Front end on ball joint spacer lift

[dieselboy]

I've seen the "how - to's" on the forum, but I remain a little puzzled about fitting the ball joint spacers to the upper ball joint. I'm concerned that I wont be able to get the hub back inbetween the two arms once the spacers are on.

How did others get around this?

[Albannach]

Use a block of wood to jam the top arm up (not from the ground). Or maybe wind the torsion bars right back then re-load them when you're done?

[BUSHWHACKER]

Jack the front up under the engine crossmember, remove the wheel, remove the bottom bolt from the damper, remove the four nuts/washers holding the upper balljoint and the lower wishbone will droop down enough to fit the spacer. There will be enough slack in the brake line.
The torsion bar's tension will be held by the rubber pad on the chassis as the whole hub assembly will be hanging free anyway.

If you're not man enough, you can use a small scissor jack or even the Surf's jack under the lower wishbone to raise the whole assembly to re-fit the balljoint nuts.

[dieselboy]

ooh! So, I wont need to remove the hub from the A arms? (apart from the upper ball joint of course) That sounds like a plan! I think I could do that on my own! Hope I'm man enough

p.s. I fitted the free wheel hubs going by your write up on Saturday. Nicely done. The front end feels lighter now i.e. when I'm coming out of turns - must be quite a bit of less drag on the front.

[BUSHWHACKER]

ooh! So, I wont need to remove the hub from the A arms? (apart from the upper ball joint of course) That sounds like a plan! I think I could do that on my own! Hope I'm man enough

p.s. I fitted the free wheel hubs going by your write up on Saturday. Nicely done. The front end feels lighter now i.e. when I'm coming out of turns - must be quite a bit of less drag on the front.

Marvelous!

Don't forget you'll need to get the wheel alignment sorted afterwards.

[dieselboy]

Marvelous!

Don't forget you'll need to get the wheel alignment sorted afterwards.

Not looking forward to that part.
Do you think it's worth me changing the bushes in the lower A arm and roll bar? I don't know how much work is involved or even if it's worth it?

[POPEYE]

Not looking forward to that part.
Do you think it's worth me changing the bushes in the lower A arm and roll bar? I don't know how much work is involved or even if it's worth it?

If there was no issues with the bushes beforehand i'd leave em,
when i fitted mine and to make it easier for me (as i was on me jack) i did mostly as vince says,
jacked it under the X member, remove the wheels, jack it as high as you need to be able to get a trolly jack under the bottom BJ, so the cup on the jack located on the castle nut,
jack this trolly up till it just takes the weight, and the top wishbone is at it's highest point, (like it is when the trucks under load on it's wheels,
at this point i made a steel box section pipe to the lenght from the underside of the top wishbone to the deck and secured the bottom so it dont slip away, i also welded a bolt to the top of it which sits in a hole on the underside of the top wishbone, this stops the top of the tube slipping out, this tube will keep the wishbone in it's upper position while you lower the lower one and conrtoll arm,
undo the top BJ castle nut (after weedleing out the split pin) and lower the
the trolly jack a bit, give the controll arm a few sharp clouts which shoild part the top wishbone from the controll arm, lower the jack further till it clears leaveing the top arm in the up position,
undo the four nuts holding the bj to the top arm and remove it, sit the bolt heads across the open jaws of a vise and tap out the old bolts,
if your fitting spacers above 1" thick (say 2") you beed to angle grind some metal from the rear underside of the wishbone so the spacer fit in properly,
when you happy it fits nice and square, fit the bj and spacer with the new longer bolts and fit the nuts,
when this is done jack up the trolly while holding the arm to lign it up with the BJ, when its in jack up just enough to take the weight, refit the castle nut and a new split pin,
thats it (apart from new longer shocks which you can remove the olduns while you got it all seperated, then fit the newuns when the bj's are done,
jack up the center jack, remove the trolly and fit the wheels and ya done,
well apart from resetting the camber angle, toe-in and castor
you can get at the top BJ grease nipple through the hole in the top!!
you then really require either freewheeling hubs or front diff lowering blocks (and the same for the arb if your keeping it,

all this sounds straightforward and it was on mine BUT when we did Lee's the bj to arm would not part, the inner CV fell out, (both sides) and the exhaust pipe fouled the diff when we try'd to fit the lowering blocks, his truck has been heavly off roaded tho.

