UCA Choices Explained

Yes. I ran it on my 4runner for a good while.

 

I'm trying to picture how the upper and lower control arms travel, and how changing the lift height reduced caster and how the after market ones correct it by adding caster.

And how aftermarket ones move the wheel forward at the top of travel, letting a bigger tire stuff in the well.

Any links or videos that diagram this?

 

Do uniballs offer more down travel than the ball joint style?

which uniball design offers the most down travel?
Which ball joint design offers the most down travel?

since the consensus is that uniballs are stronger, in what situations are people actually damaging their ball joints?

with uniballs being stronger, what becomes the next weakest link and what breaks instead of the ball joint?

 

Yes uni ball allows more down travel but they have to be lubed quite often, depends what your doing, if its not really hitting shit hard or fast, ie desert running, dune blasting, most ball joint uca's work great, check out JBA excellent design, great price!

 

If I could bend your ear a moment I would really appreciate some advice and explanation. I took my truck up to Hungry OHV Park this last weekend and wheeled around for about three hours which put my truck out of alignment (it happens every time!). So I just got back from an alignment guy down the street. He did his thing and I have attached the results to this message for you to look at. I am not super thrilled with the results and I did ask him that if I added an UCA with 3 degree built in caster if one it would help my truck track better, give me a more solid feel on the road, and if he could align my truck after I installed it. He told me "if you add that UCA your truck will violently shake and you will not be able to drive it." I have a 1.5in Bilstein 6112 front lift and I notice at highway speeds especially the truck feels loose and squirrelly. The research I have done points me to higher caster UCA's as the solution to this issue. Is this alignment guy full of crap? Not know what he is talking about? Will aftermarket (looking at DirtKing and JBA) UCA's help with the issue I am having in addition to adding more down-travel, and a more solid feel through the steering wheel?

 

I want to know too...
I bet a lift experienced shop can figure it out.
1.5 in lift should be easy to work with..

 

He’s full of crap. If UCAs made Tacoma’s shake violently so many companies wouldn’t be selling them. Obviously they are moving units or else it wouldn’t be profitable and they’d discontinue them yet we’re getting more and more options. Anyways what exactly do you mean by squirrely? As in not responsive? Typically positive toe does that in my experience. I tried negative toe for a while and the vehicle handled great but I typically align mine to 0 toe. It has a very neutral and responsive feel which I found to be the sweet spot. Adding extra caster is going to make your car feel more stable at higher speeds and it will want to return to a straight line more readily, but it’s not going to make it feel more responsive, rather more stable. The main intent of the added caster built into the UCA is to correct caster and to pull tires away from the body mounts when you’re pushing 2” of lift, and it becomes a big issue for 3” lift. I would personally find a better shop, one that is at least willing to match your toe. Alignments are customizable to your liking, the specs are just a basic guideline Toyota has put out. Sadly most shops just know how to get it in the green and do a half ass job.

 

You need a different alignment guy.
You aren't installing factory Toyota parts so you don't need Toyota factory spec alignment. That seems to blow their minds for some reason.
New UCA will help it feel less squirrelly on road as long as alignment keeps caster high. If tech drops caster back down to low or mid range of factory spec, you lose the benefit of UCA. More stable feel is the only reason I ever get UCAs.
I just installed Dirt King ball joint style UCA on my 4Runner yesterday. My oem upper ball joint was maxed out at full suspension droop and steering felt just a bit sloppy. New balljoint has a bit more travel in it. Also more stable feeling on road now.

 

Exactly how I felt that’s why I’m not thrilled about the numbers I got. The dude had his tea cookin on the shelf and his old homie walk-in around in sandals. I probably messed with their lunch. I think they had some Arab dish cookin too. The feeling I get on the freeway is only when I go over bumps it seems like. I think a bumpsteering issue and if I understand it correctly the Uca should help with that. I do need more stability so thanks for answering my question. I will be using a more off-road oriented shop in the future.

 

That’s another good descriptive term “sloppy” defiantly what I am experiencing. I already hit up DK for their UCA and they hooked it up with a discount code for being a TW member. So it makes more sense to me now!! After market arm=aftermarket alignment specs. So close to zero all the time ya around and close to 3 on caster for a proper alignment with Uca installed? Does that sound about right?

 

I don't know for sure on 3rd gen. On my 2nd gen I always wanted at least 3 caster, 0 camber, and toe was very slight toe-in.
On my 4Runner I don't know my caster numbers because I DIY alignment. Caster is high (almost maxed out the LCA cams) with just a couple tick marks more on passenger side than driver. Camber is close to 0 both sides per my digital angle finder. Toe is toe-in very slightly both side.

 

Good stuff! Thanks again for gettin back to me! Ya know what... at this point I might just learn to do my own alignment too. I am sure there is "How To" info online then I can save the $65 everytime I go wheelin.

 

This may be a stupid question but do UCAS give more down travel if you aren't hitting hard parts to start? My truck has stock suspension for example. I think that is 3 inches of down travel. Will new UCAS give me 3.5?

 

You would need aftermarket struts and springs to get additional down travel. Bilstein,FOX,King,Icon, ADS etc...

 

I agree with most of your post but this is false. UCAs add caster but move the wheel rearward, the only way to move the wheel forward is to dial up more caster with the LCA bolts.

 

Positive caster means moving the wheel rearward correct?

 

Not necessarily. Due to the design of the IFS, increasing caster down low (LCAs) will pull the wheel forward, while increasing it up high (UCAs), will move the wheel backward.

This is a really crappy diagram but hopefully it illustrates what I just said.

 

It makes sense to me thank you for the clarification!

 

So if the alignment shop adjusted the lower control arms all the way forward you get a little more caster..

Is this the only way to adjust caster on stock Tacoma?

 

On a stock tacoma yes.