[aemravan]

installing the 1" driveshaft spacer, at least so far, has fixed my driveshaft thumping issue from stop/start. Hopefully it stays that way, but I have a feeling that having the axle back so far stretched the driveshaft to a problematic spot on the splines, hopefully it stays that way because right now it runs like a dream


Also, now that I have a hundred miles or so on the setup, I'm amazed at how well they ended up balancing with 16oz of balance beads in each tire.. never thought it would be better than my other wheels balanced at the shop.. but I guess the big delta is also having a really nice, proper set of wheels to start with.

My tacoma UCA's are on their way to hopefully deliver today, contemplating waiting to swap these in until my OEM 5th gen axles arrive so I can do it all at once, but I haven't gotten a shipping notification on those yet.
I'm also hoping that all my seals and seal packing arrive this week so I can knock out the thermostat housing re-seal and get rid of the pesky coolant leak and be done with this thing for a little while.

[awhitney1]

So whats the deal with the Tacoma upper control arms? Are they better, or different?

[aemravan]

Well let’s see if I’m just crazy or if this puts me in the sweet spot .. I know one thing … there’s no quality like oem Toyota quality .. can beat a set of sub 10k mile UCAs with fresh bushings for $130. Yes, I will lose some caster .. though I feel like I have some to spare and keep it drivable.. but I don’t think itlll lose much down travel .. from some tests I’ve seen, the oem balljoint actually has quite a bit down angle compared to a lot of aftermarket UCAs. For instance, it does let look like icons give you any more angle than stock , and since there is much less loading on the uca compared to lca and other components , I think this will hold up just fine.. and could give me the amount of clearance I need to the body mount.




On a related note .. one thing crossed my mind today while watching a 4wd conversion on a mustang on YouTube.. if/when I pull the motor for maintenance .. I would have the perfect opportunity modify the lower cross member that mounts the steering rack … with some room to play I don’t see why I couldn’t recess the rack down a whole inch, if not more , via a custom lower member.. or even just a modified factory one .. only thing keeping me from sinking it down and front /back is that it’s sitting atop the factory member.. why couldn’t you just chop off the top and reinforce the bottom …? The diff mounts to this as well obviously .. but I feel like even the bottom surface could be shifted down slowly for a bit of built-in diff drop … hell maybe even lower the rear for a full parallel diff drop the rear member would have to be clearances for the front driveshaft , but that’s a cake walk in the grand scheme of things … this could potentially open up the possibility to really have a solid setup using the lc200 (and maybe the rclthd in the future ?)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[aemravan]

In reference to the above lc200 comment here is what I’m envisioning .. since the lca mounts build off of this member I will likely not mess with the bottom .. but there is a seam half way up that could potentially be cut out and reinforced, effectively dropping the rack an inch or so, possibly more with a little effort. Not the smallest project.. but would literally allow me to raise the front an entire inch from where it sits now without impacting bump steer any more it currently is






Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[aemravan]

And this is the rear diff mount point that locks in the height .. what’s stopping me from cutting this completely off, dropping it down 1 inch to match the diff drop front spacers, and boxing it back in to allow for clearance around the front driveshaft ..? This would effectively reset the cv axle angle to exactly where it is now, but with 1 added inch of lift .. am I crazy ? (I mean .. obviously .. but specifically to this idea ..? lol)




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[rdruss]

If you want to properly drop your front dif, look into Phat Bars from Australia, they do things differently over there and a lot of it makes sense.

[aemravan]

Originally Posted by rdruss

If you want to properly drop your front dif, look into Phat Bars from Australia, they do things differently over there and a lot of it makes sense.

Had to look that up really quick. Apparently that’s the “arm style “ diff drop . In general , it’s basically the same thing as a diff drop spacer kit, except the curved arms allow for no loss of clearance to the skid plate up front since the arms are curved.. other than that, they don’t drop the diff any more level than a spacer kit, just at 5-7x the cost.. yikes .. a definite must if you want to maximize ground clearance .. I mean losing an inch at the skid plate is effectively negating the step up from 33s to 35s or 35s to 37s.. which is huge.. now a combination of these arms with dropping the rear mounting point an inch.. woo boy lol. Talk about form and function .. you’d be able to get an extra 1-1.5 of downtravel with a proper uca and shock .. or just added street ride height with minimal wear on cv and boots.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[aemravan]

Late night shopping done sir it again .. @rdruss I’m blaming you for this one .. after taking a quick second look .. I’m pretty convinced all these places get their kit from the same vendor in China .. just guessing .. since it’s literally available on Ali express lol. I didn’t go that route but did find this and figured for under 300 bucks it wouldn’t hurt to try .. long term I’m still set on investigating the relocation of the rear mount lower but for now this should be interesting to see if it works or not ..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[aemravan]

Nothing like some brand new OEM parts from Toyota. Decided to go ahead and throw these in while I swap out to the oem uca at the same time later this afternoon.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[aemravan]

Axles and factory UCAs are on. From the first test it looks like it pushed the wheel away from the mount just enough to clear

The drop arms should be here match 15th , it should drop the axle angle down even more and hopefully keep these expensive OEM axles alive for a while.

