XII street drop. My thoughts a year after

[sixstringdave]

Hey guys, havent been around for a while due to life and the truck just being super reliable and not having issues. :top:

I purchased and installed the Street drop kit (front springs and 2" blocks and QA1's) from XII performance right about a year ago. For what you get for the price, it isnt bad at all. Customer service was great too. Install was simple and quick even doing it all myself.

The truck looks great. When i first did the install i noticed that the front wasnt quite as low or even with the rear. I figured this was due to the springs having to "wear in or settle" as i have been told. They did seem to "settle down" a bit but not quite like i thought they would when i researched and bought the kit.

The ride quality is pretty good. The front feels awesome and steering is great. The guys at the local Firestone shop always give me a bunch of excuses on why it wont quite come into stock adjustment, but its not so far out to cause tire wear. It only went down between half an inch to three quarters inch, but whatever..

The rear is another story. It looks great too, but it bottoms out quite a bit. Its not so bad as to drive me crazy and the roads out in this area are really good. If i crank up the QA1's to help this out it is a bouncy ride. So i soften them up to where its not bouncy and just deal with the occasoinal smack. I bought some low profile enegy suspension bump stops. It helps...

Overall, i am very pleased with the way it turned out except for one thing. As i mentioned earlier, the front isnt as low as it should be. It is just a touch higher than the rear. It depends on the surface i am on. As in the grade. If it is level then my truck sits lower in the rear and you can really tell it is. I dont much like that part. And it really is only noticed by seasoned gear heads like myself, but i know its there.

Anyways, i thought about trying to drop the front another inch, perhaps 3/4 inch?? Is there anything i can add or am i looking at another set of springs? Any info is appreciated

Sorry for the long post :smile:

 

[Miami_X]

I have the exact same setup, sixstringdave, but I run my QA1s on 9 and never bottom out. I've gotten used to the harsher ride, to the point where I don't even notice it anymore. Those suspension mods were definitely worth the money!

 

[sixstringdave]

Yes there are!

I have, for the last couple days, had the QA1's set on 9. It seems to be a good setting for all around driving, but i still smack every once in a while. Nothing too crazy as i mentioned before.

Im just a bit disappointed about not being low enough up front.

 

[butters607]

Mine are on 1 I have the leafs so don't need to much more than that....

 

[TommyXrunner]

i wouldn't mind getting an extra 1" drop up front either. i'm just about to drop my truck with 3" blocks and the drop coils. if your having problems bottoming out you can take out the bracket that holds your bump stops and relocate the bumpstops and gain about 1.5" to 2" clearance

heres the link to the thread that shows what i'm talking about

http://www.xr-underground.com/vb3/showthread.php?t=42656

 

[lowrunner]

agreed! its not level. its darn close but like six said its not perfect, the front just hasnt settled enough. i keep my QA1's on 11 and they keep me from bumping unless i drive through a crater. northeast roads(jersey/PA) bite!

 

[justin13703]

So you're saying that the front only got a half to three quarters of an inch lower? Something definitely doesn't seem right. Those coils should drop it 1.75 inches. I have the same drop and it definitely doesn't sit lower in the back than the front, it actually has kind of a rake down toward the front. Since its been a year I would pick up another set of coils and try them.

 

[TommyXrunner]

So you're saying that the front only got a half to three quarters of an inch lower? Something definitely doesn't seem right. Those coils should drop it 1.75 inches. I have the same drop and it definitely doesn't sit lower in the back than the front, it actually has kind of a rake down toward the front. Since its been a year I would pick up another set of coils and try them.

i think in his instance that his stock coils were old and sagging so he was probably already sitting lower than a new truck. i would still think that even with old sagging coils it should have still made a bigger difference though.......definitely dosn't seem right :hmmmm2: i'm getting my coils soon. i'll do some before and after measurements. guessing every truck will be different

looking at pics of a bunch of xii drops the front always looks to sit lower than the back so i ordered 3" blocks. if my drop dosn't sit level and i need to drop the front a little more i'm thinking maybe 1" spacers for the spring perch like the c2c or the drop urd has. can't be too hard to make a set

 

[sixstringdave]

I did remove the bracket on the bump stop. It definately helped. Im not having a ton of bottoming out issues, but i do on occassion. No big deal.

