The spacer that is bolted to the steering knuckle as part of a bracket lift keeps the tie rods at the stock height and angles (tie rod stays stock height/angle in relation to the frame and pitman/idler). Everything else is dropped.

The Downey brace helps keep the idler arm from bending as easily (very easy to do with big tires off road), but does nothing to improve bushing wear/life. I had one on my '86 for a while and it worked ok. I have a new one for a T100 or later model IFS Toy that I never installed if anyone is interested.

The TC idler is the ultimate though. It is a worthwhile investment and will probably save you money in the long run (no more worn out idlers and reduced alignments and tire wear).

Ohhhh... Yes, I was looking around on the web yesterday and found this: http://www.4wheeloffroad.com/techarticles/suspension/131_0509_toyota_truck_ifs_lift_kit/index.html
I'll double check my lift kit but I could swear that I don't have any offset tie-rod mount points on the spacer that sits on top of the knuckle.



I did get the more expensive idler arm with the lifetime warranty at least. Looking at the TC picture, it appears as if that idler arm drops down a bit more than stock though I'm not sure about that.

Thanks as always for the information.

Chip

Digging into the archives on my old runner here. These must be 10 years old. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />

In the first pic you can see the tie rod end just above axle center line.


After the lift, the tie rod end is above the rotor.



In both cases, the tie rods are still basically parallel with the a-arms.
(You can see the old Downey idler arm brace in those pictures too.)


The TC idler keeps everything in its stock location otherwise you would have to do something on the other side (steering box/pitman arm) to match.
Here is a thread from when I installed my TC idler on my T100 about 2 years and 40k miles ago:
http://www.4x4wire.com/forums/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB11&Number=985937

I did several factory idler arms, downey brace, and TC Idler Arm lastly...should have done the TC Idler first.

Maybe I missed it, but your old post refers to drilling out the steering link. Was that because the TC idler alarm threaded shaft was larger? Do you remember how much you had to enlarge it or what size bit you used? I'm through my 3rd stock unit and that TC unit looks better all the time.

It says on the TC website, 3/4" i believe?

Ok, I looked at my truck and took some pictures for everyone's enjoyment. It turns out that I do have the elevated tie rod mount point as can be seen. Still, if you look at the whole thing and start pushing on it, you can see that because there are ball joints all around rathe than just a pivot on the idler arm, there will be some twisting with the resulting change in geometry. I guess I'll go with the TC arm when the new arm dies and they stop replacing it under warranty or I get sick of replacing it. :-)



Chip

The TC idler uses a straight bolt through the center link (relay rod) that is a little bit larger than the factory tapered stud. I believe it was a 5/8" hole that needed to be drilled.

Is there any reason for a ball joint at the end of the pitman arm? It seems like a good idea to make a similar connection as is on the TC idler

You could, but I don't know of one. The TC idler solves the problem pretty well on it own though.