I finally got all my parts and a chance to put them on this weekend. I went with the ball joint spacer from SDORI (beautiful parts btw) and 2" lift blocks in the rear.

I left the torsion bars connected and found that I needed to disconnect my shocks and sway-bar to get the knuckle to drop far enough to work on.

I did also find that I had to shim my front shocks about 1/2" since I didn't lower it any.

All went well and was really straight forward... So on to the pics
Before

After

The shop quality auditor comes by

Rear brake proportioning bracket

Shock spacer

And the after pic


Ryan,

a 2" lift block makes the parking brake cable rub the underside of the leaf pack. get the rancho add a leaf kit that has two thin leaves. it is designed for 86-95 minis. you have to cut an inch off the end of one spring to make it fit, but it works nicely and avoids blocks. i installed them on my brother's T100. you need longer shocks. sell the bilsteins and buy some longer ones.

Definitely looks taller, very nice Ryan!
A few questions:
Why did you abandon the shackles in favor of lift blocks?
Just impatience or where the shackles not going to work out?
Did you have to shim the rear Bilsteins as well as the front?
Where did you get the brake proportioning bracket?
Is the pinion angle on the rear just not a concern with this minor of a lift?
When are you going to 33's?

Regards,
Joel

Surlyn thanks for the comments, rancho add-a-leaves hmmm I will have to look into those. Ya I figured I would have to get longer rear shocks either way I went, so you might see some for sale soon. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Joel, I didn't go with the shackles because after the trouble getting them from AOR I just went down to the local 4wheel place and bought blocks. Also the blocks I got are angled so they keep the pinion angle stock.

There was really nothing I could do about the rear shock length. So I will probably get longer ones in back like Surlyn suggested.

For the proportioning bracket that is just something I made up from scrap metal I had sitting around.

To the right is the metal sleeve that I made the front shock spacers from.

I hope to be putting the 33's on soon, and I will keep ya updated. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

Ryan,

roger brown will make you a set of shackles in any size/shape you want. and he can deliver. AOR is hit or miss.

Greasable shackles?
When I shackle lift the back by 1.5-2" will I need to adjust the pinion angle? Or does the pivoting(about the front spring perch) of the leafs and axle keep the pinion angle on target?

Joel

I know I should have gone to Roger but the blocks I was able to pick up that day, and I didn't think about the parking brake cable.

From what I have read there is really no need for greasable shackles, but if the price is right.
As for the pinion angle with shackles I am not sure. Maybe someone else will chime in.

Ryan,

Joel,

1.5-2" should not require you to rotate the pinion. If it's a long-term solution I would, but I ran with about that much rear lift (AALs) for 2-3 years and never noticed it in the driveline.

Good on ya! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" /> But you definitely need the bigger meats! Fwiw, I've got an old set of Yokohama 33x12.5x15 if you're interested...

Have you gotten her aligned yet? Any trouble?

Wonder why you had to shim your front shocks??? I still had some room to play with. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

Thanks, ya my 265/75's look small now.

BTW that brings up a good point that 10.5ö wide tires on stock rims are the max to clear the UCA.

I haven't got the alignment yet but thatÆs next on my list. I will update after the alignment, but so far I am very happy.

Ryan,