Lift repercussions

I have a 17 TRD 4x4 with a 6" Rough Country lift. After the install I carried back for a retorque after 500 miles. I've had the lift for a little over a year now and I've been hearing some popping noises coming from front end. I took back to the shop and they tell me my upper control arm joints and sway bar links are worn. The popping was coming from the control arm joints had a 1/4" gap and he had to tighten down again. The only rough terrain or mud my truck has been in so far is a muddy dirt road. The rest is highway going to work or fishing. Can anyone recommend some upgradeable parts to replace the factory joints that won't ware out so quickly?

 

I don’t know, man. That’s a lot of lift for our trucks. Do you have aftermarket UCAs?

 

Sorry Bro that’s a big lift for our trucks.
Good luck OP

 

You're going to have a hard time with that rough country lift. It's a drop bracket lift (one of the cheapest IIRC) which is pretty hard to go back to stock from since you cut out the factory cross member to install. I don't have much experience with drop bracket lifts - they're highly advised against here since they're mostly cosmetic with little performance gains.

Your best bet would be removing the rough country and starting over but you'd have to get a new crossmember fabricated and welded in to do so. I don't think there's much for parts to upgrade that kit.

 

Nope still factory.

 

Definitely look into those. Hopefully that will help. Not sure which ones you prefer but great ones to choose from. A little pricey but worth it. IMO

 

Won't help on a drop bracket lift. They basically lower all of the mounting points (UCA, LCA, and Shocks) to reuse stock components. They lift the truck without improving or increasing suspension travel or ground clearance.

 

Thank you for clarifying that. Just trying to help.

 

Yeah they're a weird style of lift that is very different from the typical new shocks, springs, and UCAs you see on here. It physically lowers all the mounting points to achieve lift.

This post has a good pic illustrating the difference.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/drop-bracket-lifts.66013/#post-9652503

 

Interesting. I don't know anything about drop bracket lifts.

 

I'm sure there are some lifts that drop the UCA mounts, but most I've seen leave them in the stock location and the height difference is made up in either a replacement spindle, or in some cases a spacer on top of the stock spindle.

 

If you mean the uca bushings are worn, you could put a set of jba ucas in. He makes a factory replacement uca. Then you’d have serviceable uca bushings and ball joint in the upper.

 

I don't have any first hand knowledge of drop bracket lifts, but I understand how they work and I see no reason one would cause that much wear in 500 miles. This is a just a guess, but it sounds like the shop messed up the installation of the lift. That or the parts were worn/wearing prior to installation due to an unrelated reason. I suggest taking it to a different shop to get a 2nd opinion. How many miles are on the truck?

 

my bad you’re right about that part. Here’s a pic of the spindle spacer on a pro comp drop bracket.



But still a drop bracket lift maintains factory geometry through use of that spacer or extended spindle. True you could get an aftermarket UCA which would get you new and serviceable bushings but if it’s eating bushings as the OP describe I suspect there’s a bigger issue with the geometry of the kit or maybe the install.

 

It's been several thousand miles. I was just mentioning that after the first 500 I took it in for a retorque at their recommendation.

 

Your not going to get much love here with a 6in lift. You should not need UCAs with a 6in lift. Your lift brand (or install) could be the culprit. Camburg makes a great set (IMO). I would start with Rough Country before taking a beating here. I went ProComp and NO issues after 3 years. My wife drove 2300 miles pulling a 20ft boat. Quality is the KEY. Good luck!

 

This should have been a major red flag. that nut should be safetied with a cotter to prevent rotation. Is it tightened against the stock spindle or is there some kind of spacer/extension on the spindle? A loose balljoint nut could put a lot of shock loads through that balljoint, might be worth checking for wear/play/damage.