Ok i know this(these) questions have been asked about 100000000000000 times before here...I have spent quite a bit of time searching this topic...but i still have some questions.

First off...I'm planning to do the BJ spacer lift and get 3" downey leafsprings...but my dad(who still owns the majority of this car...for the time being) had a friend who is a mechanic come over and look at the bj lift and told me that the bj spacers were ILLEGAL and that they extremely weaken the ifs and i would be better off getting a 3" Rancho lift. Now i've heard that for the most part that the people who do the BJ lift don't have any major issues and i haven't read anything about anyone saying they're illegal, and the people who do the bracket lifts (like rancho and superlift yatta yatta yatta) usually end up breaking things. What do ya'll recommend?

Second, if i do end up doing the BJ spacer lift how could i fix the angle and take some stress of the cv's? I've heard that some people put manual hubs on but what about when you put it in 4wd?

Alright i'm done rambling
any feedback/advice would be awesome

-ben

 

I've never heard of anyone having strength problems with the BJ spacers. And I don't believe the IFS can get much weaker

Manual hubs and a differential drop will definitely help ease stress on the CV's.

EDIT: Illegal?

 

hahaha
exactly what i said "illegal?" wtf i don't think so

 

If the spacers were illegal, so would be all the other types of spacer lifts, like the coil spacers, lift blocks on leaf springs, etc. No problems with weakness that I have heard about, and since you are spacing the whole ball joint down, you are not increasing the stress on the ball joint itself as you would if you made a spacer that fit on the stud end of the joint and lengthened it.
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/...ntSpacer.shtml

And by keeping to the stock control arms and mounting points, you are keeping the stress on those parts about the same as stock. The 3" and 4" bracket lift kits increase stresses there.

Manual hubs can help with CVs as can a front diff drop:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/DiffDrop.shtml

 

Also, you are in a tough spot. In the end, you got to go with what your dad says. It is not worth it right now to turn it into something major to come between you two.

Edit: I took too long! 4crawler already got it.

 

hmm...interesting

well i called 4wheel parts and asked them how much a rancho/procomp ect lift would cost and they said 1300 WAYY OUT OF THE BUDJET lol

so it looks like i'll be going with the bj spacer lift

4crawler, i'll probably be ordering a diff drop from you guys within the next couple of hrs

thanks for the help

-ben

 

You can always install the front lift and see what your CV angles look like afterwards. If you think they will be a problem or if you run into issues down the road (boots wearing out or joints breaking), then install the diff drop. A lot depends on what lift you end up running, whether you have manual hubs or not and how much 4WD use there is.

 

Well i go offroading a couple times a month with my friends and also go hunting once everyother month so i use 4wd somewhat alot