Intro to fitting 35s (< 3" Lifts for those that wheel and love alignments)

Rub just a smug at full stuff

 

Ok so if you lift only 2” then don’t you not need to drop the diff? I’ve seen posts on both sides of this, just seeking more opinions. Or can you just wait and see if you get drivetrain vibrations?

 

I would never drop the diff. Most likely you will get vibes from the needle bearing (which fails a lot when lifting) or rear driveline vibrations from the carrier bearing or pinion angle. Its usually best to diagnose afterward but a lot of people replace the needle bearing when they do the lift and just get it out of the way since the suspension is off the vehicle

 

with OEM or something stronger? I plan to lift sub 20k miles so has to be pretty fresh still

 

The needle bearing is replaced by a bushing. ECGS sells the bushing and the tool. Though you can probably find someone willing to send you the tool here on TW.

 

So I'm going to trim my front bumper a little bit. Get a little more aggressive CMC. Any ideas for the UCA other than a spacer. I have SPC UCA. The wheels only have about 1/2" of thread engagement. It seems like there should be more than that, but my current wheels looks the same.

 

Anyone? I'm kind of at an impass with UCA, not sure if a different setting will give more clearance or if a spacer is needed. I bought these wheels with 4" backspacing thinking I was golden. Going to get a new CMC this weekend. This is my first build and I jumped in a little too fast. Any help to get the truck functional again would be greatly appreciated.

 

2nd gens are a little different. Can you send pics of your cams front and rear. That will give us a better idea of your real alignment specs? Also most CMCs I see on second gens are completely rounded off. It sure if that is what you got. Lastly you could consider a small 1/4” spacer once you have checked out the alignment and CMC.

 

I'm going to be adjusting my LCAs this weekend on my 2nd gen to gain more clearance at the firewall. After my 35s I had Firestone (with my lifetime alignment) align it, and told them to max the lowers for clearance. They obviously thought I meant just Caster.

I'm going to max the rear Cams inward (to push the LCA away) to gain max clearance at the firewall. Then fine tune with the fronts.. then go back to have them actually dial it in without touching the rear Cams.

Here's my before pics after Firestone aligned it. I rub in reverse, cranked.. and it's worse on the driver side.. and you can see why in the driver side picture and the rear cam position. I'll take after pictures once I'm done.

 

Thanks for the reply. I have taco tabs so alignment is locked outboard in rear and inboard in front. I was thinking this combo provided the most clearance on the firewall.
I know nothing of spacers. I'm not opposed to a small one. I am not confident with thread engagement on lugs as it is. Do spacers have studs or would I need extended lug hubs?

 

35 gang mounting on Monday

 

Do you happen to know if the Taco Tabs Upper and Lower Limits are the same as factory Cams? I know they say that, but Real measurement/clearance wise.. wondering if they are truly the same. Was looking at Taco Tabs myself.

 

I cannot confirm with measurements. Just going with what they advertise.

 

@JoeCOVA you seem to be pretty knowledgeable and respond so I'm tagging you.
I got my CMC fixed yesterday. Shouldn't have any issues there. I am running taco tabs with my LCA and have the rear outboard and front inboard. I am rubbing ever so slightly on UCA
Would moving the front taco tab to the neutral position possibly gain the little clearance I need?
I ordered some gorilla ET lugs. I'm not sure the extra 1/4" thread engagement is enough, but it's better than nothing. Hopefully get these mounted up this week. Can TPMS be deleted with a computer. It is no longer a daily driver and I check the air for most trips. With my sensors being almost 10 years old I don't think I'm going to swap them over. I'm running a 5 tire rotation and don't want to add the extra tpms if I don't have to. I also don't want the light on perpetually or build a canister.

 

Hmm that’s interesting. So not to confuse terminology but the tab portion of the cam bolt should be outboard in the front and inboard in the rear. Just making sure cuz it could be backwards.

There is some adjustment as well in the UCA that rotates the ball joint around. What setting are you at?

I have 4” backspace wheels as well and I can stick my hand in between the wheel and UCA.

Not sure what you can do about the TPMS light. I just leave it on and ignore it. I don’t run TPMS on mine either since I can’t reach the valve stems anyway on my wheels.

 

front
rear

Perhaps I have these backwards. I'm pretty new to all of this and jumped in way over my head. One way to learn though. I certainly appreciate the words of wisdom and experience.

 

Looks right to me.

 

Yup thats right, only adjustment is the SPC, do you know what setting they are at, C,D,E,F etc?

Otherise a 1/4 Bora spacer will move it out enough

 

I am thinking that I am on setting D.

 

Can you share a pic of what position you have your SPCs set at? I have mine set at the furthest forward setting, and still rubbing