BJ Spacers question- pretty desperate too!

NorthernWoodsman

Adventurer/tinkerer
Okay, for all of you folks who have experience with this sort of thing please help me out on this one.

I installed one of my ball joint spacers today. yeah, feeling pretty inbred right now too as it took me six hours. Pretty pathetic if I do say so myself. Was my first one ever and with removing the old shock, figuring out how to get the dang ball joint out, all the cutting, cutting again, painting, multiple attempts at installing, removing the steering arm, reattaching the steering arm, then cutting again, painting again, and finally installing I ended up with this dilemma:

- my upper control arm is now 1/16" away from the tire.

I read a lot of stuff on these spacers and I never saw any mentions of needing certain wheels or needing wheel spacers anywhere. Did I miss those items somewhere? Do I need wheels with a certain offset? Do I need wheel spacers?

Oh, details: 1994 Toyota pickup, 4wd, extracab, 15" factory "spare wheels" running 235/75/15 (snow tires for the mountain).

Thank you!
 

MotoDave

Explorer
http://4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/Docs/BallJointSpacer_HowTo.shtml

About half way down:
If the end of the upper control arm is too close to the tire at this point, there are several options:
You can try and grind off part of the outer lip of the control arm (area at the left edge of the red circle in the photo above)
You can add a 1/4" wheel spacer to move the wheel/tire away from the suspension.
You can swap to a narrower tire, for example changing from a 33x12.50 to a 33x10.50 tire will move the inner edge of the tire away from the control arm since it'll have less sidewall bulge on the same wheel.
You can swap to a wheel with less back side spacing, for example going from a 4.75" to a 4.5" backspaced wheel will move the inner edge of the wheel and tire 1/4" away from the control arm (stock wheels are ~4.75" backspacing).

Sounds like since you've got fairly small tires, the bulge of the tire is too close to the control arm. Do you normally run a larger size? I cant imagine you needed the 1.5" lift to clear the 235/75's

Maybe check the wheels you're using, and compare to other easily available toyota wheels as an easy swap. I don't think spacers are a good option but I wont open that can of worms.
 

irish_11

Explorer
I had a set of 15" ultras not sure on the back spacing on my old 88 4runner. I ran a pair of 4crawler bj spacers and had no issues. They were a bit of a pain to install. One side went in smoothly, the other I has issues getting to line up correctly. But after I got it in place I never had any issues with them.
 

NorthernWoodsman

Adventurer/tinkerer
http://4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/Docs/BallJointSpacer_HowTo.shtml

About half way down:


Sounds like since you've got fairly small tires, the bulge of the tire is too close to the control arm. Do you normally run a larger size? I cant imagine you needed the 1.5" lift to clear the 235/75's

Maybe check the wheels you're using, and compare to other easily available toyota wheels as an easy swap. I don't think spacers are a good option but I wont open that can of worms.

Okay, this makes me feel sort of sane now. I thought the same thing when I noticed the problem. I was thinking that once my new tires are on the bulge should be out of the way.

And yes, I do normally run a larger tire. Scored a deal on the snow tires so couldn't pass them up. I'm installing 33x10.50's tomorrow or Thursday, hence the BJ spacer install.....plus when I installed my new rear springs I ended up with my rear sticking up a good but higher than the front.

I'm also switching over to some classic SR5 wheels as well. I know they are offset about 3/8" further away from the suspension. This is looking and feeling better now.

Thanks for talking me down man.
 

4Rescue

Expedition Leader
I replyed to your PM mate... I think that you're on to something with the BS of your wheels. i sure hope you get it soreted man.

Cheers

Dave
 

NorthernWoodsman

Adventurer/tinkerer
All is well now that the new wheels and tires are on. I don't have as much space between the UCA and tire as I did with the stock set up, but there is definitely plenty of room.

Thanks everyone for your advice, my road trip is on now.
 

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