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

That kit is awesome, but the install cost would just be ridiculous, if you don't just do it yourself of course. I don't personally have a welder and haven't touched one in15 years. I'm curious which UCA's are the absolute best for keeping 35's from rubbing. I have the JBA HD High Castor's and it's really not cutting it.

 

The SPC’s have the most adjustment and have worked best in my experience. The ball joints are loud though because they have a spring mechanism in them to self adjust and keep tension on the ball. I had to replace my ball joints already under warranty through SPC after about 8 months because of excessive play. The warranty exchange experience with SPC was a pain in the ass.
You actually want as low of caster as you can get out of the upper control arm for clearance so maybe check out the JD Fab low caster stock length UCA and just adjust the lowers the best you can. No matter what you’ll need to hammer and cut stuff.

 

Wait a damn minute, I swear I have always read that HIGH castor UCA's are what you want for tire clearance. Am I somehow completely full of shit?

That being said though, my truck is downright frightening with low castor as far as highway stability.

 

That’s people parrot information they don’t understand. You want to gain caster with the LCA, moving the wheel and tire forward in the wheel well. To gain caster in the UCA, you are moving the ball joint rear towards the firewall reducing clearance at the rear of the wheel well and the firewall. That is why the JD Fab lower pivots help by moving the lower control arm forward increasing caster and clearance. You only need 2-3 degrees of caster for higher speed stability.

 

Going to go ahead and etch that deep into my memory…

 

A good read ... https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...d-love-alignments.594309/page-7#post-20252854

 

SPCs are the way to go if you want more clearance. UCAs that give more castor are reducing clearance in order to gain more castor. SPCs have the option to reduce your castor to push your tire forward more at the cost of castor. But as others have said, you should push your tire forward as much as you can first through the LCAs to gain clearance and castor.

 

With my long travel set-up, since I have a double cab, to fit 35's the shop actually had to move the cab rearward slightly so the tires would clear! Obviously I have fiberglass so no trimming was required . I did also have it re-geared but not sure off the top of my head what ratio is installed (speedo is about 5mph higher than actual.

 

Got any photos of your wells post-hammering?

 

Did you ever get this resolved?

 

With almost 5 degrees of caster, like we all said above, its the UCAs that are adding unneeded caster and pushing his tires backwards to the cab and causing the rubbing. Replacing the UCAs with something that reduces caster from up top would push the tire forward and not rub (or as much).

 

Hey guys I am hoping you are able to help me out, for some background- I've done a pretty aggressive CMC with pinch weld beat in and plastics cut, also running a high clearance front bumper, with SPC LR UCA (EDIT: also have OME suspension). I recently put on some 35s (more like 34.6), and took my truck to an alignment shop after I got the tires put on, the tech was unable to get a good alignment, and after adjusting camber with my UCA on setting A I'm rubbing pretty heavily on the CMC. What is the answer to my rubbing? More lift? Aftermarket LCA? Thanks for your help- Here's the specs post alignment:

 

Prob going to try what this guy suggested, I think my UCAs were confusing the tech, he had me come back there and show him how to adjust, didn't charge me for anything so that was cool.

 

If your tech doesn’t understand how the SPC Ball joints work, you should go somewhere else.

 

Havent checked in for a long time. Still running 315/70-17s but on to my 3rd different wheel. RRW RR6-H 17x8.5 -25. Last weekend finished my JDFab install thanks to @snowsk8air2 (also installed 700lb springs and revalved my Kings because my truck is a fat pig) and was able to take the truck on Broken Arrow in Sedona today. I haven't done any additional trimming lately and had almost zero rubbing. Only on full lock left turns climbing or dropping a shelf/ledge. I think it might have been rubbing on a bent up piece of wheelwell liner thats still in place. Its really nice to be able to drive normally and even wheel some pretty decent obstacles with essentially no rubbing. It was quite an expensive route to get there and I still need to trim more.

Because of my Camburg UCAs I have 8 degrees of caster that cant be "aligned" out. Im not sure if I will get the JDFab UCAs that have a slightly different offset to accommodate the subframe and get my caster back to ~4 degrees. This will definitely give me more clearance at the firewall but I might just go mid travel and 37s instead hahaha.

edit: forgot to mention its SO EFFING NICE to be able to turn the steering wheel lock to lock, offroad and actually drive the truck forward and reverse without rubbing





Thats a lot of room!



Rando pic from Broken Arrow because Sedona is insanely beautiful. Parking spot is uneven, my rear does not sit that high hahaha.

 

Finally said screw it and slapped on the 35s now.

 

I would probably have to drive 2+ hours for one that does, sucks but it is what it is.

 

Call around and ask if they are familiar with adjusting SPC’s. If not, these directions may help your alignment tech get them dialed in for you and get your clearance where you need it.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-skinny-on-skinny-tires.529656/page-240#post-26792472

 

Thanks, went to a place that specializes in alignments, dude fixed me up proper, no more rubbing, grinding etc at all, shit is nice. I had to drive for it but it was worth. Now I need a regear lmao.

 

@JoeCOVA inwas planning to order the ECGS bushing but their video says something about an ARB front locker may solve it as well? I was planning to regear and add an ARB front locker fairly quickly after lifting the truck. Does it make sense to leave the bushing for the shop to do my regear and locker?