IFS ball joint spacers? Yay or nay?

So I'm looking to upgrade my suspension a bit on my 88 4Runner IFS. In the rear I'm going with OME heavy duty leafs which will raise it about 2". Looking for a cheap way to raise the front and I was looking at ball joint spacers??? No money in budget to do an SAS yet.

 

Yikes, ball joint spacer? That sounds scary.

 

It works fine. Many do that style lift on an 86-95 model toyota. If you dont want 4.5” that is the way to do it without torquing the torsion bars so tight that your teeth rattle over every bump.

 

Save up a little while and put suspension on front/rear at the same time. Ya, lots of people do ball joint spacers, but there is enough strain on a ball joint, it seems like it would add more.

 

Ball joint spacer..?? What about a top hat spacer in your front shock tower? Seems way safer in the long run before SAS.

 

This is exactly why OP should go opposite of y’alls suggestions. You have no clue about the suspension of an 88 ifs Toyota if you’re recommending a top hat spacer.

 

Lots of people swear by them.

Hard to go wrong if you install them right.

 

Im looking at pictures now. You're right I dont own a 1st gen but unless OP has aftermarket knuckles then why risk exacerbating an already known catastrophic failure mode of the ball joint just falling off the vehicle? A top hat spacer installed appropriately answers the ask for incredibly quick n dirty lift without risking the entire front end.

 

It doesn’t work like that on a torsion bar suspension. There is no coilover to put a top hat spacer on. The ball joint spacer essentially acts like the “top hat spacer” in this instance. No harm for a cost effective 1.5” front lift on an 86-95 Toyota ifs.

 

Well then glad to learn

 

Thanks for the discussion guys! Ya know I think for the price I am just going to go for it and get the BJ spacers......already have the front OME nitro chargers.