Building upper control arms

I don't think it would take that much trail and error unless you were going to build an LT setup. But with a stock replacement arm your just copying the stock geometry, not building from scratch and reinventing the wheel.

 

The hardest part is the copying and building. Probably going to take 2-4 tries maybe more to get it right. Depending on how you set up your uniball your uca could hit your coil overs at full droop or not hit its full potential. Welding the uniball cup is also challenging. This can be easily warped if you never done it before. Most uca are bent through a Cnc bender To ensure an exact bend and fit. You can do it your self off a jd2 or jmr. Also notching you want to make sure it's an exact perfect notch.

When you lift your truck most of the time the stock uca doesn't allow you to set camber and caster properly. After market uca are made to address the problems of caster and camber allowin you to get back to a factory setting. When you build your arms you want it to add caster into your spindle for better stability. On second gens if you lift over 2.5 inches it is pretty hard to get your camber back to stock setting as well. So you got to know how much camber you want to add/take. Tc Now has a adjustable heim uca allowing to weld your lca and set your camber through the uca.

Some times even the big guys have problems with their ucas. Older all pro ucas had a lot of alignment problem my self and other members here have experienced that. There's a few thread on here and Ttora about camburgs older arms and it's caster problems.

I've been around suspension for a while, from track cars/ slammed cars to Offroad and lt trucks.

 

Yeah those are all good points to consider. But I think if the op builds a jig he'll be much better off. And with those heim uca's, do you have to unbolt them Everytime you wanna make an adjustment? Never really understood those. But I definitely wanna get a jd2. They're not too badly priced if you get the manual one.

 

@ Steve97tj: In case there's confusion, the regular-length UCAs you plan to build now cannot be re-used in an LT setup later. For LT, UCAs and LCAs need to be 2"-6" longer, to achieve more wheel travel for the same "swing angle".

 

sub'd. the high cost of UCA's have always baffled me. though i know i personally don't have the skills to make my own i have always wondered if anyone has tried it.

 

Have to build a jig that allows you to correct camber and caster.

And yes you adjust by removing the upper arms. But one you get your alignment correctly you'll never have to do it again.

 

Ya thank ya. I assumed they weren't but was just curious. After looking some more i figured it out.



My thoughts are i plan to jack my truck up this weekend maybe and take a look at it. I do plan to build a set of uppers, i guess i'd be considered mid-travel, but it may be a little bit before i have the cash to throw at the uniballs and bushings. Trying to research if there is any other option out there, i've seen the desert guys use a vertical uniball, dont know if this would have any advantages in what i'm looking to do, with a little modification of the spindle of course.

How much extra travel do most aftermarket companys claim when using there arms? I know some like icon say they are for extended travel but i was thinking you gained some travel with any of the aftermarket arms. I cant remember off the top of my head but whats the stock travel?

Would I need a C/O like how Icon sales there for extended travel?
Would i be able to use a regular coilover with any advantages?
Is there any type of strut/coil combination that would give me the same travel as the extended coilovers?



More i look into it and think about it, LT wouldn't happen unless it was way down the road. Even if i only had to buy 1 set of custom tundra axles to use and never broke them, $800 is ridiculous and not something i'd care to add into costs. Might would consider trying to modify a set, but one project at a time.

 

Sounds like a pain if you don't get it right the first time lol. But I guess once you get it all dialed in it'd be sweet. But then again like someone mentioned you'd have to replace then after awhile right?

 

i know this is old but i have been thinking of making my own also, did you ever get them made?