Box Rocket - 2003 TRD Doublecab

psssssshhhhhhh Adam bought ucas!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?


no wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy


youll wonder why u waited so long, trust me

 

what's the big deal? They've been on my list a long time, just haven't ever had the need until recently.

 

just giving u a hard time, i thought i waited forever for ucas..... i kick my self everytime i drive one without ucas, i should of done it sooner

 

What changes with a uca other then being able to get a better alignment? More flex right? Sorry to clog up your build thread Adam lol..

 

depending on the amount of lift and the UCAs, they will allow for more droop.

Also, the refresh of bushings that go with new UCAs help with suspension response.

I was thrilled with the increase in performance when I got my Icon UCAs installed.

 

Thanks for the info man,

 

No problem that's what the threads are for. Ask questions if you've got 'em.

I'm not worried about droop, although aftermarket UCAs can help since they usually have a better range of motion than factory ball joints. The main thing is that the factory arms will eventually run out of adjustment, which is where I'm at. I've been able to run the factory arms for a few years now with no issues, but I've maxed out the caster adjustment and the aftermarket arms will allow the cams to be reset to a neutral setting and these arms in particular allow for +-4 degrees of caster adjustment. So I'm looking to get all of that sorted out.

 

I hear ya', Adam. I think you lucked out with having a Tacoma with good tolerances and a competent alignment shop.

Here's what I was dealing with with stock UCAs and OME 882s w/ 10mm top plate spacer:

And the after with the Icons:

It was interesting. The front end settled down a good bit after installing the Icons. I think it was due to greater range of motion of the uniball coupled with the new bushings. You can see how the top of the spindle sat differently before and after. I'm figuring the lack of range of motion on the balljoint was forcing the UCA to swing in and thus down. Also, the old rubber bushings were quite dry and welded in place. The new poly's are allowing for easier swing when the suspension is activated.

Apologies, Adam, for posting the pics in your build. They seemed appropriate in light of the conversation. Let me know, I will gladly remove them.

 

Do u have to buy new upper ball joints? Or do you just press the uniball in?

 

No apologies needed. Totally relevant to the conversation. I welcome post and pics like that.

 

Not sure I'm following what you're asking for. The UCAs like Icons, Total Chaos, etc. use a uniball. It requires removing the old ball joint and pressing in the new uniball. I don't know how the LR UCAs are set up with their balljoint.

I'm hoping you just got the "A-Ha" moment of why I was asking for your front end measurements. Lifting an IFS can be painful in lessons learned. I'm attempting to understand why some guys have had an easy time of it and others haven't. I'm pretty sure some of it has to do with the weight of the dcab vs. the extra cab.

My next step is to understand the relation of lift to premature LBJ and OTRE/ITRE failure. After seeing your ITRE failure on your last outing, I'm keeping an eye on mine and might do some preventive maintenance. Especially with how tall I was running for awhile until I got the full weight of bumper/skid/winch on the front.

 

Lol sorry, ya you answered my question, I was just wondering if you had to do anything to the ubj when you install uca.

 

The LR UCAs use a sealed balljoint that is similar in design the factory balljoint. It has more range of motion but it is not a uniball. For the climate here in Utah I didn't want to run uniballs. The winter and salt is really hard on them and I don't want to be rebuilding and replacing uniballs that often. The sealed joints on the LR arms hold up better in this climate.

On to your other questions as to why some trucks have a hard time with lifts.....way too many variable to pin it down on one thing, or even two or three things. The ITR that failed on me was not a result of my lift. In general ITRs won't have any bad side effects because of a lift being installed. They fail for a couple of reasons. The joints are a wear item and they will get loose over time. Offroading can accelerate that wear but won't necessarily cause a failure unless the steering gets bound up or pushed beyond it's limits. So the failures either happen as a result of wear or pushing them too far. Mine were only 4 months old so they weren't worn out. I wasn't doing anything to push them beyond their limit that was out of the ordinary. It broke with the wheels pointed straight ahead but the tire on that side was climbing a small rock probably 8" tall. There's no way that alone could have caused the failure. Which I why I still think the ITR that failed was a defective part. Normal driving won't do anything to cause fatigue that quickly and I had only had the truck offroad twice since the new rack was installed and up until the day it broke the offroading had been on mild dirt roads, not hard rockcrawling. I am confident that nothing had been done on my part to fatigue the ITR.

Either way, like you are doing, it's a good idea to keep tabs on your tie rods and ball joints. LBJs usually fail because the bolts that attach them to the knuckle get loose and the stress will cause the joint to fail. They are also a wear item and will get loose on their own over time even if the bolts are tight so it's a good idea to check them periodically.

 

I have the new UCAs in hand. Now to find time to get them installed. Could be a little while.

 

I helped someone with total chaos UCA's a few weeks back - it was a project. We used a lot of brute force, and torch/freezer to git'r done. He noted a big improvement in ride and flex from before, but then again he had wear marks on the coils from stock UCA rubbing...

 

The LRs are easy...took an hour or two..just have to massage the inner fender a little for bolt clearance..my trucks has no corrosion and everything was in descent shape that came off

 

I may take off the steering boots and cycle through the travel to see how close the inner tie rod comes to "bottoming out" when I do the LCA bushings. After experiencing the UCA ball joint issues, I'm very curious other parts handle the lift. Hopefully, no cats will be killed in the process.

 

Refreshed my Ultra wheels again. Spent 2 hours with some Aircraft stripper and removed all paint etc. Cleaned em up and resprayed them with VHT graphite. Thought I'd try the graphite instead of black on them for a change. Still on the fence about how I feel about the graphite on these wheels. I like it on my FZJ80 wheels, but I think I like the black better on these Ultra wheels.

I'll try to get some pics right away. I'd like some opinions.

 

sounds pretty cool.. ive always been a fan of grey wheels because there fairly "rare" everyone has black..

 

here's some pics of the painted wheels