The BEST UCA's for our trucks... I think I've found them!!!

So what does this translate to on/off the road? Where does one see the benifts of say a TC UCA vs LR UCA? More articulation is great, but unless you are really hitting the trails does it matter? Sorry for the newb question, trying to understand what you guys are talking about.

 

No difference on the road. Trail articulation is where you would notice. I am on the trails at least twice a month, and not the bunny trails.

 

So a UCA provides no benift unless you are on the trails?

 

provides a better on-road ride as well as offroad.

and corrects alignment

 

Has no effect on the ride, they just correct the alignment to make it drive a little better on the highway.

 

no effect on the ride? i remember a noticeable difference in ride after installing mine. maybe it was all in my head eh

 

unless you extend fully, it would not do anything on the ride, that's what your shocks and springs do.

On the trail (not dirt roads, but trails), then you can see a difference because you gain extended travel. In order to gain travel you need your shocks and springs to allow for extra movements.

same as everything else, you always have one weakest link, when you fix it, then another thing becomes the weakest link...

 

If my Taco was doing what yours does in your sig, I bet I would notice a difference. Thanks for info! Trying to figure out what direction I want to go it. Going on trails or off-roading are not really for me. Not too much around here and all my spare time is with my 2year old son. Maybe when he gets older, I will give him this Taco, get a brand new and wheel with him. Now that would be cool!.

 

Hey guys, I'm about to install my Light Racing UCA's on Thursday and have a few ?'s. Figured I'd post them in an active thread. Alright so I hear that optimum caster adjustment is 2.4. and camber is about 0. So when I put these in am I going to set them at 2.5 or whatever and the truck at dead 0? I was planning on aligning it twice. Once before to set caster at 0 on the truck, and once after with the Uca's installed to fine tune. Is this what everyone's doing? Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

Just follow the instructions and you'll be set. Not trying to be a smart guy, but the instructions are spelled out SO CLEARLY that you can't go wrong. Just know that they're going to have a hard time removing the bolt that holds on the OEM control arm on the drivers side. You just bend a little metal with a crow bar and it's a snap. When you're done just bend it back and you'll be set.

 

I've done the research! I have owned Camburg, TC, and LR's.
People who know my history at TN know my information is solid!
I do NOT speculate! I only deal with facts! (First hand knowledge) NOT hear say.

Having more range of articulation?
Here's some info from LR!
• Our Upper Control Arms were designed work with a wide range of coilover shocks; from the stock Toyota units to long travel aftermarket shocks similar to the Light Racing or Icon units. This includes shocks that allow for a slight increase in droop travel.
• The increased travel was accommodated by using a ball joint with a higher range of travel. The stock Toyota ball joint has a 77° included angle (or 38.5° off centerline). Our design allows for a 90° included angle (or 45 ° off centerline. A spherical bearing (monoball) with high angularity inserts rarely has more than a 35° included angle. The angle of the ball joint plate is optimized for this increased ball joint travel.
• The sliding off-set ball joint that we use allows for a huge range of alignment adjustment rather than designing an arm with a static off-set and relying on the Lower Control Arm cam bolts for adjustment. This means the camber of our arm can be adjusted to the stock upper control arm geometry or it can be adjusted for proper camber in a 4” lifted vehicle. The caster can also be adjusted from stock numbers up to a 4° increase in caster for better high speed stability.
• Using a standard ball joint (instead of a monoball) and molded rubber inner pivots (instead of urethane) gives better ride quality, better longevity, lower maintenance, and quiet operation.
• We as a company have 30 years experience designing ball joints for aftermarket and OEM use. The design and quality of the ball joints used on these arms is top notch.

For other questions please call our customer service department at (800)525-6505.
__________________

Do you have any information to back up what you say??
I have confirmed this information, with personal testing of these UCA's.

 

Anybody have any idea if I should set the truck to 0 before install and max out the UCA or set the Uca's to 1 and adjust from there.......anyone???

 

You're right Cliff, The high end LT kits all use uniball. Not saying anything bad about them. They are "bullet proof"! And that's why they use them. I would be the first to recommend TC UCA's.

I just don't care for the bashing of a certain product, by people who have No basis, or shred of proof.

Passing on information is great! But passing on WRONG information, that annoys me! Because it makes it harder for me to help others here.

The LR's have their share of flaws. There is always room for improvement.

I believe that all of these products have their good and bad points.