I was afraid that i would have to throw more money at it to correct something that should be ok to begin with. :frown: ANd i dont believe i had old saggy stock coils. Only had about 80,000 miles on the truck when they were replaced. I wish i would have took measurements of the before and after. Its lower than it was, but not really that much.

Here is a before:


Here is after:


The pics may not do it justice. You can see that it did go down, but that the front is higher than the rear. They never did settle all that much. Even looking at the pics again myself it does look like more than a half to three quarters inch. But why is the front higher?

I do like the idea of maybe adding another inch of drop with the spring perch.

Is that a safe or good way to go??

 

[TommyXrunner]

looking at your pics i think you barely got a 1" drop up front. did you use the old SS coils (black ones) or the new xii coils (red ones)??? and yes using the spacer should work great. might not be able to get the alignment perfect but with only another 1" or even 3/4" i think it shouldn't be bad at all. i'll try it for sure if i can get some made

 

[06 xrunner]

I never measured the height before but I just checked now and I sit 3" between the top of tire and the fender. Not sure what stock height is tho but I would like to sit a little lower as well.
I'll have to look into that spring perch thing anyone know where to look?

 

[TommyXrunner]

I never measured the height before but I just checked now and I sit 3" between the top of tire and the fender. Not sure what stock height is tho but I would like to sit a little lower as well.
I'll have to look into that spring perch thing anyone know where to look?

you can get 1.5" spacers for the spring perch from gadget at urd or from tundra racing. i think that would be a little too much extra drop though. might be willing to try it though if i have a hard time getting some 1" spacers made

http://tundraracing.com/xrunnerdropkit.htm

 

[sixstringdave]

I have the red coils.

Yes, i would be interested in a 1 inch spacer as well.

 

[06 xrunner]

^^^^Tommy if your able to get some made let me know how much and maybe I'll get a couple too

 

[TommyXrunner]

^^^^Tommy if your able to get some made let me know how much and maybe I'll get a couple too

ya i'm looking at them online right now and i don't see why we can't use the 1.5" spacers and cut them to whichever length we want. or make our own. definitely something to look into

 

[sixstringdave]

250 bucks?!?! For spacers?? Yikes!!

 

[TommyXrunner]

250 bucks?!?! For spacers?? Yikes!!

haha ya i know right!? :stupid: thats why i was thinking of making some if its not to difficult. should be able to make my own spacer easily enough as long as i can buy the spring perches which i'm pretty sure i can and for cheap too

 

[sixstringdave]

Yea, if you can do it less expensive then i am mostly likely in. Keep us posted!

 

[TommyXrunner]

ya its all about the price. i honestly wouldn't pay 1 cent over $100 for those spacers. they shouldn't be any more than a set of drop blocks and u-bolts. i got my belltech 3" tapered blocks with u-bolts and washers and self locking nuts for $50......should be about the same for those little spacers

I never measured the height before but I just checked now and I sit 3" between the top of tire and the fender. Not sure what stock height is tho but I would like to sit a little lower as well.
I'll have to look into that spring perch thing anyone know where to look?

just measured my front and i have 3 1/2" between the tire and fender. so after the new drop coils i should sit 1 3/4" between the tire and fender. i have stock height tires on so if you're sitting at 3" you only got 1/2" drop :hmmmm2: hopefully your springs settle a bit more cause it seems like you didn't get much drop either....

 

[sixstringdave]

OK, just went out and measured mine. Sitting at 3 inches as well.

I dont want to throw them under the bus or anything, but shouldnt we have gotten what was advertised from XII Performance?