Aftermarket UCA with minimal lift.

After long night garage conversation.

Most claim only NEEDING uca after lifting over 2.5". So Is there any benefits of swapping uca with only 1"-1.5" of lift? We will be using eibach shocks, which i don't think are extended travel(atleast the rears arent).

 

You will not need arms. Your alignment wont be hard to get into spec and your ball joint angles will be fine.

As you lift you lose caster and to regain caster you inadvertently add camber. This really shows up on spacer lifts.

Nice thing is, if you want them later it’s a separate operation. But I’ve never had issues with mild lifts.

 

But will it improve travel with a mild lift?

 

Off the top of my head travel is the same no matter what shock unless you run longer travel suspension. Might be wrong.

Every lift creates less down travel and more up travel.

The big benefit is usually the aftermarket arms have better geometry for the ball joint to prevent wear, but ironically, most UCA ball joints wear just as fast or faster as OEM.

This guy goes crazy with this stuff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huMztKaHsUE

 

Yes some shocks will provide a slight increase in travel even if they are not advertised as “extended travel”. You’ll need to know their extended and collapsed lengths and/or install them and cycle the suspension. Remember to also measure the travel before you install the new shocks.

It’s iffy if you need aftermarket UCAs to take advantage of any extra travel the shock provides.

Tinkerers Adventure goes into great detail about this, but his info is not specific to a Tacoma.