[thenzero]

Thinking about putting one of these kitson my (2wd, street) truck. I just want a tiny bit more lift than it's got from the factory. Good idea? Not good idea? I've read the lift sticky and still not sure whether to pull the trigger.

 

[thenzero]

Or how about one of these?

 

[thenzero]

Well, I bought the RTZ ones. Still curious if folks think this is a good idea or not. Also I've read that installing these might require new cam bolts, is that true? Or can I just get (or do) an alignment? Also curious if anyone knows, why do these type of spacer lifts say they give twice the amount of lift as the size of the spacer? And when people talk about a "1.5 inch" lift, do they mean literally lifted by 1.5 in, or that they used a 1.5 in spacer??

 

[raine]

Read this:

http://www.clubfrontier.org/forums/...s-2005-please-read-before-posting-here-63966/

 

[thenzero]

Thanks for the reply. I've read that several times, along with all the links I could find off of there. I think I'm kind of in information overload to be honest with you.

 

[raine]

Thanks for the reply. I've read that several times, along with all the links I could find off of there. I think I'm kind of in information overload to be honest with you.

It's okay, lifting our trucks can be simple or complicated depending on what you're aim is. But the sticky pretty much explains the pros/cons of spacers and shackles.

BTW generally when people talk about their lift, it's actual 'real world' lift. It's easier that way, because ex:

- "1.5-inch lift spacer" for the front: the spacer itself is actually 0.75-inches thick, because there's a 2:1 ratio up front.
- "1.5-inch lift block" for the rear: the spacer is actually 1.5-inches thick.

 

[thenzero]

p.s. I guess I should interpret your post as meaning "the answers are already in there" but I must have read over them because I've read that sticky and the other sticky, and about ten or twenty other threads both on this specific kit and lifts in general and the specific questions I asked remain. It's all kind of blurring together tho, so maybe I read it and forgot, or missed the info. I dunno. I have guesses to the answers to my questions based on what I've read but I was hoping for confirmation, I guess.

It's okay, lifting our trucks can be simple or complicated depending on what you're aim is. But the sticky pretty much explains the pros/cons of spacers and shackles.

BTW generally when people talk about their lift, it's actual 'real world' lift. It's easier that way, because ex:

- "1.5-inch lift spacer" for the front: the spacer itself is actually 0.75-inches thick, because there's a 2:1 ratio up front.
- "1.5-inch lift block" for the rear: the spacer is actually 1.5-inches thick.

Ah ok. Thanks for the clarification. That's what I figured, but then in the sticky it seems that 3" is a LOT of lift and bordering on ridiculous, but then other places people refer to the 3" lift as barely any at all, so I wasn't completely sure.

Can you explain what that means about the 2:1 ratio? I guess I'll see for myself when I get in there, but I've watched several videos and I don't get it.

p.s. If it's too hard to explain without physical context that's ok, I'm just impatient and I want to understand ahead of time before I actually get in there. lol

 

[thenzero]

p.p.s. I think I see where I caused confusion- I wasn't asking about pros/cons of spacers vs other types of lifts, I was asking about the cheaper ebay kits vs an expensive one like the PRG or ReadyLift...

 

[raine]

p.s. I guess I should interpret your post as meaning "the answers are already in there" but I must have read over them because I've read that sticky and the other sticky, and about ten or twenty other threads both on this specific kit and lifts in general and the specific questions I asked remain. It's all kind of blurring together tho, so maybe I read it and forgot, or missed the info. I dunno. I have guesses to the answers to my questions based on what I've read but I was hoping for confirmation, I guess.



Ah ok. Thanks for the clarification. That's what I figured, but then in the sticky it seems that 3" is a LOT of lift and bordering on ridiculous, but then other places people refer to the 3" lift as barely any at all, so I wasn't completely sure.

