I know we've had this debate 50 bazillion times. However, I wanna hear some cold hard facts from you long-term AS users, aka "The Lifers." Since I financed my new truck for 72 months ( ) instead of leasing this time, I plan to make it "mine" more so than the other truck.

I was at a truck accessory shop today getting my nerfs installed and the guy told me "call me when you get ready to lift it." This led to a bit of discussion about 4" versus 6", Autospring versus Daystar, etc..

Basically, he told me that I didnt want to use the Autospring spacer on my new truck because he has heard of several cases of people who have had the kit on for a long time having problems with the front end making noise and premature ball-joint wear. He also said something about how the shocks, because of how the AS is mounted, are constantly almost fully extended, affecting ride quality.

I basically wanna know how true this is. I was quoted (by the same guy) $350 for a 2" Daystar installed, and truck aligned. Basically, it's a low enough cost for me to not have to hassle with it. He told me it'd take half a day. At any rate, I wanna know people's thoughts and ideas. Anyone?

 

With the Auto spring your shocks stay at the stock length as the spacer is on the top of the coilover. Plus,the AS has an offset so you are not going to have your upper a-arm rubbing against the spring. Daystar preloads the spring assembly and thus extends the stock shock to almost full extension.
All of the leveling kits are going to shorten the life of the ball joints as it places them at more extreme angles than stock parameters.
I chose the 2" AS to limit the stress on the balljoints and CV joints but I already know that by 80k miles that the upper balljoints will need to be replaced to eliminate premature tire wear as they were not engineered to run at this angle. This is the nature of the beast with IFS and inexpensive lifting methods. I still feel that trade for the level look is well worth a few pairs of ball joints over the time I will own my truck.
BTW, if you are halfway handy with tools,you can install the AS lift yourself in less than 3 hours and all you will need is an alignment.

 

Neither. Just get the Bilstein 2" height ajustable front shocks.

http://www.bilstein.com/offroad.php

 

I installed the 2.5" AS on my old truck. I never had any problems. I just don't wanna get all dirty and tear up the truck, especially right before a road trip.

 

Exactly, or go with the ranchos. Those two would be your best options...

 

Wouldn't these and the Rancho's still put the added burden on your ball joints, same as the Skyjacker 3" coil overs? As far as I can tell these still mess with the suspension geometry and angles....

Cleaner than adding a spacer, but to the same effect. Please let me know if I am wrong cause I would be very interested in this as an alternative to a spacer kit.