Okay this is random but after doing my boot replacement I starting thinking about this. A few weeks back on the Truckin' show (whatever it's called on Spike) they were lifting an 07 Avalanche (IFS). he was going through the basic process...wheel unmounting, unscrewing, yada yada yada, and i was only half paying attention until it came time to put the new stuff on. And, if need be I'm going to contact them and verify what i heard, but i am almost certain of this. He mentioned he was installing cv joint spacers relieve the angles that the lift created. Now one part of that is 'duh', but I've never heard of CV spacers in my life that's why I'm confused. And if I ended up hearing that right (like i said, prrretty sure) why couldn't this idea be transferred to our ifs 4runners? Comments, and like the title said, am I an idiot?

 

I couldn't imagine a spacer pushing them out towards the wheels would relieve angles. The angle will still be the same, maybe even greater, no? I could see you needing a CV spacer if you were running A-arms/spindles that were widening the stance, like some Chevy IFS lifts I have seen.

Maybe the spacer was to push the diff. downwards? Donno never heard of this before.

 

Typically called a front differential drop kit or spacer:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/DiffDrop.shtml

If you experience problems with abnormal CV boot or joint wear then they can be installed to lower the front diff and lessen the angle on the CV joints.

 

if it was the diff drop then i'm going to smack myself in the face. i'm going to contact them and see what was done

 

I believe the spacer is to increase the lenght so that the CV shafts stay in the hubs, due to the added distance of the lift. MAYBE! A diff drop kit is different than the knucle kits.

 

Yes, a spacer like that would lengthen the overall CV half shaft. However, in doing so it would actually make the angle of the shaft just a little steeper, since you are shortening the horizontal separation of the ends of the shaft (with the spacer).

 

Yup - those spacers bolt onto the end of the CV halfshaft by the tripod joint. Most trucks that use those have lifts that have stretched the CV's close to their max length.