I've seen a lot of peope on this board and on www.zuwharrie.com looking for 2" coil spacers. I was looking for them when I started my build and was unable to find them. Everyone else sells 1" or 1.5" for Track/kicks or the TJ spacers come in 1.75".

I was tempted to go with the TJ spacers, but depending on the brand of spacer you have to modify them anyway. My thought was why not just make my own if I have to mess around modifying them, and they are not the size I want anyway?

They are relatively simple to make. I have described the process on here and on zuwharrie (and I'm certainly not the first to do so). I do realize however that not everybody has the tools or time to make their own. So what I'm getting at is: How much interest would there be if I were to start making and selling 2" spacers? It was my experience that you want the front to be between 1.5" to 1.75" (depending on vehicle weight) for 2" of lift, and just a straight 2" for the rear. I would include a pair of each for a standard 2" lift and would probably be able to sell them for $60 to $70 +shipping. I may also be able to make them on a custom basis of any size you wanted up to 3". I would have to determine prices individually per custom order.

I am not saying for sure that I am going into production...I work full time in corrections, and might be starting out as a part-time police officer soon. Production might be spotty but I would be willing to look into it if there was enough interest.

Thanks

p.s. I don't want to step on Digger's toes here but I see that he is out of stock right now, and I'm sure he has other obligations also.

im interested in a pair for the rear of a trck/kick

I interested in some 2 inch ones for my 94 2 door track..email me at museboy07|removethispart|@yahoo.com if you want to sell some quick

Sorry guys, it might be a week or two before I can really get going. I dont have any material on hand right now. Worst of all, my cheapo hand me down bandsaw is giving me fits. I went out to the shop to play with some scrap UHMW I had laying around, and the old bandsaw started acting up real bad. It was making horribly out of square cuts due to real bad blade deflection, and the hydraulic cylinder that lowers the blade was being a PITA. If I'm gonna sell these things I want them to look half way professional. I'm researching blade options as we speak, and looking for alternate means of cutting the material. I'll keep you notified of when or if I'll be able to start taking orders.

You wont be stepping on my toes at all. You WILL be finding out like I did that the material cost and the time and effort in cutting the spacers makes the profit margin pretty small for a lot of effort. I started with free scrap material as well, then progressed to buying it fresh when the scraps ran out. Re-processed UHMW has all of the properties required for this application and is much easier to cut than virgin FDA approved UHMW(who needs to eat off of their coil spacers, anyways? LOL!).  I also use a drill press and professional-grade holesaws spinning at a slow rpm rather than a band saw. This works pretty well and keeps everything perfectly round and straight.

One more thing you will run into is newbies coming in wave after wave, asking you the same questions over and over and over again. You'll go for a month or more with no orders, then you'll hit a spurt selling out everything you've got. All the time you'll have people telling you that they heard they could run 2" or higher up front without any trouble, or that so and so on some other board is running 3" spacers up front without any problems at all, so why wont you make higher, etc... Even if you create a topic explaining in-depth why you want to use 1-1/2" in the front and 2" in the back, the exact make, model and year of rear shocks needed and even explain why certain things should also be done, like strut mount flips and swaybar removal, you will continue to get email after email, pm after pm asking the same exact questions over and over and over...

Maybe if you could come up with a post consisting of entirely pictures with no words, the brain-dead, lazy newbs that wont read a post longer than one sentence and wont search older topics for the answers to their questions will finally get the message and be able to stare at the pics and drool on their keyboards, while still learning the answers to their questions...

Am I bitter? Maybe a little, but I'm also burned out on making spacers... please, by all means, have at it. Enjoy your run and good luck to you! LOL!

Digger,

I can get the feeling of where you're coming from. I'm certainly not looking at this as a full time enterprise. I do have many other obligations to keep. That's why I'm little hesitant to do it. And I sure as heck didn't want to cut into your action, but I kinda got the feeling that you might be burnt out and really wouldn't mind. I haven't been on this scene for long but I have been doing a lot of researching, reading, and observing of it.

My spacers are made a bit differently than yours are. I realize you use flat stock and cut them out using hole saws. Mine are made from solid cylinders of UHMW. That's why I need to use the band saw, and that's how I can cut them to any desired length. I know I stated I could make them up to 3" long for custom orders, but I certainly would not recommend it unless you were also doing something else to account for the CV angels. If they wanted them bad enough I could do it though.

I know the material is tough to cut. My band saw is an old hand me down from a factory my uncle works at. I just dont know if it will handle the rigors of "mass" production runs. It did ok for the ones I made for myself but I had to cut very slowly. A bit slower than I would want to if I had to make multiple sets. Mine still came out slightly out of square but work perfectly well, but I would want the ones for sale to be a bit better. That's why I'm looking for a new solution for cutting them to length. I still use a hole saw to cut the center out. My drill press works reasonably well for that procedure.

