Toyota IFS Ball Joint Spacer Installation
4Crawler Offroad Products

Toyota IFS Ball Joint Spacer Installation

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Ball Joint Spacer Installation Instructions:

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4WD Ball Joint Spacer Installation:

Pic of trimmed a-arm
Trimming around upper ball joint
Trimmed UCA closeup
Closeup of trimmed upper control arm.

Ball joint spacer installation
Ball Joint Spacer Installation

Shimming for low profile bump stops

Easier CV axle replacement modification:

While not really related to ball joint spacers (or a front differential drop kit), many owners find that replacing front CV axle half shafts is a difficult process. Mainly this is due to the tight location in which the axles are installed. Often, you can loosen the lower ball joint clamp and swing the lower control arm out of the way (disconnect the front sway bar if installed) and then swing the spindle/hub up out of the way for more clearance when removing or installing the CV axle. Here is a write-up on a simple modification that can help in future replacement that involves replacing the differential output flange studs with bolts:

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2WD Ball Joint Spacer Installation:

A: Upper Ball Joint removed B: Spacer and Ball Joint Reinstalled C: Upper Control Arm Brace

Upper Control Arm Brace Installation:

For the upper control arm (UCA) brace, you want to bolt it on top of the UCA with the 4 - 8mm ball joint bolts. Then in the remaining holes (4 in total), mark and drill holes through the UCA to accommodate the supplied 6mm bolts and then bolt the brace on top of the UCA. You can see the 4 bolt holes, 2 per side, in photo C above. Be sure to get all 8 bolts installed before tightening down any of them. Tighten down the ball joint bolts per factory specification and then tighten the 4 - 6mm bolts to approx. 10-15 ft.lb.

The 2WD upper control arm braces can be installed with stock ball joints (without the spacers) as well. If the existing ball joint studa have at least 1/4 inch of thread exposed, you can re-use those. Otherwise, pick up a set of 8 M8x25 or 5/16x1 inch bolts and nuts (class 10.9 or grade 8 recommended) and use those to replace the existing ball joint studs. If you can't locate any hardware, order a set here. Order the 0.5 inch hardware option as that'll work with the 0.25 inch thick braces.

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Visitor # 129995 since 25.AUG.2005

[Last updated: 01.November.2024]

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