Has anyone ever used a Man-A-Fre front spring spacer? Help needed. (1 Viewer)

[JCruse]

I had my mechanic install one of these 1" spring spacers from MAF to fix the left front lean after putting in a TJM 2.5" lift and he said it wouldn't fit all the way over the cone shaped bumper in the center. So he shaved out quite a bit of material from the inside of the spacer to make it fit. When I contacted MAF about this they said they've never heard of this happening before, though it is a tight fit. The mechanic said there was no way it was going all the way on without modification. While I have no reason to doubt MAF in this situation I'm wondering what experiences Mudders have had with this part and how exactly you installed it..?

 

[Jake97T]

Mine were a tight fit, however I greased up mine to get them to slide over the cone, they dont fit completely flush, but they are not giving me any issues.

 

[duggy]

Mine did not sit completely flush either so I let the weight of the truck do it's work. After a few hundred miles, it was flush with the top of the spring housing.

 

[bhicks]

When I contacted MAF about this they said they've never heard of this happening before, though it is a tight fit.

That statement from MAF pisses me off. I had the same issue and called them and they said the exact same thing that they "never heard of that happening". The 30 minute install took me almost 4 hours. I eventually grinded out some material on the inside and on the outer lip of the spacer then greased it up and it eventually sat flush, but what a HUGE PITA for something so basic. It should NEVER have been that tight. Their brake lines were another tiny project that turned into a big project due to poor fitment.

 

[JCruse]

When I contacted MAF about this they said they've never heard of this happening before, though it is a tight fit.

That statement from MAF pisses me off. I had the same issue and called them and they said the exact same thing that they "never heard of that happening". The 30 minute install took me almost 4 hours. I eventually grinded out some material on the inside and on the outer lip of the spacer then greased it up and it eventually sat flush, but what a HUGE PITA for something so basic. It should NEVER have been that tight. Their brake lines were another tiny project that turned into a big project due to poor fitment.

Well assuming you called them before yesterday, then they definitely heard of it before my Email.

I don't get it though, why not just make it fit? I figure there must be some kind of a reason. It's even got a bulge around the top of the inner cone shape, making it even tighter. What's that for? Does the bumper have a corresponding indentation at the top?

He said they usually just spray a little WD40 to get them to slip on. That seems an odd choice.

Typically they are tight, and we use WD40 to get them to seat. Have never heard of having to enlarge opening.

I'm tempted to ask my mechanic to install another one the "right way", but I'm afraid it still wouldn't fit. I sent MAF a second Email, lets see what they say.











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[bmwjnky]

I've had two separate issues with the MAF spacers. On my 80 they worked fine with the stock springs and seated just fine on the spring perch. When I put my OME heavy springs on the spring would not fit over the centering ring on the spacer and I had to trim the spacer to get the OME springs to properly seat. On my friends 80 they would not seat all they way up against the body on the perch and one of the springs does not properly fit over the lip on the spacer and had to be tapered to get the spring to fit correctly.

 

[ajax1]

Same issue left side fit pass side didn't they didn't care weight of the truck eventually pushed it the rest of the way! This was 3 years ago so they have heard about it they simply don't care that's why I never ordered thing from them again! Slee spacers fit fine and had no issues on another 80 I did!

 

[scrowley]

It took mine AWHILE to settle all the way. I greased them up good when I installed them.

 

[BrianE]

It took mine AWHILE to settle all the way. I greased them up good when I installed them.

Same here. Within a week the quarter inch space was gone.


Brian

 

[mandinga]

Mine have been in a year and seen about 5k miles and they still havent settled. Some guy told me to jump my 80 a few times that would do the trick. I wont jump my truck.

Ill be pulling them out here in the next couple weeks when I do my axle service. I am dissapointed with them, though I may try and heat them in the oven then put them back in with some grease and see if they'll settle.

Thanks JCruse I completely forgot about this.

 

[tpham32]

I had mine installed. At first it didn't sit flush but not too much longer, the weight of the 80 did the job.

 

[OLD DAWG]

3 years and 12k miles and still haven't settled right. I'm getting ahold of Christo for some of his spacers.

 

[86tuning]

I had my mechanic install one of these 1" spring spacers from MAF to fix the left front lean after putting in a TJM 2.5" lift

Please expand on this.

You just installed 4 springs, and now the vehicle leans to one side? Or does the bum sit higher than the nose?

If it's leaning to one side, try swapping the front or rear springs. Many landcruiser spring sets are not the same length left-right so swapping them can often fix this. I know that my OME springs are not the same length, and they're labeled A and B length.

 

[Cruisin']

Yeah, that's a pretty big lean to be fixing it with a 1" spacer. The taller springs should be on the driver's side. This counteracts the weight of the driver and the fuel tank being on the same side.

 

[JCruse]

The springs are on the correct side. I read here and my experience has been that the 80 measures 20-1/2" from the hub on the right, and 19-1/2" on the left STOCK. The springs are equal height L to R as far as I can tell, so the 1" difference remains after installation. That's why I and others on here have used a single 1" spacer on the left front to correct this. It raises the back too and lowers the opposite corner slightly, making the 80 level.


Anyway, MAF wrote me back again and though more helpful this time, simply told me to be sure I had the right spacer on the right end of the truck. I of course do, or at least the one they sent me when I ordered a front.


Cruisin: It's a 1" lean and a 1" spacer.

For whatever reason I only got 3/4" of lift from it, but the truck now sits level - for all practical purposes. It looked terrible before, like something was broken, crooked front and back. Now you have to look real close to see any lean. Also the stinkbug look is gone now too.

 

[JCruse]

Well this is good news.

Update from MAF:

Thanks,
I'm going to take my old units off and try some new ones to see if anything has changed. Will probably have the supplier open the interior bore slightly.

I wonder if the supplier altered the molds and no one noticed it..?

I've asked Al for a replacement for my somewhat ground up spacer. Well see. I think my mechanic took off more material than he would have if he knew you had to grease them and then put the whole truck on it! Being so much thinner now it has compressed somewhat, yielding less than an inch. And who knows what time and mileage will do to it.









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