Strut Spacer With Rancho Extended Struts

Do you have new ucas? Or stock. Stock ones have trouble getting aligned

 

I have stock ones. I plan on getting new UCA's in the future, but I just blew all my money on wheels and tires and those rancho's. Can anyone think of anything else to do other than cut everything?

 

You need aftermarket uca to get alignment right and a body lift to trim less

 

You likely don't need the 2" spacer, unless you got some way funky backspaced wheels. You can get down to like a 1/2" spacer. How far away from your UCA is your wheel/tire right now?

I've never heard of a pitman arm being the limiting factor with an alignment on these trucks, especially since Tacomas don't have pitman arms, lol (those are for solid axles)... Especially with only 2.5" of lift, it's usually the UCA. A new UCA would also help not only with alignment, but also are usually lower profile and less likely to hit the wheel/tire.

If you really don't want to trim, going to a bigger lift is really your next best option at this point. If that's the case, you're going to need to go to a bracket style lift if you want any hope of a reliable and well performing system, and those are going to be more expensive than getting new tires/wheels (even if you don't sell the tires/wheels). A procomp 6" lift is like $3000.

Or... Sell the wheels and tires and get a size that is more conducive to not trimming with your current lift, like 265/75r16s (or the 17" equivalent). You might try your luck with 255/85r16's, which is a pizza cutter 33. The narrower tread means they usually fit better in the fenders. Some guys I've read didn't do ANY trimming with a 3" lift and the 255's.

 

you essentially have 2.5" of BS (backspace). way too much to make this setup work.

can't move the wheel "forward" on 4wd/Pre. you can move the wheel in and out with camber but the UCA is non-adjustable. both are fixed point axis.

wider wheels and tires make rubbing worse. you just exacerbated the problem. more BS pushes the wheel outward. too much and you get your current problem.

see above

your "pitman arm" is directly on the steering rack, there is no problems with this. you can move the OTRE out to compensate, but don't have to by much. your mechanic is a tard, look for a new one.

if you were rubbing that bad with stock setup your were already doing something wrong. before you went more wrong.


Honestly I will get criticized for this but you're only hope is to get a 1" body lift to help clear. You're already maxed for recommended suspension, trying to go more is just going to eat components.

 

@jbrandt I dont really want to cut the wheel studs to fit a shorter spacer. Also what UCA's would you recommend? Could I do just upper or would I have to both upper and lower at the same time. Also one last question. Say I said screw it went to the cutting option. I would probably have to cut close to an inch off the bottom of the front bumper and the fender flare. Do you think I could get away with this without it looking terrible? Has anyone done that before? I would also do the pinch weld mod.

 

I don't have any experience with wheel spacers, but seems like cutting studs (or whatever you do to fit smaller wheel spacers) isn't that big of a deal, and certainly cheaper than a new bracket lift or wheels and tires...

But just do the uppers. Unless you go long travel, no reason to replace the lowers. There are lots of brands out there. Search around here for options, but the usual suspects are (iirc) light racing, SPC (or something like that), Camburg, All-Pro Total Chaos, etc... The last three are uni-ball designs, and are generally more expensive, but more durable. So if you plan to beat on it off road, consider the uniballs, but light/moderate wheeling and street use, the light racing (ball joint style) are just fine.

There are a lot of pics floating around of people's trim jobs. Some people don't care about how their trail rig looks, so they just throw a sawsall at the fenders and call it good, others do a lot more planning and precision cutting to make it look good. But yes, you can make it look good. Just tape it off and start marking it up and you can get a feel for what it'll look like.

 

haha, this. If your mechanic confuses a pitman arm for an inner tie-rod and thinks that's the problem, get a new one (a new mechanic, not a "pitman arm" lol)

As for the body lift, as much as I hate to say it, this might be a good solution. Maybe not the "best" solution, but could make it work. "Best" would be getting properly backspaced wheels that are the proper width, ditch the wheel spacers, new UCAs, a diff drop kit, and do some trimming.

Basically what you're doing is putting a band-aid over a band-aid, that's on top of another band-aid...

 

@jbrandt Basically I have a wine taste with a beer budget Well I guess its time to get the ole sledge hammer and a saw. Thanks for the all info.

 

Don't forget about Two Buck Chuck. That stuff won some major vintner's awards... I've also bought some $20 bottles of beer.

You can do it on a budget, just takes a little thought, and a LOT of research.

Honestly, if your tires/wheels are still pretty new (sounds like they are), sell them, and look around in the suspension, tires/wheels, and 1st gen sections for what people are running, and emulate that. You haven't really hacked into anything yet, so you can still turn it around.

But you're on teh right track with a sledge and a saw. Those mods are FREE!

 

Looking at your profile picture, you’re wheels are pushed so far out. Remove the pos wheel spacers and run the 4.5 BS wheels alone. You’ll have less to trim.

Also. Your truck does not have a pitman arm.. fire your mechanic.

 

@t.hornstra I want to remove the wheel spacers but I cant clear the new wheels. It is what it is. I will try to get a shorter wheel spacer.

 

You bought too wide of wheels... Don't try and put another bandaid on this.

Before you get the new wheels all scratched up, sell them, buy proper bs/width wheels, and you won't have to deal with funky spacers.

Likely have less to trim, too.

 

Meh they are nice wheels. Im gonna take your advice and get a smaller wheel spacer. Hopefully this will make trimming less of a mess.

 

You can likely find the same wheel in a better size.

Just sayin...

 

@jbrandt This is the wheel I got.

$180 American Racing AR172 17X9 6X5.5 S-BLK -12MM - AR1727983B

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0168SVFEC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

17x8, zero offset
https://www.amazon.com/American-Rac...154328&sr=1-20&keywords=American+Racing+AR172

Not saying these are the wheels that will work best, but I still recommend looking in the tires/wheels section and see what setups people are running with minimal trimming, and try to emulate that.

 

Okay Guys I have an update. I got rid of my 2in spacer and put on a 1.25in spacer. I have done the pinch weld mod ( beat the crap out of it ) and cut about 1.25 inches out of my fender and flare. Also trimmed inner fender lining and front bumper. Im still rubbing the inner fender and cab at full lock. What should I try next? Would Caster help me get away from the cab?

 

At full lock only? Most just deal with it.

 

I want to make as good as I can. Does anyone else have any other thoughts or can help me with caster?