Mid Travel BS 2.0

@Jberry813

Since you know alignments so well, when you actually paid that one time to have it set for you, did you interview the tech prior, stand over his shoulder as he dialed it in, ir just grabbed his tools and showed them how its done?

 

I use a local Firestone for my truck as well as my customers trucks. One of the techs there is good with finding the balance between caster and camber in our trucks with mid travel and lt. He has been able to align lt trucks that other shops have been unable to.

 

I did have to show the tech at one local shop how to trade of camber and caster. In a suit and tie, under the damned alignment rack, using his tools.

The shop manager was happy, the tech not so much...

 

Can you expand on this?

I've learned that there's a better product to be using than heims (unless you really need that adjustment), but no one has them on UCAs off-the-shelf. If I were to buy any poly bushing arm, I could send the arms off to a company in Georgia that would TIG weld in the part, but I haven't seen what their price runs.

 

This was 2AM-ish, so take it with the idea that further investigation would be necessary. I was reading that another option to rubber/poly/heim is spherical bearings (which is just the proper term for 'uniball'). Kingpin Machine is capable of the labor, and they state why someone would want to go that route. However, from reading this morning, this might be an application more suited to on-road racing only, for reasons I have yet to find out... and that's just starting to touch the tip of the iceberg on what's out there.

 

A hiem is just a uniball with a threaded rod already on it, they use identical balls and materials. FK and Ruffstuff both make heims and unis with the same materials.

 

... also while I'm thinking about this over my coffee, I'm wondering why the JBA arms aren't touted more. While the BJ they come with is probably not bad (and they advertise having greater articulation than a TC with uniball), you can replace them with a BJ from Cone Industries that's capable of a 90º articulation... all this for a part that requires very little maintenance compared to constant cleaning of a uniball, and debates over wash and dry only vs. lubrication, what lubrication....

 

When ball joints fail it is catastrophic. When a uniball fails it squeaks

 

That's good info right there. I wasn't aware of that.

 

sing a long ..." the spindles connected to the upp...awe shit ring ring hello AAA "

 

^^LOL.

 

The question we all want to ask... was it fresh poop or bagged?

 

I agree on Firestone, crap shoot. The one near me sucks, but on the upside there is a wheelworks nearby (also owned by Bridgestone so lifetime accepted there ) and they have been much better.

Also... I have the JBA's, beat on them a little and no catastrophic failures yet

 

I hope you punched a tree right as you typed that " yet "

 

Make love not war.....




Gave it the shocker

 

hey guys, I just ordered Icon 2.5 coilovers with resi and 700lb spring, and 2.5 resi rears. Just a quick question, what lengths brake lines are everyone running? I was thinking about +2" front and +4" rear.. But Ive been thinking of a shackle flip possibly, way into the future.

Already have LR UCAs and Dakars in the rear

 

Don't need anything in the front. Either will work for the rear.

 

I'm just curious if the application of uniball over a high-end ball joint is a universal constant. There's a difference between a wide open desert at high speed like many here are envisioning, as opposed to living somewhere where it rains in the summer and you can't get 50 feet before bumping a tree, or our friends in the salt belt. Given the different climates, it's worth thinking about what comes into play.

Most of my application, for instance, would focus on a setup that wants to endure slow speeds, large articulation, and lots of debris (all forms - we have all climates here), followed by a highway trip back home. I could imagine that if you regularly checked the condition of a ball joint, there would be better chance of catching an issue before catastrophe, and the low maintenance would be kind of nice (my BJs are loose as a goose and haven't fallen apart, but I'm not driving it any further, either. I've tempted enough fate)

 

All true, but you run into another issue: thr high end aftermarket parts are all uni-ball/heim joint based. While DK or TV could make arms with ball joints, they don't. So if you want those parts, you can't get ball joints.

Maybe there's something I'm missing though