An FYI,
I have a 1989 Kick and a 1994 track and they do not have the brace.
Raz

we had a 1996 sidekick sport and it had one

so does anybody have a soluttion to the strut brace issues yet?  i need to replace my struts, was gonna just go ome but with the current exchange rate they're way expensive, looking at over $500 for just the struts when they arrive at my door....  nuts!  so, solutions?  if not i'm gonna go with the extensions again even though i didn't think i would, mine have been solid.

just get longer bolts for the strut bar and fab some spacers.. thats what my calmini lift supplied!

I am Jeff's latest customer.  Spacers are on their way.  Got tired of spending the extra $ on the OME struts.  I'm keeping my OME coils, and Jeff made me up some 1" spacers.  I had 1.5's on top of the OME coils, and it seemed to be too much stress on the front end (probably part of the reason I blew 3 struts in under a year).  My strut mounts had a couple cracks, so those get replaced, too.  Body lift from Masterkit1 was ordered this morning.  31's will probably be ordered tomorrow.  Jacked up the front end and broke it apart yesterday; just have to put it all back together as parts come in.

BTW, if you're prone to blowing shocks/struts, most Gabriel, Monroe, etc. from your parts store have a lifetime warranty.

I'll try to remember to take pics (not a strong suit of mine) as it progresses.

the lifetime warranty on some of the struts really has me leaning on this route..  to buy the struts and spacers is roughly $100 less. 

one thing in notice is the ome's are 50mm longer, the strut extensions are 70mm longer and when i do the conversion (google) on the 1.5inch spacers it shows 38mm longer.  is that correct?  i see benefits in the long run if thats correct but of course the disadvantage of a bit less downtravel..??

any thoughts on this??

one thing in notice is the ome's are 50mm longer, the strut extensions are 70mm longer and when i do the conversion (google) on the 1.5inch spacers it shows 38mm longer.  is that correct? 

Spring spacers at the front are closer to the A-arm pivot point than the wheels are - this is a class one lever.  A 38mm spacer (your conversion is correct) will give about 60mm lift.

At the rear, because the axle stays horizontal, the lift is the same as the spacer thickness.

I am referring to the strut spacer, not the spring spacer.  this is related to added down travel only, not lift.  ??  thanks.

I am referring to the strut spacer, not the spring spacer.  this is related to added down travel only, not lift.  ??  thanks.

Yes, the struts damp motion, but have no effect on ride height - that is dictated by the springs.

thanks but my post has nothing to do with lift height or coil spacers.  what i'm looking to find out is exactly how much extra down travel people gain with these spacers.  is my conversion wrong/right?

When you lift with a coil spacer (or longer spring), the down travel you lose is equal to the lift you get. 

Inserting a strut spacer of 1.5" will restore 38.1 mm of down travel.

that's what i was thinking..  looks like i'm gonna lose a bit of travel to go with lifetime warranty struts but well worth it...

What would I be giving up by running only the coil spacers besides an inch or two of down travel?

if you don't run longer shocks/struts or add spacers/extensions to the shocks struts they will top out, bang and clunk and ride really badly then break sooner than later..  i didn't do anything with my struts when i got my 1st one in spacers up there, wasn't great and probably contributed to the early failure of my struts... maybe one day i'll replace them..

Well, I got it all back together about a week and a half ago, and I must say I'm actually pretty impressed w/ the ride quality of the Monroe struts.  I have yet to take them off pavement to discover possible topping/bottoming out issues.

Also, the glowing praise everyone has about the quality of Jeff's spacers is all true.  Never talked to the guy, but he was very friendly and prompt anytime I PMed him (I had him fab some 1" coil spacers since I already have OME coils).

To address the upper strut bar issue...Well, I didn't.  For now it's off.  Clearance isn't the issue (in my Tracker, it actually clears...barely).  Your strut mounts are already pointed slightly outboard:  /  \  not straight up and down.  When you lower your mounts, you're increasing the distance between the two sides.  You could compensate by putting another 1.5" spacer w/ longer bolts on top of the mount, and the bar would be right back where it was, or you can modify the bar by cutting off the ends and splicing in an extra 1.5" to achieve the same result. ...Maybe we can con Jeff into making an upper spacer, too...  Anywho,  I've got some stuff to take to my welder anyway, so I might just have him mod the strut bar while I'm at it, but not until after the Masterkit1 body lift goes on that's sitting in my garage.