Bax03SE

I actually did the exact same thing and went with a 3 inch sfd just to get the extra inch of ground clearance under the front sub frame assembly. This is a slight compromise as my cv angles aren’t quite back to 100% stock, but they’re still within the safe range of travel as described by what you get with just a spring lift. Basically, I put in enough of a sfd to offset the strut spacer portion of the lift and keep maximum droop within a safe range.

One thing I generally love about this forum compared to other car forums, is people genuinely talk to each other with respect and aren’t always trying to one up each other. That being said, let’s all take a deep breath and a step back on this one....lol. I think everyone is trying to help and a lot is just getting lost in translation. Here’s what I know from my personal experience with several different set ups. Spacer lifts and spring lifts both increase the static angle the same amount, thus effecting CV boot wear and camber the same when at normal ride height. The difference is in the maximum angle at full suspension travel (full droop). The stock R50 struts have about 3 inches of down travel before they max out, and anywhere within that 3 inch range the CV is generally safe from binding. With a spring lift, you’re only working within that 3 inch range of travel. A 2 inch lift will use up 2 inches of down travel, leaving only 1 inch left (hence some people experience top out). But the CV won’t bind up and Grenade itself at full droop because it is still at the same maximum angle as stock. Now say you have a 2 inch spacer lift on top of the stock strut and spring assembly. At static ride height, everything is at the same angle as it would be with a 2 inch coil spring lift. But, in this case you still have the full 3 inches of strut travel available. So if you unload the front suspension and let it hang at full droop, you will now have a full 5 inches of downward travel and the CV will be beyond it’s safe limit of travel. If this happens while the front axles are spinning the CV will bind up and something will most likely break. That is why people say spring lifts are safer, because they don’t let the CV travel past it’s stock limits for downward travel. With spacers, 2 inches is generally the max you can go and “probably” not break anything. If you put in anything larger than a 2 inch spacer without a sfd then probably not becomes definitely will break something. Now SFD’s really come into play when you want to go past 2-2.5 inches of lift. Dropping the sub frame let’s you go beyond 2 inches while still keeping the CV’s at a safe angle and also keeps camber within spec by bringing down the lower control arm mounting point. Most people with a SFD achieve the lift through a combination of both strut spacers and lift springs, then drop the sub frame whatever amount is needed to bring all the angles back into a safe range. So if you have a total lift of 4 inches with both spacers and springs, then you use a 4 inch spacer to bring the sub frame down to match it. Here are a couple pictures of my front end that were taken while in the process of doing the sfd. The first is with full lift in place (combination of 2 inch spacers and 2.5 inch spring lift) but without the sfd. You can see the CV and lower control arm angles are all out of whack. Then with the sfd in place everything is back to lining up much more reasonably. Hope this all helps! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not trying to put words in anyone’s mouth, but I think that might have been a typo because I believe Micah originally installed the 9447 not the 9448. Unless he switched spring set ups again.

Just checking in with an update after the most recent suspension work. I’ve put about 500 miles on it with the sfd, custom front coils, and limiting straps and I’m still very happy with how it all worked out. Other than the struts topping out, I love the way it rides with the new front suspension set up, and the limiting straps worked out perfect to take care of the top out. I haven’t had a single issue with top out since installing the straps. At the risk of jinxing myself..I’m going to say I’m done messing with the pathy for a while and am just going to drive it, lol. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I had the same experience with my fan. I was under the truck doing something else random, and just happened to look up at the fan and was like, oh crap that things about to fall apart! It was all cracking just like yours.

Yes, 03 and 04 both the same.

Agree gears matter, but I think the engine matters more. The earlier rigs with the vg33 are effected a lot more than the vq35 powered trucks. I’m not saying my truck will win any drag races, but with the vq, heavy 33” mud terrains, and the 4.36 gears I can still break the rear tires loose at a stop light and easily hold a steady cruise of 75-80 on the highway. It’s amazing how much of a difference the extra 60-70 hp between the two engines can make.

