50Runner

Hi all...yes, Ive looked and seen no mention of this. I recently did a bj spacer on my 1990 and there is NO travel! I mean its bad...I cant even drive over a speed bump, crawl more like it, without the truck bottoming out. I changed the shocks to the OME ones listed on the bj spacer thread and have the landcruiser coils in back with new shocks as well.

Did I miss something? Was I supposed to lower the torsion bars at the same time? Cut off the bump stop? Anything? I would have thought nothing else needs to be done since theres no mention of anything on the bj thread and all the pics Ive seen of trucks with this mod sit level like mine does. I plan on puttin an ARB bumper which will add some weight and lower the front a tad but thats not gonna be a real solution. Its basically undrivable over any sort of bumps right now...

Thanks

1styota4X4

make sure you got the right front shocks mine were mis packaged once and i got rear shocks up front.... the truck sat level but it bounced down the road....

Junkers88

Hmmmmm.... have you jacked one tire up to see if you do indeed get better travel? I ask because the two rigs that I've BJ'd had great up and down. No harsh ride either.

50Runner

It actually rides fine on smooth pavement, the issue is theres no travel at all. It seems like down travel is the problem because it goes over speed bumps fine but when it rebounds it feels like a solid hit. Its as if thought the shock only has up travel and nothing left for the down travel. Still think it might be swapped shocks?

mastacox

Sounds to me like you're almost riding on your droop bump stop. Maybe dial your torsion bars back a bit...

elripster

Sounds like you need to back off your torsion bars unless you installed a way too long of a shock.

50Runner

The torsion bars were never dialed up to begin with. Does the bj spacer put more tension in them? Like I said, truck sits level. The shocks are the OME ones mentioned in several threads.

elripster

Can you post up some pictures of your front suspension?

Functionally, spacers increase the window of travel 1.5". All things equal, after installation, you will have the same down travel as before the install but 1.5" more up travel. They should make the ride smoother.

The things within the suspension that resist motion would the bumpstops and shocks. The bumpstops come into play at the limits of travel. Shocks will affect the rate of suspension travel but not the limits unless the wrong model is installed. If the shock were too long then it would become the bumpstop and would typically fail in short order under those loads.

More tension on a spring makes it ride "softer" because for force causes the spring to deflect more and by default the chassis to "deflect", or more accurately, move less. The less the chassis moves the less the passengers feel the impact of a jolt.

Frank

Junkers88

Once you get it figured out you can always add in some low profile bump stops to help gain a tad more travel.

50Runner

Ill post pics when I get back from traveling. I realize what you say Frank, thats why Im confused. I assumed my ride was going to be pretty much exactly the same as before the lift. Maybe slightly different due to the different (and brand new) shocks but certainly a very small change. As is right now its basically undrivable over any bumps, its almost as if though there is no suspension.

Junkers88

This sounds more and more like the wrong shocks.

Um, dumb question but when you did the spacer install did you use a 2x4 or something to hold the upper arm up while you did the cutting? I ask because when I did my first set of these I used 2x4's to hold up the upper and forgot to remove them after I was done. The first bump I hit about knocked my teeth out, of course it instantly reminded me to get the damn boards out of the suspension.

Sportsmanphil

Remove the shocks and take if for a speed bump trial. See if that changes things. Sounds like your shocks are too short at full stroke.

elripster

I'm thinking something is up with the shocks too. Maybe verify the part number on the shock to make sure they sent you the right ones.

Frank

50Runner

I was actually thinking that, taking the shocks out up front, going over a couple speed bumps and seeing how that goes. Thanks for all the suggestions!

sebastianholmes

Junkers88

That's some damn good advice right there.

RatLabGuy

Was it difficult to get the shocks in there?
Like, did you have to reeeeaally compress them to fit?
IIRC one of the problems w/ the BJ spacer mode (i have it to) is that there aren't many shocks that fit the new range of travel well.
The spacers increase the static shock length something like 1/2-3/4".
seems most shocks are either for stock length, and are just a little short (most folks just add washers/spacers to the top) or are designed for a 3" lift, and are too long to really fit in there w/ BJ spacers
E.g. i bought some Bilstein 5100s for "mild lift" 80s trucks, and low and behold they won't fit.

dewiseman

I would jack the truck up and put it on stands (under frame) then take the wheel off and use your bottle jack under the lower a-arm to jack it up and lower it down. You should be able to see what is limiting you.

elripster

You can always shim a stock shock with a nut or .5" stack of washers to work with spacers.

Frank

50Runner

Shocks went in no problem. When I get back Ill try taking them off and see how that works. If that doesnt solve it Ill take pics and send them over. Thanks guys!