You don't have to adjust your t-bars. I think a lot of people are running the spacers at stock w/out touching the t-bars and getting the extra 1.5" lift. I never drove my truck w/out bringing down the t-bars so I don't know how that ride is. Most people do recommend bringing down the t-bars for the extra flex/articulation. We need all we can get with IFS.

EDIT: Also, like BLKNBLU said earlier, you can also split the difference and crank the t-bars down, but not all the way so you can get some lift, some droop. I adjusted my t-bars again, so I'm at .5" lift right now, but also have an extra 1" of travel.

 

You're just not getting it; the BJ spacer is just pushing the upper A-frame up. That in turn is putting more tension on the T-bar just like if you had cranked it up w/o the spacers.

When you put that 1.5" wedge in there the T-bars are no longer "stock"....think about it; you're not pushing the ground away 1.5" now are you? You're pushing that into the only place it has to go....the torsion bars.

 

To answer the first part; yes. If all you want is lift then cranking the bars tighter will do the same thing. The spacers give you added down travel of the suspension in conjunction with the lift.

Second part; you don't have to tighten the torsion bars after the install of the spacers to get lift; the spacer is doing that for you - BUT it's the same result as tightening them with the adjuster! You're not moving the ground away an inch & a half, you're putting that energy into the torsion bars just like if you had cranked them.

 

lol, I give up...

It just seems to me that by their placement, it would give the lift with no ride difference; looked to me like maybe they accomplished the same thing as lifted spindles do on 2wd truck by bringing the tire mount location further down away from where the spring puts the force on the suspention, but I guess I'm wrong...

 

Ow, I'm starting to get a headache reading this. Up, down, whadevah.

 

Okay. I installed my 1.5" bj spacers, 2" lift poocomp shocks and torched out my sway bar.

I can tell you this. My ride improved! I don't know why you guys are saying it makes your ride rougher. My truck rides just as smooth (up front at least) as my girlfriends STOCK 95 4runner, if not smoother with the added 1.5" of up travel.

 

see that's exactly what I thought would be the case; it's just not making sence to me anymore, lol...

 

And note, I did NOT touch my torsion bars at ALL. I just added the added the 1.5" spacers.

My cv angles are pretty darn good right now, I wouldnt go any higher then 1.5" over stock without some sort of a diff drop. But then you have your diff hanging however many more inches lower.

 

It would if you could picture it. Just go out & look at what bolts to what on your IFS & then imagine sticking an inch & a half thick shim in it between the upper A-frame & the wheel. The space taken up by the shim is transferred somewhere...right? Guess where & you get the golden egg. Remember you can't push the earth away from you so it has to go somewhere. (cough - torsion bars -cough)

And anyone who says it rides better when you torsion bars have more torsion (stored energy) is seeing the results of something other than the bars having more torsion, they are feeling better shocks, softer tires or something, but it ain't the added energy in the t-bars I promise you.


You'll see when you perform the alteration; it'll all make sense.

 

Doesn't it push the lower a-arm down, further away from the upper a-arm? If you don't adjust your torsion bars, your upper a-arm would stay in the same place right? Wouldn't that be why this lift is supposed to help preserve ride, because it's not tightening anything? This would also make sense why the CV axle angles are a concern. If it just pushed into the torsion bar, you wouldn't gain any lift, just tighter torsion bars. So pushing the lower a-arm down would make a steeper angle on the CV joints, and push the tire further down away from the body.

 

If I understand you, you are correct. the upper control arm (UCA) stays in th exact same position unless you adjust them. The BJ spacers add lift as it lengthens this distance between the wheel hub and the UCA.

 

im doin the same thing and dam....did u steal my truck : P looks about the same

 

I did the BJ spacers (1.5) and the OME 901 rear coils in my '94 4runner about two years ago. I didn't touch the torsion bars at all. It rides more like a tank now, which I don't mind so much. But it also eats cv axles quicker. I have replaced both cv axles two times since the lift, and am due to replace now again because of torn boots. The cv angle doesn't look much different than my buddys stock 4runner, but it must make a difference. Luckily I have the lifetime replacement guarantee from O'Reilley, so I just need to pay for new ones and get my money back when I bring in the cores.

 

yes. installing BJ spacers does not move the UCA.
BJ spacers push the steering knuckle down, and consequently the lower control arm down as well.
without any other adjustment, 1.5" BJ spacers will add nearly 2" lift.
doing so also affects the steering linkage (makes the toe negative) and also makes the UCA and LCA not be parallel.
this requires an alignment

 

That strikes me as odd. I've run my setup since 4/05 with zero cv issues. Are you using the stock droop bumpstop? Despite getting replacements free, the frequent changes would be a PITA, not to mention the mess.

 

Yeah, everything else is all stock. One thing though come to think of it is that rebuilt cv axles may be junk quality as well. I know one thing though, replacement doesn't take me too much time!

 

Yeah, I plan on doing the 1.5 BJ lift to mine. I asked for them for Christmas but if I don't get them, I'll go buy them later. I plan on purchasing the front diff spacers from 4crawler so that I don't need to worry quite so much about the CVs. I already put aftermarket stronger coils, and 2" spacers on the rear end. I went with super lift hydro 7000 for the shocks, and already have them for the front, just waiting to get into it to put them on. Ive considered replacing the wheel bearings or just repacking them, I'm not sure yet. I also plan to pick up a set of 33x12.5 KM2s come this summer as my winter tires are all but shot, and I'll just make my current summer tires my winter tires.

 

1.5" is as thick as we make them. We explored the limits and found that going much farther risked binding CV's on some trucks. The spacers are designed to give as much droop as we can with some margin to ensure no one is binding their CV's.

This is a good question and I'll likely add this to our website.

For what it's worth, I'm running 1" of lift at the moment and like the trail performance a lot. The front end moves well for IFS because to flex, the suspension needs adequate up and down travel. Maxing out the torsion bar adjustment eliminates down travel killing flex and reducing ride quality to boot. I would only do it I really liked to abuse my truck jumping or otherwise doing high speed wheeling where worn CV's are the least of your worries.

If I'm to do a lot of sand or high speed stuff I will typically adjust another .5" or so to the truck can absorb larger hits. That's the benefit of having adjustable front suspension.

Frank

 

I'm having a hard figure rationalizing why your truck would ride harder. As far as I can tell, ride harshness depends on the upper control arm angle. THe closer it is to horizontal, softer the ride. This is because the UCA has the most leverage on the torsion bar at this angle as the tire is farthest away from the where the torsion bar attaches to the UCA.

 

This is absolutely correct as far as UCA angle is concerned.

Now, tires and shocks can have a huge effect on ride quality too so maybe there is more here we do not know.

Frank