AxleIke

DISCLAIMER: I am not a professional. I am offering these points as opinion based upon experiences I have had, and people I know have had, with ball joint spacers on Early IFS trucks and 4Runners (86-95). Keep in mind that modifying the suspension of any vehicle has its risks and dangers, and, in some states, can have legal ramifications. Do some homework on your situtation, this is intended as help deciding if you want Ball Joint spacers.


So, I have noticed quite a few threads asking about balljoint spacers and thought i throw in my $.02 based upon my experiences the last few years. Please, if you have the spacers, feel free to add to this, as it's only my experiences with them.

First off, you buy them here: http://www.sdori.com/

The second most popular question seems to be:
Yes and no. The man thing that jams people up with this is that, once the spacers are on, the truck sits higher in the front, which gives people the impression that they can fit a largrer tire. The problem is, that the spacers alone do not limit the upward travel of the suspension. The tire will still flex to the stock possition, meaning that a larger tire can rub the fender.

This can be solved two ways: Shim your lower A-arm bumpstops, to stop the arm lower, and thus keep the tire out of the fender, OR, do like i did, and just take a sawzall to the fender.



You have several options when installing your spacers. Some use them for lift. Others used them for a softer ride. If you add the ball joint spacers, you will immediately gain 1.5" or so of lift. However, you can then relax your torsion bars back so the truck sits back at stock, or slightly above stock, so that your ride quality becomes better. This is up to the individual. Either way works.



My last addition for now is a question few seem to worry about, but does become apparant. Do these spacers cause premature wear on the truck?

Yes. As with any lift, you are looking at stretching the components, like the steering, to different angles then they are used to. Offroad abuse will wear out parts more quickly than on road use, but the spacers will add to that effect. The steering on these truck is terrible, and will wear out and break anyway, but the spacers acting as a lift will wear them out more quickly. Particularly vulerable is the idler arm. They can also cause more wear to the ball joints.

Again, feel free to add to this, it's just my impressions for now. I'll be adding more later as well.

FredTJ

This is true with any type of suspension lift. I see this all the time:

"I put xxx inches of lift on my xxxx and put on xxx sized tires and the tires hit the underside of the fenders when flexed"

Followed by a zillion responses pretty much like:

"Add more suspension lift"..

They just don't get it. It's not the amount of air between to top of the tire and the bottom of the fender that stops the upward movement of the axle

So many people seem to think so and they need to spend some time under their vehicle and see how things work


Actually you left out a 3rd way and an *extremely* important way as it offers many other advantages also besides just helping clear larger tires, and that is to add a body lift..





Best,
Fred

norcalsvx

i run mine with OME torsions set lower with a idler arm brace and havent had any problems with it

AxleIke

I run mine with OME torsions as well, also lowered, though not completely back to stock. I also run a downey idler arm brace. I have bent two additional arms with that set up.

Mostly the wear and tear is on the joints themselves, where the idler attaches to the centerlink, and the tierod ends attach to the knuckles as well as the centerlink. These have been ripping themselves apart with startling frequency.