My lift which is Daystar is 2.5 to 3 inches. No problems with lines whatsoever. I was there for the before and after measurements. As a side note, I don't take it easy on the lift either. I have the scars and scratches to prove it.

Well if the $4700 commission check I just got paid is correct (Highly unlikely) then this will be on order later today! lol. Damn payroll screwing with me tho I think, that's about 20x my normal commission.

For those of you trying to decide between the daystar lift and ac lift, this might help. Jane over at AC told me, "The lift will work in conjunction with the future lifts we will be releasing."

So if you plan to lift it higher in the future, AC lift will be a good bet.

A clarification...most of the time, if wording mentions staying within design parameters, it means it can be compensated for by the rest of the system, NOT that it won't affect it.

Kind of like the 3" SL for the pre-'05's...sure, it messed up the alignment, but not beyond the available range of adjustment to get it aligned again.



Most of the time, especially for a modest SL, you can just loosen the brake line attachment points, and flex it out to see where it goes...and then relocate/re-attach as appropriate.

Chances are the front IFS travel won't change a whole lot, you are just pre-drooping the suspension to get lift, eating downtravel to get more uptravel and ride height....so front shock travel will probably be fine stock as far as length goes.

I haven't measured a rear shock on a '05, but the pre-'05's shocks were too short to take advantage of the 3" SL.

The longer shocks really let the rear droop much further.

I'm not sure if Darlington Skidderz fit the leaf packs on the '05's either, but, if they do, going with the top mount shock version would let the stock shock, or a longer one too, droop further before running out of shaft.



Check the lengths of the breather tubes too, not just brake lines...I forgot to do that on a lift, once,...not pretty when the water gets in there.

Does anyone know, are these shipping now? I am going to try and cancel my Daystar order. I do like this setup a lot more.

I just got off of the phone with Jane at AC and she said that if you go with the shackles you may not have to do anything with the brake lines and ABS as the test truck they used did not need to do anything to the brake system. IF you go with the AAL then you will need to do modification with the brake system.

They said they are also working on a kit for steel braided lines and ABS extension kit that they hopefully will have available to order within a week. Also she wanted me to pass this along: THEY ARE NOW SOLD OUT OF THE LIFT KITS. THEY WILL HAVE ANOTHER RUN IN THREE WEEKS. ANY ORDERS PLACED WILL BE ON BACK ORDER so she asked me to pass along to hold off on placing any orders until the three weeks have passed. You can call her to see if they have any more in stock.

She could not figure out how they got so many orders that quickly. I told her that it was talked about on just about every Xterra club that I have come across. She was very impressed with the amount of word of mouth that was out there on these kits.

Well if they sold out that quickly, hopefully they make a few more next time! The ABS extension kit sounds sweet. They should throw that all in with the AAL kit and charge a little more for it, I'm sure folks like myself would pay the extra $50 or whatever.

This product is evolving into a pretty awesome package. I am definitely ordering mine on the next run if they have all the extension kits, etc...

I was surprised as well about it. I don't think they were expecting that kind of a result when they listed it on their site. I knew that it was coming out right around X-mas time but didn't know the exact date. I've been talking with her about this kit and other things for the past couple of months now. I think that they now have a good idea of how popular these are and about the pricing. I told her that they are beating out the Daystar pricing and a few people have actually talked about cancelling their orders with Daystar to run AC's stuff. I just placed my order with her while on the phone which was the last one as she had it held for me.

She said that if you get the shackle one you won't need to do anything to the lines, etc as they didn't do anything to their test rig. The only one you need to do anything to is the AAL kit. I also asked her if the possibility to run the AAL's in conjunction with the shackles like with the first generation is possible. She said she doesn't know as they haven't tried it but she said that they might try it.

Hey Dan, any news about the BL coming?

sweet, well I'll be ordering in 3 weeks. I'd also buy the ABS/brake line extension if they offer one, in case anyone wants to know.

I'll ask her about it when I call her on Thursday or Friday and will let you know.

I just got an email from Mike at AC,
Good things come to those who wait...

Just an update for everyone.

I just talked with Jane and she will have more of the lift kits in on the 20th of this month.

They still are accepting orders and putting people's names on a list for those that are interested in getting the kit.

In addition to that I asked her about the 3" BL kit and she said that it will hopefully be on the site either today or tomorrow. She wasn't 100% sure on the price but said it might be in the $200-$300 range. I guess there is a lot involved with the BL as the radiator and other things are relocated with the lift hence the price being as high as it is.

The good thing is the radiator won't sit so damn low any more.

Wow, wonder what kind of tires you can shove under there with a 2.5" SL and a 3" BL. I mean the body line of the 05 was as high as an 04 with a 2" BL.

You can probably go up to a 35". The reason that you can't go past a 33" as of now is because the wheelwell is only 34" so you'll have to do some trimming in order for anything to fit. With the BL you might be able to do that because it should be up high enough to be able to clear it with no issues. Won't know until they come out and someone tries it.

I'm confused by this comment as I'm not the most mechanical so bare with me. If shackles provide better artculation then that would mean more wheel travel over all.. correct?

The AAL's have an extra inch of clearance but not as much travel, right?

Will the shackles not provide more drop distance than the AAL or will the articualtion differance between the 2 lifts going to be less than an inch?

If you don't need to make the change with the shackles with better wheel travel I don't see why the change would be needed on the AAL but then again, I'm sure they tested it.... right?

Basically the shackles provide 1.5" of lift, the AALs 2.5"
The coils up front are the same so you are either going to level out the X with the shackles and you will end up with about the same nose drop as the factory difference with AALs.
The extra inch requires new brake lines (which will be ready to order by 1/20)

My question, IYO would a full Shrock bump/front skid compress the coils much?

W/ AALs would it start to look really raked?

Just got them in right now. I can't wait until Friday so that I can go and do the install. They coils aren't that bad. They are pretty light and doing the intall yourself will be doable with the spring compressor from your local auto parts store.

I will have pics taken during the install. Here's the two pics that I just took after getting them out of the box and unwrapped. I'm going to talk with the guy as to the reason that he says you can't do an AAL and shackle combo since we could do it one the first generations.




Yes that is actually in graved into the side of the coil.

Cool Dan! Good luck on the install

So for those who are gonna get this lift, who's going with the AAL and who is gonna go with the shackle?

For the AAL you will need to do the brake mods. When I was talking with Mark I believe is his name he said that they will have only the brake line extensions. The ABS is just a wiring harness so from what he was saying you are responsible for cutting your own harness and splicing in the additional amount of wires needed to do it. I'm going to wait and see if they will just have the brake line extensions and that's it. If that's the case then I don't know how many people will actually buy the AAL as you will need to do your own extension to the harness.

I also asked him about running the AAL and shackle combo like I had on my first gen X and he said that he is not recommending it to anyone as it will make the Xterra sit to high in the rear and I guess make it unsafe?? I never had a problem with my set up on the other X. I might just order the AAL any how and then if I don't like the way that it looks then will take it off as it doesn't take all that long to put them on any ways.

I liked the AAL simply for more clearance for one but it should also stiffen up the leafs and I hope it will also correct the bottoming out we all know about. I am a little weary of moving wires but brake lines aren't that hard to do if they provide the correct lengths.

I would think you could install the AAL 2.5" lift, and keep the stock rear shocks, which would limit downtravel, and wouldn't require extending anything.

Once you put on long travel rear shocks, you will then need extensions.

I can see the rear leafs doing the same thing as the 1st gen Xterra.. sack out if you put on a shackle.