4runner upper ball joint conversion?

[djshimon]

So as far as I've read the oem replacement for an upper ball joint on a 4wd van is the upper control arm and it's around 326$, each, at 1sttoyotaparts. This guy(Rickyvw) selling a 1987 4wd automatic has machined a part so he can use the upper ball joint from a 4runner-which only cost around 50$, each, at 1sttoyotaparts. Pretty awesome if it works properly-I just emailed him asking if he had trouble with alignment after the conversion, and awaiting a response. Here's the link to his van for sale at toyotavanpeople: http://www.toyotavanpeople.com/forum...hp?f=25&t=9578

Tim, anyone: What do you think? sounds good? I'll not be doing my ball joints for a while but I'm pretty sure they are getting tired and a 100$ option is much better than 700$! Or am I just confused and this is different than I'm hoping it is?
Here's a picture of the conversion-looks like he maybe added a length of brake hose too:

[timsrv]

Wow! Looks pretty awesome to me. The spacer he used will also give more lift than just cranking up the bars. That looks like a pretty good deal on his van (considering all he's done). Somebody from around my area please buy it.........then bring it to me so I can reverse engineer his work . Short of that it would sure be nice if he could post more details about the work he did (a dimensional sketch would be awesome . I see he made some pretty awesome looking spring spacers for the rear as well. I have an extra set of upper a-arms sitting here.......perhaps I'll look at modding mine like this too. Tim

[djshimon]

Yeah, he might save us some serious $-too bad he's getting out of the van scene with a busted motor. He answered my pm already: Said he's a machinist by trade(figures) and he could look up his receipt(I'd have lost that long ago) for which year 4runner it works with. I asked if he'd fabricate me a couple for a price-waiting on a answer. I'll ask about the dimensional sketch too.

[timsrv]

I sent him a PM too. The poor guy just wants to sell his van and only gets bombarded with questions (unrelated to a possible sale). It all looks pretty straight forward, but it's always nice to learn from somebody else's experiences (as I'm sure there were some issues to figure out). I'm pretty sure he needed longer brake hoses (the one in his pic looks pretty new), so a part number for those (along with the ball joints) would save some research. The camber would be a consideration. The increased articulation of the lower arm would likely throw this off a bit. This could be compensated for when locating/machining the holes for the joint spacer/adapter. If you "miss" the 1st time you could probably "re-make" with a different off-set, but there's nothing like hitting it dead-on 1st time around. Fabbing the rear spacers would be pretty straight forward, but without a dimensional drawing you'd almost need to take things apart for measurements (prior to purchasing raw materials & building). Having plans would certainly speed up the process and save some downtime for the van. Another option might be searching for longer springs, but there's so many different diameters, gauges, and lengths, finding the correct combination can be pretty hit & miss. Tim

[djshimon]

I felt bad about asking him too many questions too, I agree with you-he just wants to sell his van. But, he knows something really good so I couldn't not ask. He said the alignment shop didn't even blink or ask if there was any aftermarket anything and that the alignment went smooth. I'm eagerly awaiting the next step. Hopefully he'll fab me a couple and I can pay him something for his time. Otherwise I hope we(you, actually) get the dimensions and fab some so we(I) can use them in the not too far future.

[timsrv]

I've been in contact with Rick and he has agreed to do this job for me. I shipped him a set of 4wd A-Arms today. He is going to do pretty much the same thing he did for his but plans on making some minor changes (things that hindsight has taught him). In addition to the A-Arm/ball-joint mod he will also be making me a set of steel spacers for my rear springs (see picture below). I'll take some pics and post a dimensional sketch of the mod once I get the parts back. He said to expect a couple of weeks. Tim