I am going to purchase a 3" lift kit very soon. I have pretty much decided on the Cornfed Suspension. Can anyone give me the pros and cons of Cornfed as a company and the pros and cons of spacers and coils? I will be going on offroad trips about 8 to 12 times a year on VERY "easy" to "moderate" trails. And I want to purchase the kit before the spring, and spacers is all I will be able to afford by then. Late summer would be able to get me coils, wheels, and tires. That sucks. I guess I'll hope for a huge tax return.
Attention All Spacer Owners!!!
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I have the cornfed lift on my truck and I have had 0 problems with them after one year. I upgraded my shocks to HD's in the front and 5100 in the rear. I had great customer service . I would advise anyone to get this kit expecially at the price.
Brian
Brian
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I have to kinda agree. I have a spacer lift (although it is not Cornfed) and I have liked it, without any trouble from it.TheBoro85 said:
But if you are planning on going with a different type of lift, why start out getting something yet still plan to upgrade?
This is a common problem I see. I never could understand why people have gone to trail master 6" or fabtechs or whatever, only to run them a short period of time only to SAS. It just doesn't make sense to me to spend in the neighborhood of $1500+ and then spend another $3-5K doing a solid axle swap.
If you are planning coil overs, just wait, save that money you would be spending on the spacer lift, and do a first rate coil over lift.
I haven't looked lately at Cornfed's "kit" but does it come with something to lif the rear as well? If not, you not only need to spend money on the spacer, and tires. you also have the expense of getting the rear up, by either a add a leaf, new leaf pack or shackle, not to mention needing new shocks for the rear for after you lift that part as well.
Just my .02 worth, take it for what it is worth. after all I am a noobie again anyway!
:xcrybaby:
i got awesome service from Cornfed. they were shipped right when he said they would be and he was very helpful with all my questions (and i'm sure some were stupid questions). later after i bought them i had more questions and he replied immediately. that to me says alot about his co. i hate that "i've already got your money so piss off" attitude.
couple of things. get your rear lifted an inch lower than the front as the coils will sag.
my rear leaf pack (stock) already ad a neg. arch so i wanted to fix that. a shackle lift would'nt help that at all so i went with an AAL.
get new shocks all around. i got the HD's and the 5100's. a lot of your ride quality will come from these. the stock shocks suck.
David is military. for all these guys do for us, the least we can do is throw em some biz. OMHO
couple of things. get your rear lifted an inch lower than the front as the coils will sag.
my rear leaf pack (stock) already ad a neg. arch so i wanted to fix that. a shackle lift would'nt help that at all so i went with an AAL.
get new shocks all around. i got the HD's and the 5100's. a lot of your ride quality will come from these. the stock shocks suck.
David is military. for all these guys do for us, the least we can do is throw em some biz. OMHO
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Bear said:I have to kinda agree. I have a spacer lift (although it is not Cornfed) and I have liked it, without any trouble from it.
But if you are planning on going with a different type of lift, why start out getting something yet still plan to upgrade?....
yup, well put
If I had just listened to those that knew and gotten coilovers in the first place I would have spent about half the total cash outlay.
live and learn
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hytenor said:That's why I decided to go Solid axle instead of Trailmaster or FabTech. I figured why spend more money with a system that probably still wouldn't allow me to flex like I really wanted the truck to. The only reason I went with a spacer lift was because at the time, my wheeling experience was not advanced and I just wanted to be able to run 33"s now that I wheel harder and see the difference, I would probably never had done a "short"lift and gone straight to solid axle.Bear said:I have to kinda agree. I have a spacer lift (although it is not Cornfed) and I have liked it, without any trouble from it.
But if you are planning on going with a different type of lift, why start out getting something yet still plan to upgrade?....
yup, well put
If I had just listened to those that knew and gotten coilovers in the first place I would have spent about half the total cash outlay.
live and learn
As you said "live and learn"
Pros and Cons of Cornfed:TheBoro85 said:
Don't have cornfed spacers and never did business with Cornfed (David), at least not yet, so I can't give ya any "pros and cons." But I can tell ya a little bit of history. The first commercially marketed spacers I can think of are the ones sold by Downey (1.5" lift, I believe). Downey was the only company that offered anything for the Tacoma when it first came out, by the way. Then came Dave. His spacers were first called "cornbred" spacers, or "CB's" for short. Don't know why they changed to "cornfed" later on, though, but the corn reference stems from David's home state of Nebraska and, I assume, his affection for the Nebraska Cornhuskers (who, incidentally, got beat several times by my favorite team and alma mater, Florida State - hehe). Anyway, David took the time to test out several sizes and versions of spacers on his own Tacoma. Thanks to his testing, he was one of the first to publicly disclose his findings on the internet that the cv axles AND the upper ball joints were prone to breaking past 3" of lift. He also used to frequent the TTORA chat and was generous enough to patiently take the time to educate and explain to me his findings and the geometric intricacies of Tacoma suspensions, which helped me when it came time to lift my Tacoma almost 5 years ago. He then decided to sell spacers part-time to TTORA members as a way for us to get a cheap 2" to 3" lift. He also took the time to figure out which length rear shocks should go for what specific amount of rear lift. A few years later, Revtek and Daystar came into the market.
