate spacer and don't extend the bumpstop. Shock becomes bumpstop, shock bottoms out and fails (from a Tacoma).

 

[DRANGED]

Ahh Got it.
I crawled under to look after my last post and it made sense..
Now your descriptions demonstrate that clearly... By pushing the assembly down w/o adjusting bump stops then the shock's compression on up-travel becomes the bump stop. just moving the fuse to a $pendy place

So going cheap with mods is a spacer and an equal bumpstop spacer... but that's a double hack.
Therefore again, Pay to play; Cry once; Do it once, do it right. Gotcha.

Thanks for clearing that up...

Now, a follow up question...(which is likely answered in other lift threads) By doing a Bilstein 5100 coil over lift (or comparable), that supercedes the dial-able ride quality feature right? Is there a coil over kit that taps into the circuit and maintains the variable valve dampening of the sport dial while affording coil over awesomeness?