mat

Just installed inch & 1/2 balljoint spacers today. I removed the studs from the balljoint mounting plate with a socket and a mini sledg. I havent seen any one else mention this and it sved me some time (don't have to remove/reinstall the balljoint) so i thought i would through it out there.

1.put something between the droopstop and the upper a-arm
2. The normal stuff (jack it up, suport it, remove the tire)
3. put something under the hub for it to fall on to
4.remove the nuts mounting the balljoint to the upper a-arm (hub and lower a-arm should fall down w/ some pushing and jiggeling)
5. Remove the bolt holding the swaybar to the lower a-arm
6. Use your stock bottel jack betwene the a-arms to rase the upper a-arm (placing the bottome of the jack ware the sway bar would be mounted to the lower a-arm is ideal)
7.W/ the a-arms separated you can manuver the hub around for space
8.REMOVING the STUDS from the BALLJOINT
-Use a 13mm (or simaller) 1/2 inch drive socket w/ a 3 inch (or simaller) extention on it . Place it between the bottem of the balljoint stud and the rear part of the hub where the brake bracket is mounted w/ the stud end inside of the socket. W/ everything lined up hit the top end of the stud down into the socket and out of the balljoint bracket.
9.Grined
10. install/reinstall

If you have trouble pushing the balljoint and hub back in tords the center of the truck far enough to line it back up with the upper a-arm when installing the spacers your tripod cv joint probably pulled out. just push the hub tords the diff and rotate the axle by the flange. it should pop back in.

Any corrections, fill free

mat

I wanted to add, now that i got an alignment my tires rub on the upper a-arm. i have stock rims and 31inch bfg a/t tires. i am going to put in 1/4 inch wheel spacers. i'll let you know if that corects the problem completly, after i take it for a test drive.

celica

I did mine by not even removing the ball joint - simply leave the pressure on bewteen the control arms and bang them out from the top, then separate the control arms with the jack

mat

Thats a better idea celica.

I tested the 1/4 inch wheel spacers, but they didn't fix the rubbing so i'm waiting for 1 1/2inch allpro spacers to be shipped. That should definently fix it.

AH64ID

Is this a common problem?

Injohneer

When do they rub? When you crank all the way to the right or left?
I don't have that problem with stock rims and 33x10.5s...

celica

my 10.5" tires are a little wider than most & they don't rub on the upper control arm.

mat

When sitting at ride hight the tires dont touch at all, but when i drove it on the street there was rubbing. probably combination of turning and suspention movement. I have hearred of others with this problem and i think it changes tire to tire. the bfg's side wall is going to be a diffrent shape then other tires and they are going to act diffrently in turns and such. also i have the t-bars in the stock position so if yours are cranked or loosened then you might not be in the same range of your travel during normal driving

AH64ID

Regardless it seems weird that your closer to the arm than you were without the spacer. to me that seems liks a bad alignment. But I havent seen an installed BJ spacer up close....Have any pics?

slosurfer

Are you sure you are rubbing on the a arm? If so, which part? I only ask because if you are not touching the arm at normal height, then you shouldn't rub. The arm moves with the tire up and down and the tire pivots around it when turning. This is assuming you are rubbing on the very end of the a arm. I only know this because my tires are less than 1/4 in. from the end of the a arm and I took it to my local tire shop because I thought I would need spacers. He explained it all to me and it has been fine without spacers even when aired way down. You might want to check to see if you are rubbing somewhere else.

celica

Are your BJ spacers in tight? Double check them to ensure they didn't loosen up

celica

is there something loose on the lower arm allowing movement out on the bottom & hence in on the top?

mat

I am rubbing on the very end of the upper a-arm on the rounded area above the lip. because the mounting point is not at the very end of the a-arm there will be some change in clearance there and i only have about 1/8 of an inch clearace at ride hight. It dosent look like it rubs hard but it dose rub.

Celica, that's a good point and i will go back through the nuts and bolts again to rerecheck them.

mat

i thought of another posable cause. the a-arms move in circular motions off of difrent pivit points. when the arm is closest to horivontaly level you get the least amout of in/out movement for each inch of up/down movment at the end of the arm. and the most in/out movement at vetical. so with the balljoint spacer and stock t-bar set up the upper a arm is at its stock angle while the lower arm is pushed down and closer to vertical. thus (simaller to what celica was sugesting) outward movment at the bottom could be causing more inward tire movment at the top.

on second thought, i'm over thinking it. I'll just through the wheel spacers on and be done with it.

slosurfer

If you just need a little more clearance you can always grind the lip down on the end of the a arm. That would probably give you enough clearance and then you won't have to use any spacers.

mat

The problem with that is that i am not rubing on the lip i am rubbing on the round area above the lip.

besides, UPS just showd so i'll be throughing some 1 1/2 inch spacers on right now any way. those should give me plenty of room.

AH64ID

thats a very odd place to rub, take pics...i cant see how you would rub there unless something is wong...can BJ spacers be put it upside down?

snap-on

and fit right? i dont think so... they have a notch in them for SOMETHING i assume!

shiftless89

drainage notch goes down.
have your rig aligned. I wonder it the LCA is too far outboard causing the wheels to do this / \ which would bring your tire closer to the UCA and might cause that problem. I run 33x12.5's on 15x8 rims with I believe 3 to 3.5" backspacing, no rubbing execpt for the tire on the sway bar under extreme left turns.
good luck
Mike

s_wall98

I'd say they're installed right and they just rub. I have stock SR5 rims, 32x11.50 Geolanders and sometimes they rub and they rub on the same spot. The taller the tire, the less rubbing there is. With 32s mine isnt enough to worry about, only in extreme circumstances.