All in all I'd just like to try help some people out on their way to enjoying their zuks...I might regret it after all is said and done...

Thanks for the well wishes

I love that response Digger, it says it all! It's too bad how something you love doing quickly loses it's appeal when it turns into a business and you have to deal with people. I'm just in the process of downsizing my part time business for welder training and just going back to custom welding and fab work (mostly pressure vessels) in part for alot of the same reasons you mentioned.
Well put Man!
Jim

All in all I'd just like to try help some people out on their way to enjoying their zuks...I might regret it after all is said and done...

A noble intention to be sure. Just be prepared for the large amount of people who will question your knowledge and experience with caustic remarks in a feeble attempt to get you to do what they want instead of what actually works the best. And the people that try to place an order without paying, then take forever to actually pay and usually never do in the end. I would have had more than twice the number of spacers I've sold if everyone that told me they wanted a set actually paid me for them. And sometimes you'll come across people that will even ask you the same question more than once no matter how many times you try to explain it to them. Just about everything anybody needs to know about coil spacer lifts can be found by reading through the post linked to my sig, but nobody ever takes the time to read it. It's much faster and easier to just post the question in the general forum or email me about it than to actually read the answer that has already been posted time and time again...

I used to use the money I made from the spacers to help work on my trackers, but then it bcame nessecary to use the profits to purchase more material and replacement tools, then came in the logistics of material ordering from a slow supplier. I had to order more material before I had gone through 1/2 of what I already had, just so that I would have enough to continue without interruption. This took on a life of it's own and before I knew it, my trackers were sitting in non-running condition and I had no time or money to do any repairs, which meant no rigs to wheel with and no time to enjoy wheeling anymore. I now realize that I need to concentrate on combining the best of both rigs into one functional one, sell off the rest of the un needed parts and actually get out and enjoy the woods like I used to before it became a job...

Bear in mind that its not just the CV angles that are an issue. The strut mount flip will give an extra 3/4" of strut travel but if you start using longer spring spacers then you will run out of down travel 'sag' on the suspension. This can make for a very scary ride because the front wheels will start to lift under cornering forces. It will also make the performance off road much worse as the front wheels will hang much easier. I had these problems with my first suspension lift that was supplied with 2" longer springs and no strut spacers.
Don't under estimate the value of your time and budget for replacing blades, tools and stuff. Did you use a lubricant when cutting the UHMW?

Digger, Jimiweld, and Rhinoman, you guys bring up very valid points. I am taking all of this into consideration before committing fully into this. I definitely worry about how to get paid for the products...guess I could use paypal, but I have personal vendetta against paypal. I am a licensed firearms dealer also, and paypal is very anti-gun, so I refuse to use their services anymore. Money orders and checks are the other option, but they have their own associated problems.

Replacement tooling could get very ugly also. I'm sure the UHMW is pretty hard on the blades and hole saws. Could be a PITA and too big of an expense.

Honestly, I would be happy just guiding people into making their own. I get a kick out of making my own stuff, and think other people would too if they just gave it a try. Unfortunately not everyone has the tools or access to them. I've always been around the tools, and had access to them. I come from a family of industrial maintenance mechanics, and I've got a technical engineering background. I'm no expert or anything like that, but with just a small amount of research and effort I was able to throw together a fun little trail rig that I am very excited about. I'm just surprised when people in this "hobby" don't have tools.

Maybe I'll just keep my endeavor local...I'll have to think hard about it.

BTW, Rhinoman, I did not use any lubricant when cutting the UHMW. The saw has the option for it, but my uncle suggested we didn't need it for the job...maybe need to rethink this

37kicker (Stan) also makes a really nice set of spacers but has been hesitant to sell on Zukiworld cause he knew Digger was doing it and didnt want to step on his toes. He makes them any size out of black UHMW black stock on his lathe and also makes an aluminum strut plate flip insert on the CNC. He sells 4 of the 1 1/2 spacers and the strut plate flip inserts with new bolts for $150.

Mike

That sounds like a good deal. I didn't know he was making spacers too. I've been too interested in trying to follow all the posts about his Toyota CV swap kit...never saw anything about him making spacers.

If 37kicker is already geared up and running, I'm out of the game. No sense re-inventing the wheel

The two biggest pearls is slow rpm when cutting actually lets the blade cut the material instead of burning/melting through it, and lubrication does help, a lot. I tried different stuff and the best I found was plain original formula armor all. It worked the best and didn't make a horrible smell like the petroleum based lubes, plus it kept everything cleaner than say wd40...

The more I think about this, the more I realize it's time for me to get out of the game myself. I need to spend more time fixing and wheeling my rigs and less time working so hard for other people's rigs and enjoyment. I think stan should go ahead and bring his stuff in... I have no problems with it at all!