Robinhood150

Sure, anything is possible if you throw enough money at it. In order for a coilover to work in conjunction with leaf springs, one would have to fab up reinforced shock mounts on the truck side and the axle side to take the force the coils are exerting. Also, one would also probably need to get custom leaf spring made because if you just stick on some coilovers the combined spring rate of the coils and the leaves would be huge. If you discard the leaf springs then you'd have to fab up some sort of custom linkage to locate the axle. It's just not practical for the average person on yotatech nor is it needed when there are much easier things out there. I don't think EWAYota is looking for this much money and work.

Actually, they are exactly the same. Coilovers are coilovers are coilovers whether they are in a ferrari, an RC car, or a rock buggy. Sure there are different weights involved and the handling characteristics are different, but the fundamental way the suspension works is exactly the same. Spacers do exactly the same thing regardless of what kind of coil they are used in (notice I did not say coilover).

Hmmm...this is proving to be a much greater challenge than I thought. I see exactly what your train of thought is, you're saying the spacer makes the spring stiffer and doesn't let the shock compress as much as before. This is incorrect .

Ignore the process of installing the spacer. We don't care about the condition where the coilover is outside of the truck. Just focus on when the coilover has weight on it. When the weight of the truck is on the coilover, the coilover is not fully extended...it's kinda floating there somewhere between fully compressed and fully extended. The 2in spacer just extends the shock by 2in but it is still not fully extended. If the spacer indeed compresses the spring by 2 inches then there would be no lift because the shock is at the same length as before.

Another way to think of it, take 2 identical coilovers but one has a 2 inch spacer installed. Install them and measure the height of the springs and only the springs. You will find the spring height is exactly the same, but the shock is extended by 2 inches.

Let's try to go about this another way. Earlier you said that adding a spacer to the rear coils will not add preload because it's "added for height." I think you do understand the principle in this case...the spacer just shifts the truck higher relative to the spring. Well this is the same principle as coilovers, spacers just shift the truck higher. The only difference between a coilover and regular coils is the location of the shock.

Before you respond, please think carefully about what I have said in this thread and how it relates to figure 1 of my article. I think it will eventually make sense.

Robinhood150

Well, ignoring the incorrect terminology of "pressure" and "rate" and the numbers, what he is saying is true if the coilover has no weight on it, that is, the shock is fully extended. However, yes, once it's installed in the truck it would violate the laws of physics.

EWAYota

so if your running coil overs, your not running leaf springs?

pat317az

This is much easier to understand after a good beer

yotafool

ok, i have a question concerning lift springs and coil spacers combined. Do you think it would be a good idea to add coil spacers with my 4" rear lift springs? Like some Daystar 1 1/4" or 2 1/2"? If so could i go with the 2 1/2" spacers? I know i will probably have to get longer limiting straps but thats fine. Its just that my 4Runner still sags like a mug and i'd like it to look a little better. Thanks, Jake

Robinhood150

I don't know about the practical side of lifting higher than 4" with spacers (like will the spacers fall out, control arm angles, etc) so I'll let somebody else answer this one. As far as the springs are concerned, I don't see anything wrong with it, but again, I'm not sure at that height.

yotafool

I just mainly want to get rid of my sag. And I'd say i only go offroading once every 2 months or so. So it would be mainly for looks.