Thread: A-frame ball joint

Originally Posted by 85 county

ok the load leveler even is 1/2 stuffed will return to the same height, just that it will take longer for the action to pump it up. always the same height because that's where the spill ports are located in the main ram.

original springs are Range rover soft.

have a look in" show your defender" i put a couple of 110 + fork truck pictures up the other day. apart from shock changes shes rather stock. and no sway-bars, need to spend more money on a defender to do the same. although i have Toymotor front shocks winch are longer and compensate for the Isuzu lower bump stops. they haven't dislocated at that height so about 2" more to go up fount.


now because i cant get the original length ball joint, i am ( one day ) going to make up a space plate to go under the block ( with the 4 holes)

So what happens If I fit longer 185lb spirngs with my load leveller? will the LL only allow the rear to sit at its set height? Do I have to run stiffer springs to get lift??? surely Im not the first person to run longer springs with a LL.......... could you tell me what springs you have and how much gap you have between bumstop and axle pad?

Part of your advantage is the front RA's are the narrow type and flex better than the later wide type....Spring rates and front to rear balance also play a roll.

Im not sure how you intend on doing your spacer. What 4 holes do you mean, at the top where it mounts to the cross member?

Regarding the ball joint length, you are sticking to your guns they are different. I can only go from what people have told me (some of which have spent there life working on and modding LR as their job) Look at my pic, its a bit hard to tell but that BJ is only 100mm overall. This is the OEM ball that came fitted to my LL. The whole lot was removed from a 110 when delivered to its owner. Though I have no idea what age the vehicle was.

Originally Posted by uninformed

here is a pic for your Cheif, hope it helps. This is a MD extended ball joint. I have 175mm between bumpstops. Now there could be a difference in pinion angle as I dont have stock trailing arms. Mine were adjustable and set with my spring lift by my mechanic. It was done ages ago. Its not what I would do now given the chance, but they do the job.

My current springs are 250lb, the rear of my truck is very light compared to most 110's

regarding raising the ball joint at that bolt on plate. I guess it depends how much you want to rasie it??? say you had a 50mm lift (pretty common) and you wanted to raise it 50mm to compensate. IMO it would need some serious engineering or atleast a decent engineer to look at it. Regardless of whether you rasie the ball or install a longer ball you are changing the geometry. The higher the ball joint the higher the roll center. The higher the ball the greater vertical seperation between upper and lower links and this will help control axle housing rotation, especially if you have larger tyres and low gearing/lockers. It also rasies your anti-squat. In this example becasue the vehicle is already raised 50mm, which in itself has increased the anti-squat you then compound it by rasing the balll piviot point/A frame....

for dedicated off road work LR already have alot of anti-squat, more does not help.

I actually want to loose atleast 25mm of lift. That plus my 25mm higher ball joint should mean the load leveller is at a 25mm lift. Im hoping this will be ok.....

85county says he has 100mm bumpstop clearance, from memory my rear was at 120-125mm on its stock LR 320lb springs...no load leveller of coarse.


I tried to hold the camera fairly level so you could get an idea of angles...if you look at the driveway it would be closeish.

no i dont think it will. you springs are setting your ride height. if you were to load her up she would sink until you get to the point where the LL will hold the ride height. STD 110 i think that is around the 110mm bump stop height.

125mm is about correct for std 200 300 tdi.

if you are running light and with your current springs i would say your articulation is rather compromised.