Flygtenstein

toss in a diff drop too, should be all good

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

Aisin are the best hubs. Lower profile, less rock exposed profile, better mounting method.

BJ spacers are for travel, not lift. I have no real front lift, but can reach my bumpstops that are low profile. Try that with cranked bars.

Marc P

The spacers do give you lift, but when you add a winch and bumper up front it pushes it right down.

Flygtenstein

I have completely relaxed adjustor bolts and 15" of rim to fender. That is exactly how the truck came to me at stock ride height. The truck wheels tons better now.

Add BJ spacers are relax the bars.

mt_goat

Loosening the T-bars refers to adjusting them so that the truck sits lower in front. This will help with T-bar adjustment: http://www.off-road.com/toyota/tech/torsion/index.htm

SDORI makes 1.5 inch spacers, but Frank once talked about making some shorter if there was interest. Of course you could always get the 1.5" and have a half inch milled off the top to make them 1". http://www.sdori.com/

The ball joint spacers are only hard on CV's if they are used to raise the vehicle. They can be installed in combination with a downward adjustment of the T-bar so that in the end the truck height doesn't change much.

Strap22

The BJ spacers are 1.5" tall. As for what the difference between RB and TOD's spacers the answer is absolutely nothing. They are the same spacer manufactured by SDORI. We both sell his product and I am respectful of Roger as he is a wealth of knowledge and has been very supportive of Yota Tech for years. That's what so nice about this Board, there are plenty of us able and willing to help. Let me know if I can do anything for you.

CMD93

Thanks Phil for the reply.

I guess that I was looking to the BJ spacers for a lift in the front to level out the truck since the Downey HD's have the rear jacked. But after reading the above posts it seems to be that the BJ spacers are not for added lift, but for increased dowward flex.
It is my understanding that if you install the BJ spacers one needs to "relax" the torsion bars, or CV damage could occur.
I do not know if I'm ready for all that, I just wanted to level out the truck by bringing the front up some.
Anyone else have any other thoughts.

Chris

mt_goat

How much height do you need to level it?

nmtoy

You don't have to run the torsion bars loose with the ball joint spacers, but if you do the ride is better and you get more flex. If you tighten you your torsion bars a little after the spacer install you can increase the ride height but you won't get as much flex and the ride will be rougher, you may also need longer shocks. The install is pretty easy if you take your time and are careful. Make sure you get an alignment after you install them. IMHO they are a great addition to an IFS truck...

CMD93

I don't know, maybe 1 to 1.5 inches. Just to level the truck out. The rear is signifigantly higher than the front.

Its weird driving one day with the nose pointed up and the next day with the nose facing down.

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

As noted, you can set the torsion bars most any way with the spacer. If you want lift, then leave then set to your current setting and you'll get 1.5" lift. If you want max. travel, then crank the bars down a bit (loosen them) and you'll have less lift but more flex. What you probably don't want to do, at least too far, is to crank the torsion bars up all the way *and* run ball joint spacers. While one might be tempted to get 1.5" out of the spacers and 1.5" out of the bars, it probably won't work all that well, if at all.

It all depends on your needs, but one of the benefits of the torsion bar setup is that you can adjust it up and down as needed.

CMD93

Thank you for the clarification. I'll keep that in mind when I make my decsion.

callmej75

What if you used Downey's torsion bars with the bj spacers? Aren't their torsion bars supposed to give ya a little more height and help with the stiffness? Maybe ya could go with downey's torsion bars and bj spacers with the 2" downey coils in the back and still maintain a level stance and crank them bars down a little to gain a little more flex than stock bars and added height. Or maybe I'm looking too deep into it...

mt_goat

The Downey T-bars will give you a lot of stiffness all right. Are you sure you want more stiffness?

callmej75

oh...i understood it as they were less stiff when cranked up. I took it as they were different than stock and it took less cranking from them to raise the front...not maxing them out like you do the stock just to get 1" out of them. Am I wrong?

mt_goat

You've been reading the Downey catalog too much. Don't believe that Downey BS, they are stiff. I have them on my truck and they are much stiffer than the stock bars. Right now I have them loosened as much as possible and still have some threads holding truck up. The only way I could loosen them any more would be to get a longer adjustment bolt.

mt_goat

Let me clairify something I wasn't fair to Downey about, the bigger T-bars will increased the amount of deflection you have available to resist impact, assuming the impact is really big. It's just that unless you are doing something like desert racing (Downey's big market) or hitting speed bumps really fast, you will just feel more stiffness with the bigger bars.

callmej75

ah...gotcha...well if u got em then you would know! Is there any other torsion bars out there that wouldn't be as stiff? I heard OME torsion bars are good...

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

With torsion bars, diameter=stiffness, larger dia. = higher spring rate/stiffer. If you have additional weight up front (heavy bumper, engine, winch, etc.) then a larger dia. bar is a good idea. If you are stock weight up front, then no real need for a larger bar, unless you plan to do high speed pre-running, jumping, etc.

mt_goat

Yes, I think someone makes a 25mm bar, Downey's are 26mm. Stock I think is about 24mm. If you have a winch and winch bumper up front, or if you are hitting rough trails at high speed or are bottoming out the suspension, I would consider going to aftermarket bars. Mine really shine and ride smooths out when hitting bumps fast, but just be aware it will be stiffer while going slow.

mt_goat

Roger you beat me to it, at least we are on the same page.