Can you explain what that means about the 2:1 ratio? I guess I'll see for myself when I get in there, but I've watched several videos and I don't get it.

p.s. If it's too hard to explain without physical context that's ok, I'm just impatient and I want to understand ahead of time before I actually get in there. lol

2:1 ratio means if you move the lower shock mount 1x, you get 2x of movement at the wheel, because of the suspension geometry. Thus if you add a 1.2-inch spacer to the top of the shock (effectively moving the lower shock mount down 1/2-inch), you get a full 1-inch lift at the wheels.

3" is on the higher side of bolt-on lifts, usually people go 2" with no extra requirements involved... once you pass 2" there's more to do than just installing parts. I'm at 3.5"/2.5", BTW.

p.p.s. I think I see where I caused confusion- I wasn't asking about pros/cons of spacers vs other types of lifts, I was asking about the cheaper ebay kits vs an expensive one like the PRG or ReadyLift...

Ah ok - as far as spacer kits/shackle kits go, they all do the same thing. The difference is in the materials used and if you trust no-name cheap parts to be as safe, reliable, and accurate as the proven, brand name parts.

 

[thenzero]

2:1 ratio means if you move the lower shock mount 1x, you get 2x of movement at the wheel, because of the suspension geometry. Thus if you add a 1.2-inch spacer to the top of the shock (effectively moving the lower shock mount down 1/2-inch), you get a full 1-inch lift at the wheels.

3" is on the higher side of bolt-on lifts, usually people go 2" with no extra requirements involved... once you pass 2" there's more to do than just installing parts. I'm at 3.5"/2.5", BTW.

Thanks for the explanation. What else is there to do apart from installing parts for the 3" spacer kits (like the one I linked on Amazon)? From what I've read, I'll need an alignment, and maybe cam bolts and possibly bump stops...is that what you mean?

Ah ok - as far as spacer kits/shackle kits go, they all do the same thing. The difference is in the materials used and if you trust no-name cheap parts to be as safe, reliable, and accurate as the proven, brand name parts.

Point taken. However, it seems the RTZ kits have been installed with no problems and the main difference between it and e.g. the PRG kit is that the spacer is nylon and uses bolt extenders rather than an extra set of bolts on top. Is that fair? I've got a fairly constrained budget so I'm trying to do what I can with very limited resources, you know?

 

[thenzero]

p.s. I saw the pic of your truck in the sticky with the lifted trucks, by far my favorite in the bunch!

edit: The other sean and SCDeerman's trucks look really great too...maybe I'm just partial to black ^_^

 

[raine]

Thanks for the explanation. What else is there to do apart from installing parts for the 3" spacer kits (like the one I linked on Amazon)? From what I've read, I'll need an alignment, and maybe cam bolts and possibly bump stops...is that what you mean?

Camber bolts, possible fender mods, etc. it varies from truck to truck.

Point taken. However, it seems the RTZ kits have been installed with no problems and the main difference between it and e.g. the PRG kit is that the spacer is nylon and uses bolt extenders rather than an extra set of bolts on top. Is that fair? I've got a fairly constrained budget so I'm trying to do what I can with very limited resources, you know?

Not sure what you mean by "is that fair?" Are you just waiting for someone to say "good idea getting the RTZ kit! Go for it!"? ::wink::

 

[thenzero]

Camber bolts, possible fender mods, etc. it varies from truck to truck.




Not sure what you mean by "is that fair?" Are you just waiting for someone to say "good idea getting the RTZ kit! Go for it!"? ::wink::

Well...yeah! ::grin::

I guess what I was after was confirmation (or not) that it will still work fine for the lift, just not as nice or as good for off-roading or something (which I don't do). I don't want to break anything, or mess anything up, but I'd really like a bit of lift and I don't have a big budget.

 

[raine]

Well...yeah! ::grin::

I guess what I was after was confirmation (or not) that it will still work fine for the lift, just not as nice or as good for off-roading or something (which I don't do). I don't want to break anything, or mess anything up, but I'd really like a bit of lift and I don't have a big budget.

But you already made your decision based on price tag - you want a cheap lift, not an inexpensive one... so you got it.