Pros and Cons of spacers vs. coilovers:
Spacers and coilovers add lift in the same way, by pushing down on the control arm assembly, which in turn pushes the front of the truck upwards. A spacer sits on top of the stock strut/coil, which adds to its overall length, thereby pushing the lower control arm downward (and pushing the front of the truck upward). It adds no "performance" benefit as an aftermarket coilover should, which is one of the differences between the two. The other difference is that a spacer is usually much cheaper than a coilover, especially the high-end performance coilovers. If I remember correctly, there are two (maybe 3) different spacer designs. Unfortunately, I'm not sure about the difference in performance (if any), reliability or quality between them. I think one design helps prevent the upper balljoint from hitting the stock strut/coil spring during downtravel if no limit strap is in place, but I could be wrong about that.
A coilover includes a coil spring with a higher spring rate. The stock coil is about 420-480 lbs. per inch, while an aftermarket coil ranges between 500 to 700 lbs. per inch, depending on brand and option. A higher spring rate makes the ride stiffer and less likely to "flex", but it also helps prevent bottoming out on compression and less body lean while taking turns on road. A coilover also includes an improved shock when compared to the whimpy, skinny stock shock/strut. For instance, the King coilover includes a shock that is 3" in overall diameter (much bigger than a stock shock/strut) and uses desert-racing inspired technology in its internal parts. The bigger diameter allows the shock to take more abuse before it heats up (more volume - more time it takes to heat up), and heat is one of the biggest causes of shock fade. All of this translates to improved handling both on and off-road, which a spacer does not necessarily provide. Then again, the improved handling also results in a higher price than a spacer.
Hope this helps.
The "HD's", sometimes referred to as "heavy duty" for marketing purposes, are actually the 5100 series Bilstein shock. As to how much better they perform than the stock TRD Bils, I don't know since I never had TRD Bils. But I have the 5100 Bils that came with my 5 year old Downey coilover suspension, and the difference between the Downey/Bils and the whimpy stock strut/shocks is like night and day.jbstrd said:
Even so, you can compare the size between the 5100 Bils and the TRD Bils and you can definitely see a difference between the two. The 5100 Bils are much bigger in diameter. As I explained in my previous post, the bigger the diameter, the more time it takes to heat up (more volume = more time it takes to heat up). The more time it takes to heat up, the less chance the shock will succumb to shock fade caused by too much heat. So theoretically, the 5100 Bils should perform much better as a "damper" (to "damp", as opposed to the other verb - to "dampen", is what a shock does) than the stock TRD Bils.
As to whether they're worth it, I guess that's something only you can answer. Maybe you can find someone with a Revtek spacer and 5100 Bils up front and ride in it to see compare the difference? If you value the higher damping performance that the 5100 Bil theoretically gives over the TRD Bil, and if the price is right for you, then go for it! If you think your ride is OK and would rather spend the money on something else for the truck, then go for that instead.
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jbstrd said:
I have a the 2.7, reg cab, no winch bumper, w/ 3" cornfed and 3" body lift.
I have the stock coils and Bilstein HD front shocks, I have a AAL and relocated shocks in back.
So far I love the Bilstein HD shocks. At first I thought they were too soft, but now they seem to be perfect for me. I went from horrible handling with the stocke shocks (not the TRDs). When my big tires would hit big bumps they would often leave the ground for a second, causing terrible steering control. I switched to the HDs soon after putting on my 35s and now it seems the tires are glued to the ground no matter what I am hitting. 35s don't ride great on an IFS truck overall, but without the bilsteins it would be unbearable!!
The back shocks are from Doetch Tech, and they are way longer than normal, and valved pretty hard. They give methe most trouble handling wise, but it's nothing I am concerned about. They are just not as smooth as the bilsteins, but I wanted a harder shock to keep the damn AAL in check (overly springy ride).
Overall, Bilstein HD shocks in front - WORTH IT!!
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