I've got a set of MetalTech rear UCAs in my basement. Anyone got any tips for installing these?

I'm going to adjust them slightly longer than stock to correct pinion angle, so I am concerned that doing the install with weight on the wheels is going to make it difficult as hell to get the bolts through the brackets.

I used a couple of ratchet straps. I was not installing adjustable links but I did have the entire axle assembly off and had to move it around so things would line up. The straps worked well.

Not sure your going to able change the angle with just upper arms. I’m curious please report back as to how well that works. I was thinking of getting a full set of adjustable at some point.

I swapped out my whole axle last summer. It was not bad to get the links aligned. The big thing is to not tighten down any link until they all have at least both bolts through. I also found it easier to attach the links to the axle first, then to the frame.

Hopefully I am installing new extended Rokmen lower links on my 4Runner this weekend. I might go with adjustable upper links in a few months; the bank account needs to recover first.

https://www.rokmen.com/toyota/rear-t...ries-554.html#

Not sure if you looked at this thread or not. Sonoran Steel, Metal Tech, Toytech Upper/Lower Rear Links There's some great information from some guys with first hand experience. As for Metal Tech installation you may want to check with @Rcastle or @the great him Metal Tech is local for us and both of them do a lot of fab work for/with them.

That thread is actually what sold me on Metal Tech over SS or Rokmen. There wasn't much detail on installation experience but it might be work tagging a couple of those guys in this thread..

@4-Ripcord @Gerdo

Loosen the ends of each link (all 5) and it shouldn't be too bad. I think I had to use a pry bar or something to get the upper links to align when I went from 2WD upper arms to 4WD upper arms. Wasn't too bad.

Re-tighten everything once you are back at ride height.

-Charlie

I am not affiliated with Metaltech, other than Isaac (@the great him) used to work for them and hooked me up on my uppers and lowers. I do highly recommend their upper and lower control arms for the rear.

Here is my experience. I had stock uppers and lowers, went and played a little hard and turned one of my lowers into a boomerang. I did a little research and had good luck with purchasing things from Toytec in the past so I decided to order the Rokman adjustable LCA's. Time went by, and I was happy with them. I replaced my uppers with the Metaltech ones for an FJ Cruiser because we wanted to see if they would work. They were maybe 1/16th to 1/8 of an inch longer but I needed to adjust my uppers and lowers to fix my pinion angle anyway as I was getting a vibration. This fixed my pinion angle and vibration and all was good.

Eventually I noticed that I was getting a pop/clunk noise from my suspension somewhere. It happened mostly when I was turning from a stop. I have no sway bars in the front or rear so I can be a little leany and with the S/C getting on it from a stop can flex the suspension pretty good. At first I thought I had a blown shock in the front but could not definitively conclude that as the noise sometimes seemed like it came from the rear, sometimes came from the front and was hard to pin down. I pretty much upgraded and replaced all my suspension parts in the front with the exception of LCA's. I have all poly bushings in the front, SPC uppers, new NAPA Premium Ball joints (I don't want to hear it), have upgraded the bearing in the Rack and Pinion, and new inner and outer Tie rod ends. It still made the noise so I started focusing on the rear suspension.

Eventually I concluded that since the Rokman come with rubber bushings they were flexing enough that when my suspension flexed out, especially turning from a stop the hyme joints or whatever style you want to call them were allowing it to flex enough to hit the brackets. It is the only explanation I can come up with as when I switched to the Metaltech with the poly bushings on the lower and the Johnny joint on the top the noise has never come back. I donated the Rokman to a friend because he was in desperate need and there was essentially nothing wrong with them.

I can tell you that with the Metaltech uppers and lowers it drives much better on the road. It almost feels like I have a rear sway bar in the rear again... almost. Before it was really darty when taking long turns at high speeds (60 +) and now it drives like normal, and most importantly the damn knocking/popping noise is gone.

That is my experience and my recommendation. If you would like to know my full suspension setup front and rear I will happily post it for you so you can compare. I will not say that Rokman is a bad product as it functioned perfectly well, I will say that mine were noisy and I prefer the Metaltech product.

How long ago did you deal with the Rokman lowers?

I replaced them about a month ago, and ran them for about a year.

Okay. Just curious - I just installed the non adjustable Rokmen rear lowers this weekend. My old bushings were shot to hell and back so these are an obvious upgrade in that regard. I do have a ToyTec lift installed at 2.5" but have no intention to take my rear swaybar off since I run a RTT when camping. They are supposed to have a new/better bushing in them now but I am not sure of when they are calling the old new/ old cut line.

Just installed uppers and lowers on mine, Polyurethane at the axle and Heim joints at the frame. I set them at the factory measurement and they were still a pain in tha butt to get installed. The new poly bushes seemed wider than the old hangars and had to be forced in. The Heim joints had misalignment spacers that were also wider than the hangars and had to be massaged in.

If you can get the truck high enough supported on jack-stands at the frame, then take the wheels off, you can raise and drop the axle a bunch to help get everything lined up. I would also echo what others have said, Use ratchet straps and pry-bars and muscles to get them in.

Yes, I forgot to mention, they are a tight tight fit. I used a come-a-long to make sure my axle didn't move, did one side at a time, left the 4Runner on a level surface in neutral. It is some work to get them in but worth it.

I replaced my uppers & lowers one at a time when I was changing out the bushings. Had all for tires on the ground and used a floor jack to lift the driver side/passenger side of the axle as needed until the holes lined up. Used a HF plastic 1.5lb hammer to tap it in place then used a brass drift punch to make sure the bolt holes lined up.

Going to try to tackle this today - did you do it with the truck on jackstands or did you keep weight on the wheels?


@fourfive , would you do it the same way again?


The reason I am SO concerned about this is that there is still about 4 inches of snow on the ground and my garage is really just a busted asphalt driveway ...covered in 4 inches of snow. I don't really want to spend more time doing this than I have to haha.

Yes definitely. Removing/installing the rear links one at a time with the tires on the ground was the easiest way for me. I attempted using a ratchet strap but couldn’t find a good anchor point to start ratcheting. Regardless the method you choose, you most likely will still struggle a bit getting the bolt holes lined up. That was the case for me the first couple times I did it but got faster each time. Using a brass drift punch or a 1/4” socket extension to help line up the bolt holes as I fed the bolt through while using a floor jack to elevate one side of the axle as needed worked well for me.