lift questions

[hellomoto]

Just finished a 3" lift on my VX and she looks awesome.
A quick question.... The ball joint flip, Is it the top ball joints that are done and what advantage does this give?
Next..... Do I stay with the standard wheels/tires or go for something with a nice deep off-set and stick some 32" rubber on them? mainly for show but I'm hoping to go play in the dirt at some point.

[tom4bren]

IIRC, the ball joint flip just helps with alignment issues.

Caution: You do need to get an alignment done after the lift. Make sure they don't adjust your torsion bar crank as part of the alignment (don't laugh - it's happened).

Living in Florida, you don't need mud tires. You'll bury your VX in the sand with that tread. A decent all terrain tire (AT) will probably serve you better. With the 3" lift you should be able to run those 32's with no problem (maybe even 33's - that's what I run with a 3" lift, with significant trimming of the front cladding).

[BigMeatVX]

I think he meant camber, however the differece is minimal...

Also, it mostly helps with adding a little bit of droop (or downward wheel travel) aprox 1/2":grino:

If you want more droop, you can add spacers under the A-arm and above the ball joint...I use 2" spacers and have great wheel travel...

1/2" ones are available, somewhere....:winko:

[RamAirZ]

See my sig for pic of 33's on about 3" of lift, maybe a tad less, just OME 912 springs and a t-bar crank. As far as sand, it depends on where your at, when I lived in central florida I ran into plenty of mud but also sand and up here in north florida it's alot of red clay/sand/mud. I went with mud terrains but that's just me. I won't be playing in the sand a whole lot

[hellomoto]

Thanks all. As I say, it's mainly for show. Any off road stuff here is sand/mud stuff.
Think I'll flip the ball joints this weekend then get the wheels aligned next week.
Which way does the torsion bar crank normaly throw the alignment out? toe in toe out?

[RamAirZ]

toe is not affected, toe is different than camber. You will have positive camber after a torsion bar lift (tops of the tires stick out further than bottom). Depending on how high you go, after your BJ flip you may not even notice it but should still get it aligned. Here's a good read on caster, camber and toe:

http://www.ozebiz.com.au/racetech/theory/align.html

[hellomoto]

So will the ball joint flip help replace negative camber?

[RamAirZ]

It'll push the control arm up more pulling the top end a bit yes. May not get rid of all of it but some

[etlsport]

definitely take it to a good alignment shop after you lift and let them know you are lifted so they dont adjust your torsion bars back down to stock

the ball joint flip will help with camber, but you will more than likely need shims on the control arms that will look something like this

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/medium/SNC00165.jpg (http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=16587)

iirc the big one is a camber shim, the smaller ones are caster shims, then the toe angle you adjust with the tie rods

[hellomoto]

Flipping this weekend it is then.

Thanks

[hellomoto]

So I took my VX to my local wheel alignment shop to have the alignment done and yes, they wanted to crank down the torson bar/lift to adjust the wheel camber, as did the next two shops I went to. All three told me that is the ONLY way to re-align the wheels/camber angle.
Where/how is the adjustment made without lowering the front?

[RamAirZ]

lol, stupid shops. See those shims that etlsport posted a picture of? The unbolt the upper control arm and use those shims to move it outward to change the camber.

[hellomoto]

I've flipped the ball joints so am I correct in thinking this will help pull back some negative camber?
Where do the shims fit on the upper control arm? any photos?

[RamAirZ]

Here is a photo of another Isuzu, same setup though. I added some lines and a caption lol

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/ss272/RamAirZ/shims.jpg

Those bolts go through the mount (black area there) and come out the backside and go through the control arm crossshafts and get a nut on them. Between the crossshaft and the mount, you use shims to change camber

Here's a pic of the control arm not installed, see teh crossshaft that would be running behind the mount

http://www.1aauto.com/img/ucart/images/partimage/1ASFK00073/main.JPG

[hellomoto]

So I would need to add shims to give negative camber?

[RamAirZ]

Yes, any reputable shop should know how to do that, they are either just lazy or don't know

[hellomoto]

probably both. Thanks for the help

[RamAirZ]

No problem!