Loaded Lower Control Arm

So i lifted my 2021 sport with 5000 miles on it with Fox 2.5 coilovers, SPC UCAS and 275/70/17 BFGs. I got it aligned and both tires were rubbing the mud flaps. I told the guy what to do and you know where that got me. It was driving fine accept the rubbing on full lock and bump turns. So a friend said he could get me on a lift at a dealership and try to align it with me helping the Tech. I had the SPCS UCAS in the D setting as most recommended, the first alignment guy said he moved the DS to the E setting in order to get it as close as possible. I told him about moving the LCA rear out and the front all the way in or half way to get away from the firewall. Anyway, when we went to adjust the PS front LCA the cam bolt bent the tabs and would not move the LCA, we tried loosening as much as possible withe no luck moving it in but it would go out. So we bent the tab back and had to put a racket strap to it to move it in, and it did. what would cause it to be loaded like that? if we released the strap it would go all the out again? It was like spring loaded. The cam bolt would easily slide in and out and the cam would turn with no problem with no load on it. Any suggestions would be great.

 

I can’t help you with your issue but I’m having the same exact issue with my passenger side forward cam bolt. I had hit a really bad pot hole and then it was like this. I had loosened it up to move the wheel forward a few days before after Firestone did an alignment that rubbed really bad.
I ended up buying a new cam bolt and tab kit from @ForestRunnerFrank99 site https://kpoffroad.com/product/best-alignment-cam-upgrade-kit-cam-eliminator

and hoping to swap them all out. I’ll let you know if I find out why. There was no load on the arm when I tried to loosen it. It felt like it was cross threaded but the nut has not been off there so it can’t be that.

 

I assume you were trying to adjust the rear cam bolt...
Both front and rear cam bolts were loosened for adjustment?
Turning plate was unlocked?

 

TKS hyrule, Splitbolt, the rear cam bolt moves the LCA free in and out and we had it all the way out, both were loose. What is the turning plate your referring to

 

Ah ok so a different bolt than mine. Still similar, I could move and spin mine. I didn’t remove the cam but all the way but plan to when I get the new bolts.

 

I looked at the kits, but think im just going to run a weld bead on the back of the tabs.

 

You can pull the bolts and adjuster and coat the shaft (not threads) in anti-seize.

 

Thats next, just can't figure out why LCA would have resistance on it. The bolts look brand new when pulled out.

 

The turntable plate the front wheel sits on.
Tires must centered on them and allowed to move and rotate during alignment. Could've forgot to center, unlock or the bearings are shot.
Caster is a measurement taken from turning the front wheels on these turn plates in relation to camber.

 

Keep in mind you're fighting the weight of the truck as you try to rotate the cams. On vehicles with adjustments on the upper control arms or fords with without adjustment bolts and just slots I usually select the option to "lift axle" so that the weight of the truck is off the bolts. Easier on you and the adjustment hardware.

 

yeah, they were unlocked and its a new Hunter machine, and we tried lifting from various spots with no less resistance from anywhere. The other side is fine. Going out now to further investigate.

 

So i put jack jack stands under the frame and pulled the front tires off, loosened the cam bolts and took the front passenger side bolt out and the LCA moved freely? While i had it apart i put weld beads on the bent cam tabs and removed all cam adjusters and bolts and Never seized them all. Maybe it was the weight of the truck and god knows what else, but all seems to move freely for now. Question is, what kind of specs should i look for going back for the Alignment. I put the SPC UCAS back to the D setting, the last guy had one at D and one at E. My whole reason for getting another Alignment was the mud flap rubbing.

 

Because you're not too extreme with tire size I would personally align to
4.0* caster left 4.5* caster right if possible other wise maybe 0.5* more caster than you had last to clear (0.5* cross caster for road crown compensation)

+0.9* camber on both sides ( may look piegon toed but will help reduce wandering improve braking performance and make the steering easier) if you're a city slicker with alot of turns more so than highway I would maybe do +0.65* camber to help stave of the outter edge wear but honestly unless your toe is excessive or you're cutting tight turns at high speed that the truck feels like it's rolling over camber wouldn't cause edge wear like people believe.

toe setting I recommend minimum 0.02" to a max 0.06" with the max driving the nicest but starting to wear the edges and the minimum being the point where I've found starts to make the steering touchy and truck have more a tendency to wander. I run +0.6* camber and 2.75* left caster and 3.25* right caster 0.05" toe on 265/70r17 and rotate every 10'000kms. I have the front chin on my bumper and barely clear it on the right side and barely start to notice cupping on the outer edges when I rotate my tires and drive 87% highway 5% off road and 8% city roughly for reference

also note that because you're adjusting the upper arms too, the more caster you add at the uca the close it gets to the mudflaps. For clearance lca's with added built in caster would be ideal for clearance concerns

 

I do equal amounts of highway and rural street driving, my last alignment seemed pretty good, maybe a little stiff in the steering. Thanks. Any one else with a similar setup and driving habits with numbers there happy with, because i don't know what they are going to be able to do on the next alignment.