Okay I just done the lower bj flip and added 2" blocks on my 88. And of course I want to go lower. I was wondering if anyone used washers on the upper bj flip and the amount of drop they got with or without washers and how hard it is to compared to the lower bj flip. Thanks guys!!!
there is no drop from the upper balljoint. the drop is only achieved on the lower control arm/ball joint.
In my build thread (see signature), i am bagging my Toyota, but getting it to sit down first. I did the Lower ball joint flip and my truck sat down (with no torsion bars) as low as possible, but what was binding was the upper ball joint, so i did the flip on it (same method as lower) and the truck went a little lower. Although this was because that was the binding point at the time. Plus if you do the flip on both you are keeping 100% parallel geometry which benefits travel. So it cannot hurt if you do it. Per you application, if you are just going with a static drop, i agree, i do not see how it will benefit, but like said, it can't hurt.
Barret I got curious reading your build thread! I haven't touched my torsion bars yet and I plan on bagging it this spring. Almost wrote u a pm about a estimate to bag it for me lol. Anyway I might just crank on my torsion bars... But it sits pretty like it is is until I'm on the ground thanks y'all
I agree with you, this might not actually drop the truck more but seems like a good idea to do while you are under there doing the lower ball joint flip. Once i get my drop spindles i will do a ball joint flip on both the top and bottom.
For the record, I only did my lowers. Other than binding, I don't see how flipping the uppers will do anything. Not doing them sure didn't cause any alignment issues. I did have the alignment done because I got drop spindles which required tie-rod adjustment because the place where my tie-rods mount to the drop spindles is closer to the center (of the truck) than the stock spindles so my tie-rod length needed to be shorter than stock. I would have had an alignment done either way though.
I havent ordered the drop spindles yet because one of the new members said he has some belltech 3" drop spindles for sale just an hour north on me. I am probably going to go check them out this weekend.
Well to be honest, by the time you brought you truck from Tn to Ms to have me, a Novice (not to cars but def to a bagged truck) working on it, you could have saved a lot of money and done probably just as good of a job yourself. Everything i have done so far was with standard metric tools, a grinder, sawsaw, hammers, and a little mechanical know-how. The torsion bars were a little PITA because one had some much build up on the threads, that i could not loosen the nut and ended up cutting the bolt off. The reason the upper BJ flip helped me with the binding, was because if you, for ex. few the driver side bj from the front of the vehicle, when bound up (truck trying to lay out). The ball joint mounting plate is aiming downwards toward the upper control arm, and when you relocate it to the top of the upper control arm, the physical positioning of the arm and bj plate swap positions, allowing the bj plate to rise about a 2-3° angle, relieving the bound ball joint slightly.
Oh yea, about those "3" belltech drop spindles, i would be weary about them. Personally, i have never heard of a Toyota 3" spindle by belltech, and i asked about them in the post, yet no one spoke up and said yes they do/did exists, or no they don't. So either they are only 2" spindles, or they are 3" and not belltech's
Flipping the uppers will keep the geometry the same and help to keep the upper arm where it should be at when driving. By not flipping it, the arm goes up further on the end where the ball joint is and can puts a larger gap between the top arm and dropout bump stop allowing for too much dropout. Not really a huge factor on a static dropped truck since you're not bashing through whoops, but on a truck like the Tacoma it can dislodge a short drop coil, not to mention the shock becoming the limiting factor when dropping out. None of this really applies to a lowered truck driven normal, but why not just flip 'em both while you're there to keep things how they were from the factory. The camber will remain about the same either way.
