Harsh ride after new LCA install

Greetings TW. First time posting a new thread and am hoping to get some clarity on a little problem i got going on. I replaced my stock LCAs a few days ago. The old boots, bushings, and ball joints were toast and i got a good deal on some new Dirt King performance lowers so i pulled the trigger on em. Out with the old and in with the new went fairly well. Contact surfaces of bushings were greased and zerks were gunned. Everything torqued to spec with vehicle on ground. When out for the test drive i noticed pretty immediately that the ride was now very bouncy, stiff, and jarring over imperfections in road. Even on smoother roads i could feel the front end bouncing up and down. A little better at highway speeds but still pretty rough. The next day I took it for alignment at a reputable off road shop and the tech spoke with me afterwards about my shock and spring setup which is the 5100s using OME 884s. He expressed his dislike for those springs (possibly pertaining to my own application) and suggested i replace them with the stock springs and adjust the shock for desired ride height. Or maybe think about a shock like the 6112s which i previously have on order and am awaiting arrival. I thought the ride of this setup prior to the new LCA install was pretty nice and a definite improvement over stock. But thats not the case presently.

Do these Dk lower arms only pair well with larger diameter shocks? Is there something about the install process that comes to mind that i may have missed?

If i am leaving out any key information please advise and thank you all for any insights or ideas you are willing to float my way. Cheers!

* 2011 AC Prerunner *

I've been riding on these new arms for a few days now and no change. Just in case there may have been some break in period for the bushings.

 

Did you torque the LCA bolts at ride height?

I'm thinking that if you torqued the bolts with the suspension at full drop, like with the tires in the air, that the bushings are binding when the truck is at ride height and any up travel is fighting against the pre-bound bushings causing your harsh ride issues.

 

@Bishop2Queens6 Hey Bishop, thanks for the response. This is what i was thinking too. Initially i did torque everything with the suspension drooping. A day or so later i backed off the LCA bolts with the truck on the ground and re torqued. do you think i should loosen them up once again , jack the truck up, and then set it back down before doing another spec torque? Would this process apply to the ball joint and steering knuckle bolts as well?

 

Loosening on the ground and retightening doesn't free up bound bushings. You're better off getting the truck back in the air, taking off the tires, and loosening the bolts. The truck, chassis, and suspension flexes causing binding.

For the ball joint and steering knuckle bolts, I've just used a bottle jack to raise the knuckle assembly to a nominal height then torqued those. Having the tire mounted makes it a PIA to get to those bolts.

 

@Bishop2Queens6 Right on man. Thank you for taking the time to drop the knowledge. Much appreciated. I’ll get on this after work.

 

@Bishop2Queens6 hey just wanted to say thanks again. I got everything straightened out and the ride is back to what it was. Shocks feel like they’re actually doing what they’re meant to do. Much appreciate the help, TW is the absolute cream of the crop. Cheers!

 

So loosening it all up then torqueing it on the ground fixed it for you?

 

@Bishop2Queens6 yes the ride was much improved since doing this. I could tell immediately too that the ride angle of the lower arms was a bit more “neutral” if you get me. I had to work some other things out with my coilovers that were probably contributing to the ride quality but I’m in the ballpark now. Still gettin it dialed in.

 

Also likely too that all the beef added to the front suspension bucked my light truck around. I’m sure things will get a bit better after sliders and a bumper.

 

Bringing this back from the dead to share some info about these DK LCA. I'm installing these on my Taco and I don't think you need to have the vehicle weight on the suspension to torque down the cam bolts and here's why I say that. I put the vehicle weight on the suspension with cam nuts loose and the arms moved upward very little and it seemed the suspension wasnt cycling as if the bushings were binding. I disconnected the lower shock bolt and moved the shock out of the way. Place a jack under the arm and jacked it up to full compression and back down until it was around where ride height would be then torqued down the cam bolts to 100ft lbs. I lowered the jack and the arm stayed in place. Now for the kicker, I was able to push down the entire assembly with my hand to full extension and full compression (without the shock connected of course)and watched the delrin bushings rotate in the crossmember. The bushings are rotating around the center sleeve in the bushing. It's important to grease them at the arm fittings to allow the rotation. It's similar to the SPC UCA that move freely up and down and doesn't need the truck weight on it to torque down the long UCA bolt.