UCA bolts came loose 2500 miles after installing a lift - what did I miss?

^This

 

Best practice stuff that might help, most of which has already bed said:

-Retorque after recommended mileage.
-Sounds like you installed the bolt backwards to make it easier, that may have made it more likely to work loose, however folks have them get loose installed the right way too.
-Thread locker has a specific procedure to get maximum results...not many folks actually take the time to do it right
-The stock UCA and stock LCA have loaded rubber bushings, fasteners for them should be installed loose and then torqued down when the truck is on the ground and the suspension is settled....aftermarket arms with polyurethane, delrin, heims, or uniballs bushings don't need to worry about when final torque is applied.

 

Only if the crows foot centerline is at an angle other than 90 degrees to the torque wrench’s centerline do you need to make this adjustment. I like that Tekton calculator.

 

Dykem makes a product called "Crosscheck" that works even better. You can get it in bright orange so it's easy to see and it dries such that if the nut moves at all it chips off and is very obvious. I put it on all my skid plate bolts, suspension bolts, etc and it helps a ton where I can just glance under the truck from time to time and see that the orange is still on all bolts/nuts.

As a safety precaution I saw people suggesting drilling the bolt for a cotter pin. As an easier solution, just put a nylock or deformed thread lock nut on the end of the bolt (but leaving space between the original nut). This will serve both as a visual indicator if the main nut has backed off and gotten closer to the lock nut, and as a short term backup that will keep your bolt in place until you notice the problem.

 

I thought about putting the UCA bolt in backwards but for the reason of this post I put it in back the way it came out. Used with loctite I can somewhat imagine how the nut would come loose initially, and, with the UCA bolt being in backwards, maybe it slowly fell out and gave the nut in front a backup, and suspension cycle after suspension cycle, spun it off. With the UCA in the factory way, eventually a space would have been created between the washer/nut and the bushing and it would have been loose but, without the backing friction of the bushing, shouldn't back out any further. Off to check my UCA nuts now. I don't think I even used loctite as I don't believe it was on there from the factory but my UCAs where more of an OEM style. Certainly seems like a good idea to check though.

 

This post is making me want to check the torque again even though I have about 8k miles and torque strip that I can see if it breaks.