Cut and weld lower control arms

the issue here is you're not trying to weld a frame. the panels of frames are what provide the support and flexability more than the welds themselves. you cutting off a suspension component and trying to reweld it together solely puts the strain on the weld. and pure weld isnt as strong as a solid piece of metal unless you can get a better consistency and thickness all the way around which I doubt you can do on the inside potion of the weld.

but before we discuss anything further, what truck or lower control arm are you referring to?

 

Build a whole new lower arm if your going to go through the trouble of doing it correctly, jig the stock arm and adjust from there, it doesn't take much movement to make a HUGE change in the geometry.

By just moving the lower mount yes it will achieve what your trying to do till the suspension cycles and the antidote that's built into the upper arm mount will suck the tire back towards the firewall.

Also, just moving the lower will introduce more bumpsteer into the system. You also will have to put a degree of tilt in the pivot too to get the joint to cycle correctly and not bind through turning and cycling...


Just some things to think about

 

Here's the link to back up what I'm sayin and hope it helps ya out.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/long-travel-diy.382406/

 

Simple jig like this would work.

 

A weld is stronger than the metal

 

In all honesty it sounds like an awesome idea but I would probably recommend just buying an oem replacement lower from total chaos or whoever else has it, this project will take some real work to get everything to line up correctly and on top of that you run the risk of failure which can be serious. Plus after materials amd time you may find it might be an option to just purchase the lowers. This is just what I think about it. If you do go for it post pics I want to see

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5gpoZzwcKY

 

So you're saying if we can hook up a tig/mig welding tip to a 3D printer, we can make anything stronger than hot it's currently being manufacturered?

 

You gots that bass ackwards there. You thinking UCA, not LCA?

 

Yeah you're right! haha my bad.

 

Thanks for all the comments, advice, encouragemant, and criticism. If you look at the stock lower control arm, you will see that it's made of at least 6 pieces, all welded together. As I mentioned, I have complete confidence in my welding guy's abilties to make it much stronger than it needs to be. My intention was never to get 10 degrees of caster and 2" of tire clearance. Everyone who has posted their alignment experience here, with a lifted/ leveled Tacoma, has had to have the alignment guy max out the caster while still maintaining the camber close to 0. The end result is caster that is "OK", but not ideal. My intention here is to get the alignment where it needs to be and not have to settle for "best we could do". So, we're not talking about altering the geometry drastically. Just a minor little change to make it drive the best you can on the street.

 

So....what size tires??

And yes it sucks getting the caster/camber perfect!

 

At this point, just 265/75-16 with 5100s set at 1.75 and a lean spacer. When I tear into the rusty bolt situation, to install the 5100s, and align, I plan to just buy new Moog control arms, and thought about modifying them before install.

 

Is it really needed for 265? I'm running 315 and it's not even that big of an issue.

 

I was assuming you were planning on running at least a 35" tire to be considering cutting and relocating the LCA. I don't think you'll have any issues clearing ~31.5's with a 1.75" lift.

 

I'm not wanting to modify the control arms for tire clearance. That's just a byproduct. I'm wanting to be able to get the alignment the best it can be for a truck that's 99% daily driver.

 

Have you considered just buying new upper control arms?

What caster setting are you aiming for? At only 1.75" of lift I don't see why you can't get your caster in the 2°+ range?

 

Like I mentioned, aftermarket upper control arms sacrifice tire clearance in order to increase caster.

I would like to get 4 degrees of caster.

 

Yes, but like you mentioned, you're only running a 31.5" tire.

Even if you did rub somewhere a tiny bit I'm thinking it would be easier to just shave a little plastic or metal than refabricate a lower control arm?

 

Yea unless your running 35's or over there is no point to do what your thinkin