So I've been debating the whole ball joint spacers thing, and still up in the air about it. I've been reading and researching and have seen that when you install the spacers, you upper ball joints run into the risk of binding and also that you have to cut the upper a arm. What I was thinking has anyone tried running smaller spacers like a 1in or something? I was thinking that if you go 1in your ball joint has a lesser chance of binding, and you might not have to notch the a arm because the ball joint do sent stick out of the pocket as it is 1/2in further in? Does that sound right?

 

Binding also depends on how much you crank the bars too, but yes. Youll have to cut the arm no matter what.

 

Ok, let's say you have 3 trucks.
1. Stock
2. Spacer only
3. T bar crank only
If we have truck 2 & 3 at the exact same height and we jack all 3 of them up, the ball joints will bind and result in less travel vs the stock truck?

 

screw ball joint spacers. if i had to do it again, i'd go with a 1" or 1.5" body lift. the spacers tear up front end parts. make sure you buy an idler arm with a lifetime warranty. i'm on my 7th or 8th one. i do wheel pretty hard though

 

'86 22RE 4Runner here. I'm running 1.25" spacers and like 'em. They've been in there for about 4000 miles so far, a fair amount of those spent off road. I did not replace or adjust the torsion springs, just aligned it post spacer install.

There's no ball joint bind, and the CVs are still at good angles. No problems with the increase in travel. I'm running BFG 235/75s on stock 15s and they clear the ends of the upper a-arms (larger tires would require some trimming of the end of the a-arm).

I've got the OME medium duty springs in the rear, ARB shocks all around, and the ARB stabilizer. The thing handles great off road. The front end soaks up bumps very well. Nice compromise between an all out trail rig and a stock machine. I dig it.

Body lift just messes up too many details, IMO, and is not needed for a milder rig.

 

the best thing to do with ball joint spacers is after you install them, relax the torsion bars so you're back to the ..."stock"... height. The suspension will ride softer and flex easier.

 

When I first saw Joint spacers I said huh?? Then I saw cutting arms, I said whoa!!
I like my 3 inch lift, as I work thru this truck I see the mods made to things like the steering column
and a couple other places, all add up to
3 inches everywhere, so whoever did the lift did a good job, looks pro,
the other stuff by owner assumed, not so much.. j

 

Well I decided to bite the bullet and I slapped some 1in spacers together. What do you all think? I used 2 pieces of 1/4 in plate and 1/2 spacers and welded it all together. Took me about a total of 2 hrs to make them in between jobs at work. It will be a while till I install these. Got to focus on the engine swap first.

 

Hadn't considered making the spacers, but why not? So long as the bolt holes are well supported all the way around, all the way through. Looks like it in the pics, but kinda hard to see.

Yeah, they look like they'd work. Run 'em and let us know how they work out.

 

I'm considering BJ spacers too. Need to clear 33 1250 0n 15s. I've seen kits with differential drop mounts to keep the cv in alignment to reduce ware on the front end.

 

4crawl, the drop kit for the front diff basically pivots the rear end of the diff, the pinion end down without altering the front mount. Not sure how much lift they compensate for, so you should do some checking on that.

As for those tires, I bet you'll have to trim off some material from the outer ends of the upper control arms to clear them, unless you do something to offset the wheel to the outside more (different wheels, spacers, etc.).

This install guide is useful for orienting folks:

http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/...er_HowTo.shtml

 

I'm not as worried about trimming the control arms as some people are. I have seen the link you provided. It's the explanation to BJ spacers I have found. My biggest concern is tearing up front end components. I want to hear from someone who has been running them for a while and who has sorted out what needs to be tweaked and or beefed up; T bars, ect.

 

Yeah, not sure what to tell you myself. My rig is mild and I've not put a ton of miles on the lift yet. My goal was mild lift for a daily driver and trail rig that didn't require a ton of modification to make it work. So far there are no indications that anything ain't right about the BJ spacers and the front end setup.

- BJ bind: No issue for me, but for high lifts it looks like you'd have to put some thought into the angles the control arms are at at the upper and lower stops. I'd think you'd want to get the lift from the BJ spacers and then adjust the torsions and stops to set it up from there for no bind.

- For super high lift might have to make a custom mount setup for the front diff to keep the CVs and drive shaft happy. That standard diff drop throws off pinion angle, a detail I don't care for.

- Not necessarily BJ spacer related, but the frame brace seems like a good idea to me and is something I'll be doing: http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/reviews/frame_brace/

- Again, not BJ spacer specific, but another area is the steering system: http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/IdlerArm.shtml

You've probably thought of all that already, but maybe there's some food for thought. I too wouldn't mind hearing from someone who's run the spacers over a lot of trail miles.