Hi All,

Just wanted to mention to those of you who have raised your Vanagons
by installing taller springs that your upper ball joints are taking a
beating unless you somehow compensate for the angle of operation with
a spacer (as from Gowesty).  I switched springs from an 85 Westy to my
88 Westy some 3 years ago.  At that same time I installed a set of
Febi upper ball joints.  During that 3 years I think I drove about
70,000 miles.  One day while checking out Gowesty's website, I saw the
ball joint spacers advertised.  I went outside and sure enough, my
upper ball joints were at an extreme angle.  So, I ordered the
spacers.  When I went to install them I found that my ball joints, in
only 3 years, were destroyed.  New ones (Febi) installed today, along
with the spacers.  Had an alignment done at Foreign Aide in
Albuquerque and everything looks good.

Just thought I would bring this to your attention.

Warren in Santa Fe
88 Westy, Subie 2.2