Northern Virginia Roll Call

It was a lot simpler than I anticipated, but $90 doesn't sound terrible

I've got a few pictures and additional things I learned from the job documented if you're interested. The recharge stuff is at the bottom, should be able to link down there from the top of the page:

 

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1982-toyota-pickup-2/

 

I cant see it at work.. Will try tomorrow

 

yeah t4r seems to get blocked at a lot of workplaces. Thats why I'm here a lot lol

 

@Darkgoatracer you need to collab with this guy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsEAkR-mOjU

 

Chris Fix is the man

 

I like watching his videos even if it's stuff I don't need to fix too lol

 

I'll be at Flagpole next Saturday into Sunday (July 31/Aug 1) and can bring these leafs with me if anyone is in the market.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/icon-rxt-leafpack-550.730102/

 

Yeah I had those on my old bumper, but the current bumper won't work for them unless I drill a bunch more holes:

 

There is someone selling one of those on FB marketplace on Oahu for well over $20k…

 

I've narrowed down the UCAs to SPC and JBA. Right now I'm leaning toward SPC for the adjustability in the control arm to maximize alignment angles. Has anyone had any issues with them getting out of alignment when wheeling due to a hard bump? That's the only negative thing I've read about them, but my take is that's probably a pretty rare occurrence.

 

Oh man, I like neither of those. While SPC provides adjustability, that can also shoot you in the foot. Three separate occasions with three different people have moved that upper giant nut, throwing off alignment. The ball joints are also expensive to replace when the time comes, compared to other brands.

JBA, it's easy to swap ball joints but due to its design, you have an inherently large footprint which affects tire clearance at the uca. Also, the ball joints are pretty shitty. I went through one a year for 3 years before I switched to LT. When I posted this on my IG story, others chimed in with similar experiences.

I would recommend JD Fab, the same company that makes my LT. They are so freaking beefy and a very fair price too. The joint they use is a similar construction to the icon delta joint.

https://jdfabrication.com/collections/05-15-6-lug/products/tacoma-05-18-upper-arm

 

I too am in the market for UCAs. Disregarded the JBAs and SPCs for much the same reason. Was leaning towards the Delta Joints myself mostly because of availability/lack of finding any negative experiences.

 

Damn, those ARE beefy. Any issues getting them aligned and achieving the desired caster?

Edit: I meant to respond to @EatSleepTacos post about the JD Fab UCAs

 

I don't have them, that pic was stolen from the JD master thread.

 

If you buy them let me know how you like them. Im getting tired of dealing with my JBA. I even have 2 extra JBA NIB balljoints to go with mine when I sell them.

 

Religious greasing is the key for those delta joints (and NOT having Hi-Tech Auto in Chantilly install them). Every 3k miles or they'll get noisy.

 

Sounds like you need an electric grease gun

 

I was considering it!

 

I have SPCs and will admit they're kind of a pain to make small adjustments to the UBJ slider, but not terrible. They did move on me a tad the first time I set them up because I didn't tighten the nut satisfactorily, but that was user error. The ball joints are pretty expensive to replace, but I do have a set of BNIB Tacoma SPC UBJs I need to offload if you find some nice used arms or something lol

Caster is kind of a loose term that gets thrown around and associated with body mount clearance, although the caster figure itself isn't the whole story. Caster is really just the angle of the spindle floating in space, and doesn't necessarily describe the wheel position without knowing whether its coming from the LCA or UCA

JBA and similar fixed arms add caster at the UCA, which can bring the wheel back in the wheel well to get the 3-4* caster target. Then the user can either set the LCA to stock neutral position, or forward for even more caster from the LCA, increase in overall caster, and bringing the wheel a tad bit forward. But because the UCA is fixed, setting the LCA all the way forwards may misalign the camber and put the bushings in a bind

With SPCs to fit larger tires, a lot of people will subtract caster at the UCA to bring the wheel more forward, and also add caster at the LCA to bring the wheel all the way forward. -caster from the UCA and +caster from the LCA will provide the most firewall and body mount clearance, but at the sacrifice of overall caster and also putting the LCA bushings in a tad bit of a bind. Of course, you can also just add caster at the UCA like the fixed arms

Not necessarily a right or wrong way to do it, just food for thought


a kind of exaggerated/not to any scale picture, but may explain added or subtracted caster at LCA vs UCA better than just words.