Starting to think about lift. Have some very basic questions.

I’ll say that on my 6112 I was able to get 2 of caster on stock UCAs, and that’s with a good offroad shop, most places can’t even get that close. However it doesn’t last long. The moment you walk out of an alignment shop and hit a bump it’ll come out of alignment. Trust me I know it was out of alignment in 3months, the driving behavior changed. UCAs will hold the specs longer depending on your driving habits.

You don’t have to get UCAs....Many people run them on lifts bigger than 2”. If you were to go this route, if firestone is around your area get the lifetime alignments deal and align your truck often!

It’s hard to explain as many agree that I’ve seen on TW. The UCAs do improve your ride. Going from stock to JBA UCAs stiffened up the ride in a good way.

UCAs are there to increase articulation mainly for offroad applications and allow yourself to set a caster if you were to get a bigger tire size 33” or more, and improve tire health.

Spend the extra money while your already down there and be done with it. The good set costs 400-700 and high end UCAs are 1000. I always recommend JBAs as they’re only 450 and is very maintenance friendly. Replacement ball joint is relatively cheap compared to other brands and lubing the ball joint is stupid easy compared to others.

The 6112s come with a 600lb spring which is fine for no added weight, but if you step up and get a bumper etc you gonna need to replace them with 650lb or 700lb. I sold the 600lb in days if your worried about trying to sell them.

Current setup

Good luck.

 

I thought I will drop my questions and concerns here – sorry OP. Done research here and decided to go with 5100s (@zero) all around w/OME 888s and full Dakars from Headstrong. Maybe add a ½” spacer on driver’s side and ¼” to passenger side to compensate for the settling. Goal is to stay as close to 3” as possible. I also want to keep factory rack.

This is my daily driver. I work about 5.5 miles away, so commute is very short. I plan on going off-roading but the trails in my area are not intense, mostly mud, dips and water crossings. Not planning on towing. I do plan on getting a Slimline/winch in the future.

I have contacted 10 shops in my area. All recommend replacing UCA’s but none have mentioned anything about bearings.

I have read good things about the JBAs and TC seems to be a hit and miss when it comes to squeaking, and noises.

My budget for lift is $3000 – including install. Shops have quoted me from $600-$800 including UCA install and $400-$600 without UCA install.

Wheel and tire budget is $1500 – Planning on going with RRW RR4-V on 275/70/17 KO2s

My questions are:

1 - Is the bushing needed with my driving habits and occasional off-roading?

2 - Are the JBAs right for my driving habits (save a few hundred bucks too) - @oscolivar1 how often do you need to run maintenance?

3 – Will the spacers hinder the suspension; would it help with the bumper?

4 – IS there a better kit that would give me the height and comfort of this one and stick to the 3k budget (ADS and FOX will not give me the height, King too expensive, icon 3 comes very close to budget but I have read they need more maintenance)?

5 – I am trying to avoid a CMC, not sure if I will need to do it with this wheel and tire combo + lift.

Again, sorry for the interrupt.

 

What bearing/bushing are we talking about? Wheel bearings, needle bearing then upgrading to the ECGS bushing?

Any aftermarket UCA is better Than stock. Marlin at JBA recommends greasing the UCAs every 3k-5k.

People use spaces all the time to compensate for taco lean.

Almost impossible getting a full 3” up front without sacrificing comfort/ride. Plenty of people go over the recommended preload setting on coilovers for the purpose of looks. Also suspension will settle in and you will lose some lift.

Always be ready for CMC incase.

 

ECGS bushing. Is the vibration symptom the norm. What i have read it isn't, just a few have had issues after lift and others do it just in case. I am planning to keep this rig for at least 10yrs as i did with my other toyos. Just want to do it right the first time.

3k-5k greasing, i read that on their website- this is with regular driving with no off-roading?

 

If your doing major serious Off-roading I’d be greasing them probably more often. It can’t wont hurt it.

It’s 50/50 with the ECGS some people do it and never have problems and people have the problem at stock height or just after a lift.

I did mine prelift so I won’t have to worry about it in the future.

 

aside for the ECGS, any other suggestions with the kit i have described (5100/OME 888/JBA/full DAKARS)?

 

Could you please expand on what the ECGS bearing is, and what it does or prevents? I haven't seen this mentioned much in the threads I've been reading.

 

Below is the pic of the stock OEM needle bearing. Inside you see those “needles” inside and those tend to break either at stock or just after a lift. Which causes vibration during 35mph or so.



East coast gear supply (ECGS) supplies one that is smooth inside, which resolves the issue. This needle bearing has been on since the 1st gen, Toyota knows of the problem and there is a TSB on them and it was just redesigned but it still has needles inside.

I traveled a couple hours to ECGS to get it done pre-lifted and was cheap at 115.00 for labor/parts. Most shops will quote 200-400 from what I heard. There is a special tool needed to remove the stock one which ECGS supplies, some people are able to just fab one up or there is a thread on here where people just pass the tool around and just pay for shipping.

 

I have seen this report on 16-17 but not on 18s. Are the 18s safe?

 

Pretty sure it was carried over, most likely the redesigned version of the TSB needle bearing but don’t quote me on that, but most likely just cuz this needle bearing has been around since the 1st gens.