Does the Daystar Strut top actually provide any lift by providing an increased gap between the body and the top of the strut, or does it just relocate the spring/strut assembly slightly so it clears the rest of the suspension arms when using the Daystar 2.5inch lift?

Anyone got a pic of each bracket side by side so I can see the differences?

Many thanks in advance,

It really doesn't do either. It relieves some of the pretension on the spring and allows the wheel to droop further. The spring still mounts in essentially the same place, it just moves the mounting place for the strut down allowing the assembly to stretch out longer.

Ok, I understand. Its so the strut (which when fully extended is a fixed length) doesn't 'top out' (ie try and pull itself apart) when the spring is at full extension when offroading with that side of the car high or when a front wheel is off the ground. So it doesn't by itself contribute to the lift at all? The lift is achieved by the spacer under the spring?

hey wilmo if you need just a half inch up front use the 1/4 steel spacer for top of the strut. i have a pair from rustys and they dont fit very good. but rocky road also has these steel spacer plates and they must fit right because there rock father lift is the ome heavy duty front springs and that spacer plate theres has to fit right. they claim this setup gives you 2 1/2 of lift.

Yes, I'm coming to that conclusion. I think I'll grab a set of strut top spacers from Rusty's and put them in just to lift the front that little bit more, then there should be only less than half an inch difference between the front and the rears, with the rears still slightly higher.

I went bush driving yesterday with the OME springs front and rear (as everyone has probably read that I have by now on my CRD), and sure they are a bit softer than stock, but I don't think the set up is all that bad if you can live with the 3/4 inch less lift on the front than what you' get if you fitted the springs to a petrol. Remember I have a bull bar as well, so without a bullbar I don't think the OME springs on a CRD are going to be too much of an issue at all and you probably wouldn't lose as much height.

A lot of it depends on the type of off-roading you are wanting to do - and the guys on the forum like Clint seem to be into some pretty serious rock hopping. In these scenarios perhaps the softer setup isn't suitable. For my use, running the stock 235/70's the OME setup on its own has got me everywhere I'd want to be able to go where I live in the last 2 days without any trouble. Check the pics at the link on my signature.

On the highway at 110km/h (70 mph?) it handles fine, and doesn't have a lot of body roll - feels very sure footed in fact (I've driven much much worse stock setup 4WD's), same around corners at responsible speeds. My guess that the guys complaining of these types of problems in their CRD's when having a Frankenlift fitted are experiencing them because the Frankenlift is another good 1.5inchs or so higher than mine is and the daystar spacer also alters the spring rate, plus they are invariably running big rubber.

One thing the OME spring lift does give you over using the 2.5inch Daystar and the stock spring is articulation - and that's got to be advantageous when off road. You can feel the suspension flexing to keep the wheels on the ground with this setup, I dare say that I'd be getting a front wheel off the ground more often without the OME springs. As far as I'm aware articulation and stiffness are mutually exclusive - so you need to live with a degree of softness in the springs to achieve the flex.

Anyway, we'll see if the front's sag any in time carrying the weight I am and whether the 'bounce' that I am supposed to be experiencing with this setup on my CRD appears. So far so good though.

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2005 KJ CRD Cherokee (Liberty) Extreme Sport, ARB bar and IPF lights, Rocky Road Combo lift (Daystar 1.5inch spacer with RR strut top plate and factory springs) with OME struts (front), OME 947 with Rancho RSX17004 shocks (rear), all Mopar skid plates, Tow Hitch, BFG 245/70/16 AT's Pics.

i think you should buy a set of steel spacers from rocky road. not rustys like i said the spacers from rustys dont fit very well . or less give him a call and see if they fixed the fitting problem.

yeah I'll investigate both. Thanks for the tip re Rocky Road's offering.

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2005 KJ CRD Cherokee (Liberty) Extreme Sport, ARB bar and IPF lights, Rocky Road Combo lift (Daystar 1.5inch spacer with RR strut top plate and factory springs) with OME struts (front), OME 947 with Rancho RSX17004 shocks (rear), all Mopar skid plates, Tow Hitch, BFG 245/70/16 AT's Pics.

Rustys spacer don't fit prefect, but a 1/2 drill bit fixes the problem in 2 minutes.

ditto mine was off by 1/16". Not a huge difference but just a enough I ended up using a 5/8" bit and it worked fine.

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'02 KJ Sport V6 4x4
3/8" Clevis lift
Rusty's 2.5 lift
255/70/R16 Fleet Farm All Terrain (yes they work)
Class 3 hitch
Hellas
Police Scanner/CB radio
LOST #: JH061986

mechanic joe how much lift did you get with the spacer plate,