I've done enough research on them to know. (I wish I had the money to design a UCA or a lift kit) I know most of the design flaws in the popular kits. But that's a different issue.

I wouldn't go as far as to say "LR's are the best" They are good for certain applications. Not all!

 

That's an easy one. I live in po-dunk Salem,VA where the off road alignment shops = ZERO. I've had one alignment shop screw up my first alignment and I wore out my OEM tires. I had a second place, a Toyota dealership (that's right, I said dealership) do an alignment and asked for 2.1* caster on my OEM tires. They nailed 1.7* and 2.1* and didn't get close to what I asked for on the passenger side (besides the fact that they screwed up the toe).
This last time I drove 28 miles one way from my house to another Toyota dealership. They normally do $49.95 alignments, called "toe and go". I spoke to them about my needs, had the technician who had NEVER done what I wanted to have done (moving the LCA by hand) looked at the job and estimated the time to do the job. He said that he wouldn't touch the job for any less than 2.5 hours which came to $198.60 for labor to GUARANTEE that they'd nail my numbers and buy me as much room as they could. After almost 6 hours on the alignment rack they nailed my numbers AND got me 1.5" of clearance that I didn't have before. Without this clearance, I could have NEVER went off road on a trail w/o ripping off my fenders! The tech told me (thru the service advisor) that when I went on the trails there would be almost NO CHANCE that my lower control arm would move, so my future alignments would be ~$70 to hit caster, camber and toe. The tough part was manually manipulating the LCA by hand.

To me $190 is a drop in the bucket. I'm not going to go on an arrogant rant about my financial situation, but just know that my truck's has been paid for since the day I bought it so money isn't the issue here. I just wanted the job done right!

Also, I've only been offroading once in my life! (city boy) I really had a fun time with my daughter (now 9 years old). She's the reason I'm doing all of this to my truck. As soon as some local boys set up a trip to go offroading, we're in. And if I need another $190 alignment when I'm done then that's money well spent if my daughter has a good time. I'm just hoping that the LCA doesn't move and they can give me the $70 alignment. PEACE!

 

Well Brian, you went thru Camburg and Total Chaos before ending up with LR, so they were good enough for you.

They were and still are the ONLY UCA that advertises the caster adjustment ranges so after your saga, I was unwilling to try out another manufacturers brand fearing they wouldn't have enough adjustment. I'm just saying that they're the "best" for MANY (if not all) of the situations people on this forum find themselves in.

I too am still learning about different suspension set ups and didn't realize about the "limited" (if that's a fair word to use) up travel. I find that interesting because many people buy timbrens and jounce shocks which are intended to limit up travel. I've got a set of timbrens on order to keep the back wheels from ripping off the rear fenders under full load or full flex. Am I limiting my flex? Yes. I need to so that I don't rip off my rear fenders when hauling a truck load of mulch or dirt.

Also, "limited" up travel in terms of what? Do the LR have more or less up travel than stock? How much more or less up travel than stock do they have? How much less up travel do they have than the TC or any other brand? This would be very good information to share!

I'll be interested to see if light to moderate off roading with the LR UCA's has any restrictions... Only time will tell...

 

I've seen people with the LR UCA's have issues with it hittind the top of the fender' which is actually impressive because it shows that there is a great deal of travel. I have yet to come accross anyone having them hit to coils due to over extending of the suspension?
I've seen many cases of both Camburg & TC hittiing the coils.
So again the uniball is bullet proof! But the design is flawed.

 

I guess the most expensive part isn't always the best! A question to you guys with the LR UCA, what kind of ball joint is it, would it be something that if it did wear out, could be ordered from an auto parts store? Or is it something you would have to get from Light Racing?

 

The LR's hit the top of the inner fender because the sit flatter at ride height. This is also why they don't hit the coils at droop like uni-ball arms.

The whole point is you need to get what will be best for your driving style. If you really off-road hard and frequent you want uni's if you want caster adjustment and you just want a street queen, go LR.

The OP simply siad LR was the best, and that depends.

 

I was about to write the same thing. hitting the top means absolutely nothing, if you start higher than the other ones, you'll end up higher at compression too.

only full travel number (from full droop to compression) and/or ramp height will prove that one works better than the other.

 

And this is why the LR's have a better range of travel.

It's BS comments like this!

Eh! Forget it! You guys know it all!

Good Luck!