The Nissan Path

So I've finally finished installing the Rancho QuickLift struts up front along with new Moog ball joints and tie rod ends. I put Rancho spacers on the new rear Armada springs also. The rear actually sits at 1.75" above what the Nissan service manual says, so the spacers actually lift as advertised. However, the QuickLift struts up front don't lift as much as I'd hoped they would. The front wheel arches measure about 3/4" less than the rear. I am considering trying these spacers on top of the QucikLifts. They come with new spined bolts and 20mm is just a hair over 3/4". Has anybody tried pulling the studs out of the top of their struts? Am I crazy for wanting to try this? I would only be at about 2 to 2.25" of lift up front with the spacers on.

Also why the heck are Racho's rear shocks for a 1.75" lift the same length as the stock shocks? Shouldn't they be a little longer at least? I'm considering cutting the bottom shock mount off and moving it up an inch or more. Suggestions?

In the item description it says that the 20mms spacers will provide 30mms of lift. This is because the strut is not mounted on the outter corner of the control arm. Remember your geometry? 30mms is more than I want up there. It's roughly 1.25" Now I think I'll just get some 1/4 or 3/8" plate and drill some holes in it for the spacers. I need to check to see how much the bolts extend above the top nuts first, but it looks like I can get an extra 1/2" of lift if I can get a 3/8" plate on the strut.

Well, I made some 1/2" spacers for the top of the struts and even bought some longer studs to go in it. The trouble is the upper control arms hit the top of the strut tower when you force it in there. I just decided to put a pair of washers on each stud. They are about 3/16" thick together which might be giving me 3/8" extra on the front. One side was 1/2 and the other 1/4. It's probably too little for most people to notice, but it lessened the rake enough to appease me. Now there's less than a half inch difference front to back. This has all been too much of a pain in the ass to recommendIng to anyone else. If you don't like your rake, I'd now say to just shave a little off the rear spring spacers til it's even.

pics or it didn't happen!!

My worry with spacers on top of lift coils is that there would literally be zero down-travel.

Do you guys who have the Rancho QuckLift's get coil bucket contact with the upper control arm when you're going over speed bumps? I ran spacers up front on my old Xterra as the first phase lift and that was the most annoying thing to hear a thunk every time I pulled into work. I sliced a piece of fuel line and put it in there to soften the sound, but it was still annoying to me. Aftermarket UCA's solve the issue but aren't really part of a budget lift.

DiBo wrote:pics or it didn't happen!!

What do you want pictures of?

Approximately .5" of spring pre load will give you 1" lift

Thats coming from adjustable coilovers like radflo

Here are the spacers I made and 1 of the longer studs I was planning to use.


This is on of the studs on my truck with the nut already on it and the washers added. There used to be about 1/4" that stuck up above the nut. Now there's about 1/16"


This is the driver side. It was at 36" even and is now 36.5"


And the passenger side. It may be a little low since that tire has a slow leak.


I'll give you pictures. Not sure what you're looking for though. I'm not going to tear it back apart to show you before pictures though.

Thanks thupertrooper.

Once I put weight back on the wheels there was plenty of space between the UCA and the strut tower. It was only while it was hanging that they were close to contacting. So esentially, my downward travel stops just before the uca and tower meet.

What is it you don't believe dibo?

Lol, not that I didn't believe you, but pic always help. People thinking of the same thing.

Good job by the way. Been thinking of the same thing to bring up my front a. Little