Dirt King LCAs

Never had any problems at all, it was mid travel / stock length arms. I no longer have the DB and went full long travel, yes they were custom built King's.

 

What do they use to make them?
I know the TC ones are chromoly, just wondering if there's a significant difference in stretch too make the tc ones almost $400 more.

I'm considering upgrading mine to get better articulation was going to go tc to match uca
I'd be using them on 3rd Gen

 

Has anybody had any stiff steering issues with the stock length LCA’s from Dirt King? My uniballs squeak loud and the steering feels like shit. I replaced the rack, but hoping I just got bad uniballs.

 

Did you get it aligned?

 

Lube your uniballs. Prob are getting bound up with gunk.

 

Yeah it has been aligned properly, and I have used the specified Tri-Flo dry lube but even Dirt King drove it and agree it feels way too stiff

 

Where did you get it aligned? Firestone?

 

No, a shop in Oceanside called accurate alignment that specializes with lifted, off road style suspension on Tacomas

 

I’ve also changed the rack like I said, and also all the tie rods, steering rack bushings. My PS pump isn’t leaking fluid, and I just had it flushed with the new rack. Yet still my steering sticks and I have to crank my wheel to return it to center after turns. Also, I can’t make small adjustments when I drive so I end up cranking it too far one way, then too far back the other way, and so on.

 

That's interesting, I've heard the same thing can happen with TC lowers. Seems like the uniballs can be sticky sometimes. Some more than others

Have you tried checking torque values?

 

No I haven’t, I just tightened the lower uniball bolt until it was tight but I didn’t over crank it. The steering feels like crap now and it gets tiring to keep over correcting it on long drives, I’m debating just going back to stock lowers. I do a lot of off roading so I want it strong but at this point it’s not worth it. Dirt king has been super cool about the whole thing and is willing to replace the uniballs for free to see if it helps

 

Did your steering get much stiffer and sticky from the lower uniballs?

 

I have DK lca's and they were a little tight on the first drive, but after that 15 minute test drive they were fine. The same happens with brand new uca uniballs too, normal.

 

Might still be an alignment issue. Post the spec sheet here

 

The uniball bolt might be too tight, which compresses the uniball and expands them horizontally.

I had this on my DK LCA as well. This improved over time and adjusting the uniball torque to proper torque helped, however, its not the same as the factory feel.

Another annoyance is that the sleeve the uniball mates to within your LCA can be too big. This is the case for me. When I replaced my LCA uniballs, i thought i'd have a real hard time pressing out the old uniballs from the LCA but they almost fell out with finger pressure. This causes a clunking noise when i drive over driveways/gutters. Thought my old uniballs were worn but they were perfect and tight when i removed then and realize the noise is really coming from.

 

My steering got stiff not wanting to return to centre as well with them. But it's getting better . Been on for maybe 2000km so far and getting better . Going to try lube as well

 

Was your whole uniball sleeve moving? I believe mine is and maybe that is what's causing it to be so stiff/clunky.

 

It's definitely the LCA . As I have a 2017 and it's the exact same since I got them put in a week and a bit ago.

It's getting better with time though

 

Honestly haven't looked at it much.

I haven't heard any clunk and the shop that did the install told me to give it some time to work in and see if it gets better . It's getting better and going to try lubing as well.


I still need to adjust the steering stop to

 

When you say adjust do you mean grind down?