[AFtacoma]

Hows it going, I am new to this forum but have heard nothing but great things. I, like a lot of others am waiting on fabtech to cure themselves of the cranial anal insertion problem they have been dealing with. However, I have been waiting since Oct. and at this point my patience is wearing thin. Does anyone know if someone else sells a diff drop kit, and longer struts other than tuff country or pro comp. Im not to sure about the spacers and ive read some stuff about the knuckles/spindles breaking. Just curious if i could basically peice together a fabtech kit (sort of). Thanks

 

[nhlbill]

Hows it going, I am new to this forum but have heard nothing but great things. I, like a lot of others am waiting on fabtech to cure themselves of the cranial anal insertion problem they have been dealing with. However, I have been waiting since Oct. and at this point my patience is wearing thin. Does anyone know if someone else sells a diff drop kit, and longer struts other than tuff country or pro comp. Im not to sure about the spacers and ive read some stuff about the knuckles/spindles breaking. Just curious if i could basically peice together a fabtech kit (sort of). Thanks

Of the "drop bracket" kits, Fabtech is the only one that uses a longer strut. Tuff Country uses a spacer for the top of your strut, and so does Pro Comp.
Fabtech and Tuff country use longer spindles, where ProComp uses a spacer on top of your factory spindle. My opinion is that the Fabtech kit is the best made most durable of the three (I have compared the parts side by side and there is no question that the Fabtech parts are beefier), but the Tuff Country kit is a close second. I personally would not buy the ProComp kit as I have heard too many stories about the spindle spacers breaking.
Those three are are the only "drop bracket" style lifts for the Tacoma that I'm aware of. Hope that helps.
Bill

 

[nhlbill]

Sorry, there is a Trail Master 6" kit out there too. Bad press on the second struts they use though. Some have replaced the strut with a "Gabriel", and say that fixes the problem. I don't know that much about the TM kits, maybe someone with a TM kit will post up.
Bill

 

[synovus]

Hows it going, I am new to this forum but have heard nothing but great things. I, like a lot of others am waiting on fabtech to cure themselves of the cranial anal insertion problem they have been dealing with. However, I have been waiting since Oct. and at this point my patience is wearing thin. Does anyone know if someone else sells a diff drop kit, and longer struts other than tuff country or pro comp. Im not to sure about the spacers and ive read some stuff about the knuckles/spindles breaking. Just curious if i could basically peice together a fabtech kit (sort of). Thanks

Short answer: No, you can't. Long answer: There's a big difference between a diff drop kit and a drop-bracket lift kit. I kindly suggest spending a considerable amount of time reading thru this folder (Newbie Tech) to acquire a better understanding of the various lifts available for your Tacoma, and how they work.

 

[4x4mag]

As one newbie to another, I recently installed a Fabtech 0 - 3.5 performance lift kit with a 1" BL and 1" diff drop kit from 4crawler.
The diff drop kit kept the axle angle "safe" at 3" of suspension lift.
http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/DiffDrop.shtml
Best place for the DD that I found.

 

[hytenor]

As one newbie to another, I recently installed a Fabtech 0 - 3.5 performance lift kit with a 1" BL and 1" diff drop kit from 4crawler.
The diff drop kit kept the axle angle "safe" at 3" of suspension lift.
http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/DiffDrop.shtml
Best place for the DD that I found.

with ADD, 3" is not "safe" for the CV boots. over 2" and they will wear out fast. Even with manual hubs the boots will wear out fast if you wheel a lot.

if you have the full 3.5" cranked in keep an eye on your upper ball joints and be prepared to replace them fairly regularly. I would also replace the steering rack bushings with Energy Suspension's stuff, its a #13 kit and takes about ah hr to install. Torque to specs, drive around for a while, retorque, drive about 500miles and re-torque again. Your rack will go out a whole lot faster with that much lift but swapping bushings will slow down the process a little.
www.suspension.com

 

[4x4mag]

At the risk of totally beating this horse to death... with the 1" diff drop the axles are at 2" of lift (a little under actually)
Thanks for the tip on the upper balls and steering rack bushings.

 

[hytenor]

At the risk of totally beating this horse to death... with the 1" diff drop the axles are at 2" of lift (a little under actually)
Thanks for the tip on the upper balls and steering rack bushings.

I'm afraid you missunderstand what the "diff drop" does. A 1" kit will not drop the front diff 1". This mod only pivots the front of the diff down slightly using the rear mount bolt/bushing as a fulcrum. The actual amount of "drop" is about 1/2", maybe, but nothing close to 1". The actual change in CV axle angle is minimal at best.

the true 'test' is to observe your inner CV boots at rest on level ground. If the fins are touching they will wear out much faster. If they are jammed together they can last as little as a few month. If you have a little daylight between the fins you should be fine.