Need Help with Re-bolting OEM UCA...

So I'm in the middle of installing new 5100's and Eibach springs, and currently I've been stuck for about 2 hours trying to rebolt the UCA to the spindle. I followed the DIY for shock/spring installation, but it seems the whole wheel/brake assembly either has dropped about two inches. Also the castle-bolt seems to not be able to re-screw to the UCA bolt. Anyone run into this problem? Or anyone have any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

 

with my truck on stands, i put the jack under the LCA and jacked until the truck started to lift. then took a pry bar to pull the uca down as far as i could and managed to get the nut started on the ball joint.

 

Yeah, the ball joint. As for the bolt, as soon as I start trying put the castle-bolt on the ball-joint turns with it. Any remedies to this?

 

Thats tough i had the same issue when replacing a ball joint on my chevy. Useually if you can get it started you can focus on applying more pressure on the uca. if you notice there is a taper above the threads. the only way ive gotten the joint to stop turning is to apply pressure to the uca so the taper seats in the kingpin and it will stop the joint from turning. you may try a heavy ratchet strap to pull the uca and lca together...

 

Use a floor Jack or bottle Jack to jack up the lca then push down on the uca to get everything to line up.

 

Yeah I can get everything to line up, but I can't get the castle-bolt to start screwing in. The entire ball-joint just turns...

 

the ratchet trick works by putting enough pressure on the uca to get the taper to seat and it wont spin. if you dont have one big ratchet strap use two small ones on either side. Alternate ratcheting to put the most pressure.

 

Don't own a set of ratchet straps. I tried prying down at the UCA to have the taper hold the ball-joint in place, but to no avail. Are these ball-joints fragile, meaning can I just some sort of clamp on the rubber boot at the top of the joint? I'm thinking no since that's probably where the lubricant and ball-joint resides.

 

Right and you dont want to hurt the rubber seal. Im not doing anything tomorrow i can help you if you want...

 

Hey thanks I'm going to try tinkering with it a bit more, and if I don't have any luck I'll let you know. Thanks to all for your suggestions!

 

FYI for the DIYers, to get the ball joint loose dont pound on the threads or the threads will pay the price. If you hammer on the kingpin you can typically dislodge the uca. If you insist on hammering on the threads you can do so by putting the nut back on to protect the threads... If you do happen to damage the threads you can take a hacksaw blade and run it between the threads to clean up the "flattened" threads. Happy Modding!!

 

Just out of curiosity, is it necessary to separate the upper bal joint to in stall the shocks/springs on the 2nd gens?

 

Yes, Upper only.

 

I was not aware of that. You don't have to do that on the first gens. Thanks for the info.

 

Issue solved! Thanks Yoytoda for all your help! For anyone else who runs into this issue, as Yoytoda stated above, if you're having trouble trying to knock the UCA ball joint loose from the kingpin, knocking on the kingpin should get the bolt loose and is also much easier to knock at than the bottom of the ball-joint bolt itself. If you do decide on knocking upwards on the bolt be sure to leave the bolt on at the end of the bolt to create a larger surface area to knock upwards on and also to prevent from damaging some of the bolt threads (my issue). Seems I damaged a section of the threads on the castle-nut during removal, so I also ended up just purchasing a new castle-nut from Toyota for $1.88.

 

did you go back and remove the nut on the ball joint and replace it with the new castle nut? And put the nut that was on it back on the lower shock mount?

 

Yeah I did and I just got an alignment yesteday so everything is handy dandy

 

cool cool. FYI there is another group going to cleghorn to go offroading tomorrow night... dont know if i can make it but you can go test out you new setup

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/southern-california/63544-cleghorn-night-run-saturday-12-5-a.html