Jay351

Hit them with penetrent. I used a wire brush and knocked off all the crud, then hit them with pb blaster the day before (twice) They came right out no problem.

Remove the nut and smack the bolts out with a hammer (with the balljoint still in place). You shouldnt have a problem.

Djlarroc

Well I bought a torque wrench yesterday and went to snug everything up. I went with 38lbs and then SNAP!

It took me an hour at 3 different auto part stores to find a close enough bolt. So, all my bolts are tightened down at 33lbs.

iamsuperbleeder

This is an awsome writeup man; I'm look'n at doing these very soon myself with some new leafs in the back to compliment them. You just used the 1.5" right? What the tallest safe hight the spacers are avalible in. I'm having a hard time finding them; I've heard some much about sdori, but the site doesn't want to work for me for some reason .

yotasavg

nice right up man!!! thanks

Djlarroc

Thanks guys, I'm glad I could help. Like I said, there are a lot of great write-ups, but were lacking the truck jacking info (which may be common sense to most )

superbleeder, you're right. SDORI's site isn't working. 4crawler sells 'em too though. http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/...ntSpacer.shtml

Luvmeye22re

Did you get those shocks on yet? What shocks did you end up getting?

Brenjen

I got mine from TRD parts of Dallas; always good service from them @ a decent price. They (SDORI) make them from 1 -3 inches iirc & 1.5 is what they stock. The others are custom orders you can get from SDORI or 4Crawlers sites.

BTW peeps; you still have to adjust the T-bars. The longer OME shocks & the 15" ride height causes mine to ride rougher than stock, so don't think these are going to lift your truck w/o paying a little in ride comfort. I personally don't mind the "truck ride" others do. If you crank the bars back down to stock height then you don't have lift but you get the softer ride back; you also might look into getting the idler arm brace & installing it. Apparently the BJ spacers can add stress to the idler arm & cause it to bend when wheeling hard so keep that in mind.

I've had my spacers on for a few months now & they've been ok, although I haven't wheeled them yet.

Djlarroc

Yeah, I went with the skyjackers H7002. They were having a sale 4 for $135 shipped and then a $35 mail in rebate. $100 for front and rear shipped is not bad at all.

And yeah, like brenjen said, you should adjust your t-bars. I cranked mine down a bit. So the spacers gave me .75" of lift right now. I'll probably crank them down another .50".

just a 22re

so you spent 275 bucks for a quarter of a inch of lift????? i dont get it help me


and i wanna lift my truck so bad now plus what did you do to the rear to leavel it out?

iamsuperbleeder

yes, I too am confused now... say you add the 3" spacers to a stock suspention without touching anything else. Does that give you 3" lift automatically, but make the ride quality worse at the same time? Why would you have to toy with the t-bars if all you messing with is the ball joints? I understand the point about the idler arm and needing an alignment, but something's slipping right past me here...

phildelfino

This is a great write up. I am going to be doing this myself soon.

BLKNBLU

iTrader: (1)

First, I don't think he said 3" spacers, but I didn't go back and read word for word. If he did, I imagine it was a slip of the keyboard. Search around about these spacers and you will find that SDORI owner Frank (YT name elripster) does not recommend anything greater than 1.5" for spacer size and does not make them any larger. Smaller sizes can be obtained on request.

Second, regarding the use of these spacers, there are several options.

They can be installed and the tbars left at the factory setting to realize 1.5 inches of lift and no real change in driving characteristics.

They can be installed and the tbars relaxed from factory settings to realize no lift but a softer ride and greater suspension articulation.

They can be installed and the tbars cranked to the max from factory settings and gain 3 inches of lift (not recommended)

Also with cranking or relaxing one would have the option to "split the difference" i.e. relax some and only take 1/2 to 1 inch lift or crank some and take only 2 to 2 1/2 inches of lift.

The idea is to get the lift that can be obtained from t bar cranking without dealing with the added stiffness that comes with t bar cranking. Adding spacers and fully cranking t bars will result in a very stiff ride and likely result in cv failures.

I personally opted to relax the tbars. I'm a more substance over style type and I feel the front end works much better with this setup.

iamsuperbleeder

ok, see that makes sence now, lol. Brenjen mentions above that their avalible up to 3", and if they are, you could really relax the t-bars and get a net lift of maybe 1.5-2" with good movement I would think, but the ride's really not too bad now, so 1.5" with no adjustment to the t-bars would be fine with me... untill I get my true IFS lift

I'll probably end up doing this before I get my new wheels and 285/75 tires, that way I'll have less work to do so they'll clear no problem.

BLKNBLU

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, I'm pretty sure 1 1/2 inches are the largest, but check with the guys that make/sell them. They'll know the best.

Brenjen

Like I said, check 4crawlers site; iirc (I could be mistaken, I sometimes am) they will custom make some up to 3" but 1.5" is recommended.

BLKNBLU has it pretty much nailed. Stock height is usually around 14" wheel lip to fender lip (again - IIRC) I set mine at 15" which was a crank down after my 1.5" bj spacer install & the ride; in combination with the OME shocks, is stiffer. At 14" & with HD Bilstein shocks it was significantly softer.

My purpose was to gain a little articulation & a hair bit of lift because I lifted the rear & had too much rake for my liking. I also removed my sway bar to help gain a little more flex out of it.

If you don't do anything but stick the spacers in all you are really doing is forcing the T-bars up, no different than cranking them up as far as the ride is concerned imo The spacers just give you that added bit of down travel.

Djlarroc

Yup, BLKNBLU explains it pefectly. I was at 14" wheel lip to fender lip before the spacer lift, 15.5" after (if you look at the pics), now I'm at 14.75" after relaxing the t-bars.

just a 22re

yeah ok i get it now it just didnt click at first lol cool i might do this my self with a 4in front drop and a 6in rear spring yay

iamsuperbleeder

ah, ok, I think I grasp it now, lol...

stock + 1.5" spacer + no t-bar adjustment = 1.5" lift and no ride quality or flex difference

stock + 1.5" spacer + losening the t-bars = little to no lift, softer ride, and more flex

stock + 1.5" spacer + tightening the t-bars (not recommended) = highest lift, stiff ride, and less flex

so I think the combination of the 1.5" spacers and the sway bar removed while leaving the t-bars alone is what I want to do...

sorry about the understanding of the things... I'm sloooowww

Brenjen

Well, one thing - if you install the 1.5" spacers + no t-bar adjustment it will equal a harsher ride & a 1.5" flex difference....not; "1.5" lift and no ride quality or flex difference"

That would equal forcing the T-Bars up (stiffening them) which in turn will stiffen your ride! I said it before & I'll say it again, the lift you get will be from adjusting the T-bars. The install forces them UP which is the same as not installing them & cranking them up. You might be surprised just how stiff the ride will get adding as little as an inch of lift by adjusting the T-bars.

I don't know about these other folks but when I installed mine my T-Bars had to be adjusted anyway because they weren't even. One side was just under 16" & the other was just over 16".

Personally I think you'll just have to do it & then see what you think; just be sure to drive the truck around after adjustments so the suspension can settle then take a measurement. If you measure without driving the measurement will be off.

iamsuperbleeder

Well if that's the case, can't you get the same end result just from tightening the freek'n t-bars down? I've cranked mine before for about a month, so I know how it rides with them tightened; pretty stiff. If you STILL have to crank the t-bars down after the install to get the lift, then is the only thing the spacers do is give you flex?