Spiker
Official Vendor
Here's a short background on how the Spiker Engineering high-lift hood strut kits came about.
When I first bought the 4Runner, it needed lots of catch-up maintenance under the hood - radiator, timing belt, valve cover gaskets, the works. Not only did I get tired of always working around the prop rod, but the stock hood height placed the bug shield exactly at the height of my head. After getting pierced by the shield a few times, I’ve had enough.
I’d always heard about the "other guys" hood struts, but my emails to them went unanswered, which I found to be lame. And their struts weren't going to help my issue of hood height. So with the attitude of “how hard can this be?,” I went into prototyping my own solution.
The result is a strut kit that doesn’t require any holes to be drilled in the 4Runner’s body – it makes use of existing mounting points in the inner fenders. Four small holes drilled into the hood are the only permanent mods to the truck. The hood opens smoothly and effortlessly with just one hand, and comes to a gentle stop at the end of travel. And no more slamming during closing!
But the true beauty of these struts is the high-lift capability, which can raise the hood by up to 8” above stock height. The amount of extra access and light that goes along with the high-lift is truly mind blowing:
I showed this design to other folks on the T4R forum and got numerous requests to sell them the kit. And that's how Spiker Engineering was born.
The strut kit has gone through a number of improvements over time. At this point I consider it to be the best you can get – heavy gauge brackets finished in beautiful gloss black powder coat; premium struts with smooth action and high durability; and of course, the high-lift capability that no one else offers. All this at a price that’s cheaper than the competition, with customer service that’s second to none. This includes a 100% money back guarantee and free return shipping.
With the tremendous popularity of these strut kits, I’ve expanded the product line to 1st and 2nd Gen Tacomas. I’m now starting to look at 3rd Gen Tacomas, but I still need to find a donor truck to tinker with (hint for anyone in LA area).
You can find the high-lift hood struts here - https://spikerengineering.com/. And don't forget about the discount to IFSOFFROAD members - https://www.independentoffroading.com/index.php?threads/spiker-engineering-discounts.505/
When I first bought the 4Runner, it needed lots of catch-up maintenance under the hood - radiator, timing belt, valve cover gaskets, the works. Not only did I get tired of always working around the prop rod, but the stock hood height placed the bug shield exactly at the height of my head. After getting pierced by the shield a few times, I’ve had enough.
I’d always heard about the "other guys" hood struts, but my emails to them went unanswered, which I found to be lame. And their struts weren't going to help my issue of hood height. So with the attitude of “how hard can this be?,” I went into prototyping my own solution.
The result is a strut kit that doesn’t require any holes to be drilled in the 4Runner’s body – it makes use of existing mounting points in the inner fenders. Four small holes drilled into the hood are the only permanent mods to the truck. The hood opens smoothly and effortlessly with just one hand, and comes to a gentle stop at the end of travel. And no more slamming during closing!
But the true beauty of these struts is the high-lift capability, which can raise the hood by up to 8” above stock height. The amount of extra access and light that goes along with the high-lift is truly mind blowing:
I showed this design to other folks on the T4R forum and got numerous requests to sell them the kit. And that's how Spiker Engineering was born.
The strut kit has gone through a number of improvements over time. At this point I consider it to be the best you can get – heavy gauge brackets finished in beautiful gloss black powder coat; premium struts with smooth action and high durability; and of course, the high-lift capability that no one else offers. All this at a price that’s cheaper than the competition, with customer service that’s second to none. This includes a 100% money back guarantee and free return shipping.
With the tremendous popularity of these strut kits, I’ve expanded the product line to 1st and 2nd Gen Tacomas. I’m now starting to look at 3rd Gen Tacomas, but I still need to find a donor truck to tinker with (hint for anyone in LA area).
You can find the high-lift hood struts here - https://spikerengineering.com/. And don't forget about the discount to IFSOFFROAD members - https://www.independentoffroading.com/index.php?threads/spiker-engineering-discounts.505/
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