Well it was time, I rolled 100k early in the spring this year and the ride of my 08' wsa just beyond terrible. to the point where I was not comfortable letting someone else drive it. I would worry for their lives and for my embarrassment as well, it was not safe to drive at all. All suspension was still OE, it was time to go...

I wanted new tires, whoever had it before me put LT tires on it and they were like riding on concrete wheels. Also, I wanted the LE edition wheels (I have an S model) and I wanted a little lift too.

I started with the wheels, I found these new at a bargain price:

Got Michelin tires, 275/60/18:

Got the Monroe OESpectrum front struts:

Got the KYB Gas Adjust rear shocks:

Added the medium duty rear springs from 4x4 parts:

Had my center caps painted to match wheels:

Everything worked out great, the Monroe front struts gave me about 1" of lift, maybe a little more. Was not expecting that... So, I went ahead and got the medium duty rear springs to bring the rear up. They advertise them as being .5" of lift, however they actaully net just under 2" even after a few thousand miles of break in. That surprised me as well so now I needed to bring the front up some more. Here it sits with just the new tires/wheels, no suspension mods yet:

The tires were 1.5" taller so I gained 3/4 of lift from them. They rode like a dream and I though I was in a new car (still before new suspension).
Heres with all new suspension, the rear end is a little high:

So, I had to get creative. I did not want to spend the money on new Rancho springs to get the full 2" in the front as I had just got the new Monroe struts. I improvised and added a few washers under the front strut mount. It shows 3 in the pic but I could only get 2 to actaully fit where the stud sticking through would have enough meat left on it to get the nut fully on all threads. This netted me exactly .5" of lift and pretty much the desired look I was ultimately going for:



The washers I added for .5" lift (don't hate, it worked)

Just enough stud exposed to get the nuts fully on:

I did all of this is small steps, starting with the wheels/tires. Those alone gave me a much more comfortable ride. Then I installed the front struts, I thought I had bought a new car it rode SO MUCH better. It was time to keep going so I got the rear shocks and thought Holy crap how does this thing keep getting better and better. It was actually nice to drive my vehicle again. I was skeptical at first when I ordered the rear medium duty springs but I put them on anyway and the ride just got even better.

At this point I could not have been happier, The only problem was the front still sitting a little low so that's when I improvised with the spacers (washers lol) and that got me my desired "look" I was after.

All in all, it's roughly 2.75" higher, that's including the 3/4" lift the new larger tires gave it. I wanted a bigger, wider tire as well. I took a 1mpg hit, I was expecting it to be worse. I'm ok with that for sure.

Any questions on installation have at it, I did all this with simple hand tools and such. The rear shocks are the hardest followed by the rear springs. The front struts are easy. That's all my opinion of course though, your experience may be different. I did take my front struts off twice to add the spacers a few weeks later so maybe that's why they were easier.

Time to get an alignment now, the rear camber is obviously off and the front tires are wearing on the edge and cupping it seems. It drives beautifully though, could'nt be happier with all this.

Find the new alignment bolts need to align the back there is a sticky post on that good luck

Thupertrooper wrote:Find the new alignment bolts need to align the back there is a sticky post on that good luck

Yes sir, got em.

Nice write up and most looks very nice.
I would be concerned with the washers as spacers. The suspension has not only a vertical load applied but a lateral load when cornering or going over rough terrain.
By using spacers you have created a shoulder and a smaller point load to the bolt location. The full contact of the suspension plate relays all the loads over a larger surface dissipating the applied load in a uniformed way.
You might be better with a full spacer.
Just a thought

asgard wrote:Nice write up and most looks very nice.
I would be concerned with the washers as spacers. The suspension has not only a vertical load applied but a lateral load when cornering or going over rough terrain.
By using spacers you have created a shoulder and a smaller point load to the bolt location. The full contact of the suspension plate relays all the loads over a larger surface dissipating the applied load in a uniformed way.
You might be better with a full spacer.
Just a thought

Thanks, and I agree with your concern. I was hesitant at first when I originally started to do this with the washers. However, it can always be undone if it were a problem.

I've had it like this for a few weeks now, I've not noticed anything negative whatsoever and in fact, it increased the comfort of the ride a little more as well.

I don't really see a huge difference between doing it this way or actually adding the spacer. Either way, there is a non "rigid" connect between the top of the strut and the underside of the strut mount.

I actually don't even see how those big spacers would fit. I used 2 washers on ea bolt and the upper arm was almost too close to the strut mount to get it back together. Only way I could see possible is having to compress the spring some.

Anyway, truck rides great. I'm more than happy with this and the look is awesome.

I don't want to pile on or knock your work - love the creativity - but I would be concerned about the washer set up too. You've essentially reduced the contact point from the entire top of the strut assembly to just the surface area of the washers. I don't purport to be an expert on mechanics, but intuitively that would seem to put a larger lateral load on the bolts since the rotational forces acting on the strut assembly when you turn are no longer being distributed into the strut mount by the entire top of the assembly. Like you said, you can just remove it whenever you want, but I am concerned that you might see a sudden failure, not one that you can predict and avoid.

You can probably accomplish the same thing more safely, but still inexpensively by cutting a number of pieces of sheet metal to mirror the top of the strut assembly, drilling holes in them for the bolts, and then stacking them up to achieve the desired height. Anyway, that's just my 2 cents, take it or leave it, but I felt the need to put it out there purely out of concern for seeing you or your pathy getting jacked up if something goes wrong.

^Guy above me, I thought about doing this as well with the pieces of metal. That was Option #2 if the washers didn't work out. My other thought was to actually break down the Monroe strut and remove the 3 studs and replace them with longer ones in order to give me more exposed thread once reinstalled.

I was only looking for basically any amount of lift to get the front end up just a bit more without having to buy the Rancho struts for an additional $350ish I believe.

I got .5" out of the washers and like I said it has no ill effect on the performance yet, anyway. It's only 2 washers and I understand the surface area is now reduced to just the area of the washers and certainly that was a concern but so far no problems. And in fact, it rode even better afterwards.

I typically always draw the line when it comes to "its just not going to work or hey this doesn't look safe." I can always just take it apart if needed. I will keep you all updated if I experience anything negative in the future.