 

[whistler]

Also curious if anyone knows, why do these type of spacer lifts say they give twice the amount of lift as the size of the spacer? And when people talk about a "1.5 inch" lift, do they mean literally lifted by 1.5 in, or that they used a 1.5 in spacer??

Raine is correct.
The ratio is the distance from the pivot point to the shock mount and the distance from the pivot point to the ball joint.
This is called the “motion ratio”.
I believe the “motion ratio” is .6 to one on a stock Frontier.
Meaning that a .6 spacer will give you 1” at the ball joint.
Not important for most people here.
For those that want to design their suspension and not take the word of the sellers, this is one of the factors you need to know.

 

[whistler]

Just to add, with those spacers you will have no droop.

 

[thenzero]

But you already made your decision based on price tag - you want a cheap lift, not an inexpensive one... so you got it.

I don't think that's completely fair- I could have gotten the eBay ones for 55 bucks, but I passed because they sounded cheap. I saw some people here posted that the RTZ ones were good and Amazon has a good return policy so I went ahead and ordered them while I waited for someone to reply to this thread. It's not like they're on the truck yet...So, I'm legitimately looking for input on the decision, not just looking for someone to stroke my ego.

I'm also curious- what, in your opinion, would constitute an inexpensive lift vs a cheap one?

Raine is correct.
The ratio is the distance from the pivot point to the shock mount and the distance from the pivot point to the ball joint.
This is called the “motion ratio”.
I believe the “motion ratio” is .6 to one on a stock Frontier.
Meaning that a .6 spacer will give you 1” at the ball joint.
Not important for most people here.
For those that want to design their suspension and not take the word of the sellers, this is one of the factors you need to know.

Thanks, now I get it.

 

[v1ru5]

Get a Rough Country lift and call it good. If you want to go bigger do a body lift.

 

[whistler]

Thinking about putting one of these kitson my (2wd, street) truck. I just want a tiny bit more lift than it's got from the factory. Good idea? Not good idea? I've read the lift sticky and still not sure whether to pull the trigger.

If you just want a”tiny bit” more lift than go with 1”-1.5” spacers.

 

[raine]

I don't think that's completely fair- I could have gotten the eBay ones for 55 bucks, but I passed because they sounded cheap. I saw some people here posted that the RTZ ones were good and Amazon has a good return policy so I went ahead and ordered them while I waited for someone to reply to this thread. It's not like they're on the truck yet...So, I'm legitimately looking for input on the decision, not just looking for someone to stroke my ego.

I'm also curious- what, in your opinion, would constitute an inexpensive lift vs a cheap one?

Wait... so you made a thread asking for input on the RTZ kit... after you already saw other posts here with people saying what they think of the RTZ kit? If anything, those are the people who have the RTZ kit and thus have first-hand experience, so what more input were you looking for? If you should buy something else?
::grin::

Anyways... since you asked, IMO people commonly interchange "cheap" and "inexpensive" as if they're equal, when that's not always the case. To me, "cheap" is based solely on price tag... whereas "inexpensive" is more relative to all of the choices available (including the premium choices). Examples:

Cheap Lightning cable: No-name, non-certified Lightning cable, $4
Inexpensive Lightning cable: Anker certified lightning cable, $9
Premium Lightning cable: Apple OEM lightning cable, $19

Cheap pickup truck: Used 1995 120k mile Nissan Hardbody on Craigslist, $1,000
Inexpensive pickup truck: 2018 Nissan Frontier S, $19,000
Premium pickup truck: 2018 Nissan Titan XD Crew Cab Platinum Reserve, $60,000

Example within the context of this thread subject:
Cheap lift kit: No-name spacer lift kit, $100
Inexpensive lift kit: PRG Frontier 2" x 2" AAL kit, $289
Premium lift kit: PRG Frontier Advanced Coil Over SPC package, $1600

Back to the subject - if you already read the other threads about the RTZ kit and you're still asking for more input, it sounds like you're not convinced you made the correct purchase. I can't speak about the RTZ because I never had it, but if I were to do a spacer-type lift at minimum I would have done the PRG or Nisstec kits.
::wink::