[dieselboy]

If there was no issues with the bushes beforehand i'd leave em,
when i fitted mine and to make it easier for me (as i was on me jack) i did mostly as vince says,
jacked it under the X member, remove the wheels, jack it as high as you need to be able to get a trolly jack under the bottom BJ, so the cup on the jack located on the castle nut,
jack this trolly up till it just takes the weight, and the top wishbone is at it's highest point, (like it is when the trucks under load on it's wheels,
at this point i made a steel box section pipe to the lenght from the underside of the top wishbone to the deck and secured the bottom so it dont slip away, i also welded a bolt to the top of it which sits in a hole on the underside of the top wishbone, this stops the top of the tube slipping out, this tube will keep the wishbone in it's upper position while you lower the lower one and conrtoll arm,
undo the top BJ castle nut (after weedleing out the split pin) and lower the
the trolly jack a bit, give the controll arm a few sharp clouts which shoild part the top wishbone from the controll arm, lower the jack further till it clears leaveing the top arm in the up position,
undo the four nuts holding the bj to the top arm and remove it, sit the bolt heads across the open jaws of a vise and tap out the old bolts,
if your fitting spacers above 1" thick (say 2") you beed to angle grind some metal from the rear underside of the wishbone so the spacer fit in properly,
when you happy it fits nice and square, fit the bj and spacer with the new longer bolts and fit the nuts,
when this is done jack up the trolly while holding the arm to lign it up with the BJ, when its in jack up just enough to take the weight, refit the castle nut and a new split pin,
thats it (apart from new longer shocks which you can remove the olduns while you got it all seperated, then fit the newuns when the bj's are done,
jack up the center jack, remove the trolly and fit the wheels and ya done,
well apart from resetting the camber angle, toe-in and castor
you can get at the top BJ grease nipple through the hole in the top!!
you then really require either freewheeling hubs or front diff lowering blocks (and the same for the arb if your keeping it,

all this sounds straightforward and it was on mine BUT when we did Lee's the bj to arm would not part, the inner CV fell out, (both sides) and the exhaust pipe fouled the diff when we try'd to fit the lowering blocks, his truck has been heavly off roaded tho.

Thanks for the advice. Think I'll leave the bushes! I just want the front end as stiff as poss for when I put the 33" tyres on. I dont have the facilities here to fab up things like you described. I used to have a whole garage, two ramps, two welders and tools at my disposal. Miss those days at times like these!

I have the Surfenstein spacers, which are sort of U shaped. I think these don't require the grind adjustment?

I've just pulled all of my bits out the box that Mark had sent to me. I have 10 of these spacers cut from a sheet which would make about 2". Do I need to remove the ball joint completely from the arm to fit the spacers?

[Albannach]

Do I need to remove the ball joint completely from the arm to fit the spacers?

Words fail me!

[dieselboy]

Words fail me!

I meant do I need to remove the ball joint completely from the Surf to attach the spacers to it before refitting?

[KERRSURF]

You don't need to split the balljoint, just the top bolts.

I wound the torsion bars right off, beacause you will be windind them off after you fit the spacers anyway to re-adjust ride height.

You will need to have camber/castor checked after fitting.

[POPEYE]

click on this link, it'll open up the filestore,
http://www.hiluxsurf.co.uk/php_lib/view_files.php

click on "techicnical modifications,
click on ball joint spacers doc,
this is the write up with pics of how i did it,
just below the BJ doc is the rear springs doc,

have you seen these writeups?

i found it easier to remove the top bj rather than try to fit the spacer and 4 bolts while trying to push down the hub etc one handed, easier to get the the one taper bj into the swivel hole than fiddleing 4 bolts into the top arm,
we had a nightmare on Lee's doing it that way, and being his truck and not haveing a proper joint seperator i didn't want to hit his controll arm too hard,

give all bolts you will be undoing a good dose of WD a few days before hand,
if you were closer i'd pop round and help,

[Apache]

Two man job makes it easier. Wind all the tension off the bars, then use a method to lift the top wishbone enough to pop the spacer in. We used a big pry bar to lift the top one. Pretty straightforward. I seem to recall we swapped the balljoints at the same time though cos they're cheap and mine were a bit shabby.

[dieselboy]

What direction do I turn to wind off / on the tortion bars?
Is the left side the opposite turn to the right?

I know there must not be any vehicle weight on them, and it's the big bolt under the front seats.
That's all of my knowledge on them

Cheers! wish me luck

[dieselboy]

I'm stuck can anyone offer advice?