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NY Metro group had a spring Tech day on last sunday, 4/9/06. I've done couple of long awaited items and one of them was installing this Half-shaft Spacers from MotorKlasse that was in my living for almost 1.5 months. any way, here goes. total installation from raising car to dropping car was around 2 hrs. following are tools you'll need.
14mm socket wrench.
14mm open or closed wrench.
ball joint puller.
breaker-bar (cheater bar according to billman) is helpful.
17mm socket wrench.
17mm open or closed wrench.
socket wrench extender.
extra carter pin. - just in case.
jack, jack stand, and lugnut remover goes without saying.
1. put the side brake on. loosen both rear wheel lugnuts. - no pics needed, right? jack up the car and put it on stand. (use proper jack stand point.) remove wheels.
2. using 14mm socket wrench and breaker bar, loosen ths bolts.
for passenger side, you might have to use extender since it might e harder to reach.
you'll have to hold the nut on diff side with same size wrench since there aren't any space for socket wrench.
unscrew 3 bolts and nuts each for both side.
put the side brake off so that you can turn the wheel... actually, the hub or half-shaft. hub is easier. wedge the breaker bar between lugnut bolts and turn it half way around so that remaining bolts and nuts are shown.
unscrew remaining bolts and nuts.
3. take out the carter pin right below ball joint nut. using 17mm wrench, unscrew the ball joint nut. then use ball joint puller to detach ball joint.
4. put the spacer between differential and the half-shaft. the disc has one side indentation protruding. this side is toward differential. you will realize it doesn't fit the other way. I found it easier to put the disc onto diff first then insert half-shaft into diff. align the hole as much as possible. (I'm sorry that I don't have picture for this... this is one of the reason you should not work on your car while you are having hang-over... )
5. time to put the bolts back on. make sure side brake is on at this time. supplied bolts are longer and bigger. you'll have to use 17mm wrenches.
do it exactly backward of step #2. ***once this step is done, remind yourself to put side brake-on. RED almost ran-of its own when I dropped it... (another side affect of hang-over)
6. you might want another person to step on upper control arm while you assemble ball joint. once it's in, put 17mm nut and the carter pin back on.
these are the picture of before and after...
before.
after.
the angles of picture weren't consistent to do proper compare but I was hoping that someone could catch it...
7. put the wheel back on and check side-brake. drop the can and check torque of your lugnuts.
before I express my impression, I must mention that I had few things done at same time. one of them was raising rear about 1/4 of an inch. I had it set less than 1 inch between tire and the rear fender. It's now about an inch or little more.
after the installation, my ride became much softer. as you can see, I have tein RA and I did not change dampening. so it may or may have not affected the ride? I cannot say.. and I felt that axle has less stress.. it, too, can be felt only because I know I installed it. but one thing for sure it does give me a peace of mind. I did break my passenger side axle last year and I do not want to go through again.
at last, I had my alignment last year using UK Spec. I'm almost certain that it has not changed since but I'm curious that if installation of this has changed it. Soon I'll do the alignment again and post.
thanks for reading.
well.. just for a bonus. change your cabin filter when you get chance.
OK, did I miss something? I thougth you were spacing between the half shaft and the diff, but your before and after pics show the brake end and I can't see a difference.
come to think of it, you are right. heightening would change alignment... so if any changes in alignment, would've been affected by hight adjustment.
for the fluid leak, I know it's not engine oil. I check it all the time and I don't have any loss. currently, I don't know what it is.. it could be trans or diff. one of these days, I'll have to take it to bill.
Wildncrazy,
you are also right. this piece goes between diff and half-shaft. which I forgot to take picture of in lieu of hang-over. according to GB thread, I think, it will have half-shaft splines fit solid with hub for lowered car just like as stock.
Would this mod offset the rear wheels, make them stick out a tad futher? Also would this add a tad more camber as well? This is something I wouldn't mind installing.
BTW, nibble is right, change your cabin filter. I just did mine yesterday, looked just like the one pictured above, I think I notice my allergies improving.
The spacers don't effect wheel offset, or the alignment. They only allow the inner CV joint to run in it's designed operating range.
When you lower the car the Inner CV joints tripod is pulled "out" of the inner CV housing. The spacers push the tripod back "in" where it is supposed to go.
nibble, it looks like one of the fluid filled diff mounts has sprung a leak.
sir all you have to do when installing the spacers is unbolt the 6 factory bolts and take a screwdriver and separate it and install the new spacers with the provided bolts. takes 30 mins and urs would take 2 hours to do. unnecessary work just a heads up to anyone else installing these haha
04-10-2006, 03:36 PM
Half-shaft Spacers installation.
jack up the car and put it on stand. (use proper jack stand point.) remove wheels. 
