Possibly stupid lift questions

[Jrgunn5150]

So yeah it needs to go up lol. 4.56 gears aren't happening until next winter, although a Sonnex kit in the valve body and a cooler are happening this spring. My Gfs new Escape has nice winter tires on it, so I've suggested we get her some nice wheels, and put my like new Goodyear Fortezas on them for her summer driving. Which leaves me tireless, yay!

So looking around, it seems a roughly 32 inch tire is entirely doable with a 2.5-3“ lift, and my current 3.42's. I'm a huge advocate of staying low, but this thing needs some frame clearance.

Caleb (cable810) has offered to sell me his Mark Mc 3“ lift and spacers when he returns to stock shortly. Which is nice because they're already on Bilstein HDs and I get everything in one shot.

However... My understanding of suspensions says that this style of lift will reduce my down travel by a corresponding 3“, leaving me with a shit ride and a lot of "topping out" of the struts, basically making my truck a donk lol... For me, down travel is far more important than up, I'm not jumping it lol. I do notice most forum members are running this lift though, and seem happy with it. So is the travel of the stock suspension sufficient to take a 3" hit in down travel and still be OK? Am I over thinking this all?

The other option is the BDS kit, which should keep the same range of motion, since only the spring is preloaded, not the strut. I see Roadie had one with a shim to give him a full 3", but I don't see the shim available on Marks site any longer. Obviously the BDS will be a good deal more expensive than Caleb used kit also.

So, I may be over thinking this entire thing, and obviously Radflos are the ideal option, but I kind of need to get this done around March, including tires, so I don't think I can swing like 2500 that quickly lol. I'd also be replacing my ball joints while I'm in there, and attempting the AWD disco.

So... Thoughts?

[navigator]

both kits are "inside the strut spacers", installed the same way.

[Jrgunn5150]

Well look at me making a fool of myself lol... That makes the choice pretty simple then

[navigator]

there are some outside the strut spacer kits on ebay that you should stay away from, too much down travel causes the CV to bind. They are also potentially dangerous. Do a little searching if you want to find out all the reasons.

That 3" kit is about the easy limit for the front without running into CV issues. You could add washers to the top of your shock (basically extending the shock) to fine tune it some but that could be a great deal of effort to gain a fraction of an inch in down travel.

[Jrgunn5150]

From my reading I see a 3 inch lift and 32's are a sane, reasonable combo that will serve fine for the next two years until we get a third vehicle and I can retire the Trailblazer to weekend status.

I just didn't want to eat up all my downtravel with a lift. My bad for not looking closer lol

[Cable810]

There is this option as well to coincide with the lift. I couldn't find the original thread.
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2735&p=47073&hilit=Spacer+Washers

[Jrgunn5150]

I thought, for some stupid reason, the Mark Mc lift was an on top of the strut spacer, which is not what I want. But, thanks to Navigator, I see it is inside, thus giving me the same down travel as stock, and much happiness ☺

[Trail X]

You're kinda saying it backwards. A fully inside the strut spacer will change your ride height, but will not change the down travel stop relative to the frame. This effectively reduces your down travel.

Fully outside the strut spacers would be idel because they would change your ride height but also change your strut down stop location relative to the frame, effectively retaining your stock down travel. The downfall to this is the CV tripod joint and the upper ball joint. Both of those items have travel limitations, and you can quickly over stress these componcomponents by adding a little too much down travel.

This is why most lifts actually add a little of both and balance them appropriately.

[Jrgunn5150]

I probably am backwards lol.

A spacer on top of the spring, but below the strut bearing plate... Inside the strut? And thus taking down travel away?

A spacer on top of the strut bearing plate, not preloading the spring at all, simply spacing the entire thing away from the mount, outside the strut? Thus same travel overall correct?

[v7guy]

That's correct. Marks 3" lift is effectively an outside spacer and an inside spacer in one piece.

There's ways around those limitations, but nobody has pursued it extensively and with your budget and tie size I don't think it's worth the hassle.

With stock springs and the 3" lift you'll get some topping out, but nothing crazy and you'll still have some droop available. Where you start to run into problems is when you swap to the heavier springs to get more height.

The coilover gives you a better ride and much reduced topping out overall. But it's definitely an added expense.

[Jrgunn5150]

OK, I used to have a Tacoma with a Toytec spacer on it, and it just was horrible... I mean absolutely horrible over every joint and bump in the road. I see many guy's use the Mark MC kit and seem happy, so I figured I was missing something lol

[The Roadie]

If you keep the OEM springs, it will also keep them softer than many of us who also upgrade the springs at the same time. With 88 or 89 springs, I tended to top out more, but still not on any normal road or trail. Only the ones that I approached zero G in the front by going too fast. Note that too fast might be 2 MPH on a lumpy rock where a crawl would have been less stressful.