Simplest lift

I have a 2004 sr5 v8 that my son drives. 170k in fantastic shape, family owned since 25k.
He would like to upgrade this summer with a small lift what is the easiest thing to do with the xres shocks?

 

A spacer level/lift would be the cheapest and easiest.

 

Spacer lift is a terrible idea. It really takes a toll on your ball joints and other wearable items like control arm bushings. Also, Google tacoma or 4runner spacer lift fail. It can break or bend your shocks. I've seen it in person (I do lift kit installs multiple times a week).

Much better to do bilstein 5100 shocks all around. Unless your shocks have been recently replaced, they are likely due for replacement anyways.

Edit: Since you have xreas, definitely recommend deleting the xreas system completely by removing the shocks and xreas lines/valves, etc. Then install the 5100 shocks all around or another shock on all 4 corners.

 

You are correct, I was responding to the question of easiest lift. A small spacer lift is ok for mild trails or the street.

 

WTF are you talking about?
There is absolutely ZERO difference in running a 1" spacer above the stock front shock, a set of OME 1.5" lift springs, and running a set of 5100s on the third clip.
1.5" of "lift" puts the exact same angles on the axles, A-arms, ball joints, ect ect ect regardless of how you get the lift.
Sure there are some of the spacer lifts that put a spacer between the stock spring and spring perch and then another one above the stock shock trying to achieve 3+" of lift, sure this is a crappy way to lift and sure this can hyper-extend the shock and top the shock out. This isnt good, and isnt what the OP was asking.

If the Xreas is still going strong and not leaking, keep it as long as you can. The Xreas rides better than everything aftermarket on the market. I miss my Xreas on my 2008 and i did a bunch of different things trying to get it to ride as good as possible and still miss the Xreas ride.

I did a 1.5" lift on the front of mine to level it with the back. I used a spacer lift that goes over the top of the stock shock, its right at about 1" thick and gives you right around 1.5" lift which will make you pretty spot on level with the rear. This keeps the stock ride, just pushes the shock further downward which gives you some lift. This wont mess with the suspension or require crazy stuff like new A-arms or put your front end alignment out of whack.
After my Xreas finally bit the bullet i put some Bilstein adjustables on but they are QUITE a bit stiffer than stock. I didnt keep them long and then switched to the Eibach adjustable shocks. Honestly the Eibach are a little softer than the Bilsteins but they too are quite stiff and harsh over square edge bumps. I did a bunch of reasearch and this is due to how the shocks are valved internally. They are valved to keep you from nose-diving and having body roll, which are both positive attributes but it makes their compression super slow so any big square edge bumps are typically pretty harsh. This is due to the digressive valving:
Stiffer low-speed damping gives the driver a more stable feel, as low-speed damping is felt most strongly. When you’re using a linear curve, increasing the stiffness of low-speed damping creates even stiffer high-speed damping, which can cause trouble for large bumps or curbs.
This problem gave birth to the digressive-style curve, as it allows you to have a much stiffer rate of low-speed damping while avoiding that higher rate at high speeds. In other words, it allows you to enjoy the best of both worlds in this sense.

I ended up swapping in 2012+ Tacoma TRD front shock and spring assemblies. The consensus online was that they were the softest riding shock due to the valving and OEM tacoma TRD spring rates AND they gave +1.5" of lift. The TRD Offroad Tacoma shock isnt quite like the Xreas, but they are much smoother and softer than the Eibach and Bilstein.

 

Most simple lift= spacer leveling/lift. The lift springs and shocks are the most reliable.

 

I agree that a small spacer is just fine, though for the front I prefer the style that requires coilover disassembly and which sits on top of the spring and compresses the preload (essentially the same sort of lift you would get from the Bilstein 5100), as opposed to the style that just moves the entire coilover down.

Cornfed makes a decent product and they have several height options to choose from. Getting up about 1.5" wouldn't have any adverse effects on XREAS and would be just enough to make a nice difference without being obscene. You'd be all in for parts at around $150 +/-.

 

This is the worst one to use on the Xreas
The Xreas shocks have less stroke than others and have less droop travel, in my measuring it seems the Xreas has about 1" less droop travel. Using the spring spacer between the spring and top hat will push the actual shock and piston further down in its travel. This changes where the piston is inside the shock body which (1) changes the dampening (2) moves the shock closer to topping out (3) almost always rides stiffer due to the piston being moved further downward in the shock body where the valving is designed to slow the rate at which the shock travels as the shock nears topping or bottoming out.
Using a spring spacer on top of the spring basically acts like a longer coil spring moving the shock stroke lower at ride height. This is the last way i would lift an Xreas shock. The spring spacer ON TOP of the shocks top hat is the easiest, and best way to lift a vehicle with Xreas if you are only going to go 0-1.5" on a 4wd and 0-2.5" on a 2wd.

 

Please read the “X-REAS Delete…” post linked in my sig. Scroll to the bottom of it to see my original entry and work your way up. The Tacoma swap is perfect for your needs - low cost, solid OEM parts, and levels the truck. Happy to answer any questions.

 

I disagree. A spacer on top of the spring that compresses the spring works by increasing preload of the spring, just as the 5100s do. It doesn't change the way the strut operates.

A spacer above the coilover that pushes the whole assembly down does what you describe.

Reference , at 6 min:

https://youtu.be/ihErEq6SRrk?si=aGNxeBVbaHj_ayP0

And 12:32:

https://youtu.be/l1tTelhdEiM?si=RWWF4F67NS_bUe8c

 

The spacer on top of the spring pushes the lower spring pocket and the top hat further apart from each other which extends the shock so the ride height is increased by the shock shaft being pushed farther out of the shock body.

A spacer above the entire coil-over assembly adds lift by pushing the coil over assembly further away from the mounting pocket. Nothing about the shock is changed in this application, the shock retains its ride height, the shock shaft stays inside the shock body in its same point, there is practically nothing changed about the shock by putting the spacer above the coil-over assembly.

None of your YouTube videos are going to teach me anything about Toyota suspension, and if your method of thinking is as you describe i would recommend new videos.

 

^This was the answer.

It was also where this thread could have (arguably should have) ended.

...But no, lets argue with the guy that was factually right about everything he posted while giving sound advice to OP.
No good deed...

 

Large spacer lifts above front shocks are dangerous. They render factory bump stops useless and also risk overextending CV's and ball joints at full droop.

.25" spacer here will get you .5" of lift.
.5" spacer here will get you 1" of lift.

.5" spacer is the absolute max imo. You'll need get larger bump stops otherwise the shock body will bottom out before the bump stop makes contact.

I think @Airdam is confusing the issue...

Friends don't let friends run spacer lifts. Springs for lift, shocks for control. Spacers should be reserved for correcting lean.

 

^

^ spot on.