No I did not need longer control arms, I believe the same coils were available in diesel equipped trucks whether they were 1 ton or not. Since they were a stock option, no mods were needed.
Ball joint spacers: Though the pics below are for a Toyota the concept/design is still the same. It spaces the ball joint away from the upper control arm and helps reduce the angle the ball joint operates at. Also some of the aftermarket tubular control arms have the ball joint mounting area angled to help reduce the angle of the ball joint.