Yeah I saw after I posted that you had blown a head gasket and we’re doing a rebuild. If you’re already that far deep I agree with going big on the cooking system while you’re already in there. It certainly can’t hurt. I use a Bluetooth obd2 dongle with the obdfusion app on my phone. Along with being a great diagnostic tool, you can also monitor direct info from the ecu instead of relying on the dummy gauges.

Are you having problems with overheating? I monitor my coolant temps via an obd2 Bluetooth app and even when I’m towing a trailer, the coolant temps stay around 185-190 with the stock radiator. I think the stock cooling system works pretty well, so I’m not sure there’s much to gain with an aftermarket radiator is all.

I have no complaints running 33” mud tires with the stock gears. The truck still has plenty of power for daily driving and can still cruise 75-80 mph on the highway no problem. My speedometer is off about 3 mph but that doesn’t bother me. As long as you have a newer R50 with the vq35 then gears are not a necessity at all. Nice to have sure, but not necessary. The older rigs with the vg33 may be a different story.

Looks like the perfect stance between front and rear. Glad to see the rear springs are working for you!

Stay safe and let us know how you’re doing!

Will do! If the next reply on this topic is in 5 years, so be it, lol!

It’s kind of hard to find too much data on lifespan of these. Everything I found was anecdotal from assorted off roading forums, but the number that was most often thrown around was to expect 3-5 years out of a good high quality strap.

No. Without the limiting straps I was getting noticeable strut top out under certain conditions. Noticeable as in a large bang that was enough to make you say “what the — was that?”. The limiting straps work great, they cushion the top out extension so the violent top out is completely gone.

Glad you got it figured out!

Like anything you get what you pay for. This was not their cheapest special, it still cost just under $1000 which is still very reasonable. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Also how are your LED lights on the front hooked up? Does anything tap into factory wiring circuits? If so I’d check those connections first.

You said you were out wheeling when this happened? I guess I’d start with low hanging fruit and look for any wiring harnesses around your front and rear lights that may be exposed with your bumper design. See if there’s any wire bundles that look like they got pinched and unplug all the lighting harnesses you can get to and make sure they’re dry inside. Spray them out with some electrical contact cleaner and maybe put some dialectic grease in them.

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That really sucks, sorry you have to deal with it! Although technically the 3m tape did exactly what it’s supposed to, it stuck to the paint but for some reason the paint is failing and didn’t stick to the truck. From your pics it even looks like the duct tape is pulling paint up with it? Do you have any idea if those areas have had paint work done or if the paint is original? Wondering if it’s a failure from poor prep work or if the oem paint is peeling up. Fwiw, Maaco tends to get a bad rep but I’ve had great experiences with them. They’re all franchises so it all comes down to how each local owner runs their business. If you find a good one run by people who care, then they can put out some nice quality work. I actually just had my 94 Vette repainted at my local Maaco about 2 weeks ago (the paint job was a bday present from my wife). It looks great! I don’t have much money invested in this Vette so I couldn’t see taking it somewhere that wanted more to paint it than what I spent on the car.

Alright I got the limiting straps finished up today. The sway bar presents a bit of an obstacle so I used some one inch square tube make an upper mounting bracket that helps clear the sway bar for a relatively straight pull. I probably went a little overboard, but I wanted those brackets to be strong so I boxed in the end of the square tube and also reinforced the area of the frame that I welded to with some 1/4” plate to stiffen the area up. The lower mount is welded to a piece of 1/4” plate that is then welded to the control arm. It works! No more noticeable top out over potholes and such. The limit straps are designed to stretch about an inch so instead of a jarring jolt they cushion the impact as they hit their limit so the violent bang of the strut topping out is gone. I also cut off my rusty exhaust, and put in a Y pipe that goes into a single inlet stainless magnaflow muffler with a turn down before the rear axle. Simple set up, and it sounds really nice. It sounds a little like a 350z but in a non ricey way, lol. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I’ve never really looked to see if mine has a bracket or not. It wouldn’t surprise me if they left the brackets in place on later years even though the valve was eliminated from the system.

No issues! It’s a 98-01 thing only. Yours never had one.