These 5th gen axles don’t have a whole for the cotter pin /secure nut to the axle nut.. might address that later but likely will just send it. It’s on there solid.

Next up is patching up the coolant leak.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[aemravan]

Breaking news .. I don’t fit 37s as well as I thought when the rig is in the ground :facepalm: lol.


The lower lca bushing move, ALOT under load. Like when in reverse at full lock vs drive. In drive, I have almost a half inch clearance to the body mount .. in reverse .. it hits. Got it ground back a decent amount and everything was good. But then I decided to take a little camber out of the front so I’m not wearing the outside as much .. well .. moving the front setting over just one adjustment gets me the perfect camber I’m after .. butttt I’m back to hitting the mount. Fml. If I knew this .. I would have gone WAY more aggressive in the chop x but it cleared on the stands.. lesson learned .. I guess an option is to get an adjustable UCA that separates camber and caster .. but man.. I don’t know where it ends lol.

Almost ready to pull the trigger on the RCLTHD KIT and call it good lmao.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[aemravan]

Problem solved (?) Went Google searching and found some SPC uca for $400 .. figured I could probably get half of that back in my jba arms.. from what I heard they can be bit and miss on how long they last .. but with everything else I’ve sunk into the build and swapped out .. what’s another set of arms ? lol

This will let me run camber adjustment independent of caster , and hopefully maximize distance away from the body mount .. I don’t know how much more cutting back I’m willing to do with it


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[aemravan]

So.. I just found out about Super Pro offset LCA's... and in true to form fashion of the rest of the build found some for a decent price on ebay.. I had no idea these were even an option before.. and anything that will allow the tire to slide forward any is an absolute must-try for me right now

I'm still looking for exactly how much these LCA's move the wheel forward.. but apparently it is a sizable amount..

My only (partial) concern is that from what I gather, the cam bolt in these arms is larger than the factory one.. meaning that my current cam tab eliminator kit won't work with the these new arms.. not a HUGE deal.. I could just run the cambolt that comes with the kit.. or just look into getting 4 larger diameter bolts to swap out and drill the plates to accept them.. I guess time will tell. But if everything goes to plan.. I 'll have dialed in camber via the SPC UCA (which apparently will either last 50-80k miles , or I'll be swapping bushings and balljionts every oil change ) , get some caster back AND have the wheel pushed forward enough to clear the current configuration of the body mount

[aemravan]

SPC UCA's delivered fast as all, as did the double-offset SuperPro LCA.

Both are installed as of yesterday. I must say.. initial thoughts on both is pretty impressive. Whether the SPC balljoint/bushings last is one thing.. I did just find out they have several options for replacements depending on who you bought them from..



1). if you bought from an "authorized dealer" they will warranty the arms

2) buy new arms at $695, and return yours in their place for a $445.95 refund (for $250 this really isn't a terrible deal if all you're doing is swapping out the arms .. )

3) buy and replace your own xaxis bushing (this is $189.. which again, makes option 2 above sound VERY impressive considering you don't do any work yourself and also get new balljoints.. )



The adjustability of the UCA is pretty fantastic.. I corrected quite a bit of positive camber with it. It's nice to have some-what independent adjustments, though you're still partially linked to having caster/camber be related because of how the ball-joint spins for adjustment.



The double-offset LCA's from SuperPro are also pretty damn fantastic.. the offset bushings put a starting point of the rear mount being pushed out and front mount being pushed in, before you even make the adjustment. I didn't have time to measure the physical dispalcement between factory and these arms... but with the combination of the UCA set on the D setting, I now have an added 3/4-1" of clearance to the body mount .. which is pretty wild.



We're trying to throw it on the alignment rack in the next 3 days and dial it in.. but depending on where my caster lands on the current setting, I might even go up some because I feel like I have room to spare for clearance.



Oh, and my concerns with not being able to fit the cam tab delete kit were invalid. The bolts and tabs worked out JUST fine. I actually couldn't use the cam bolt that came with the kit because aparently I welded my cam tabs from Total Chaos a bit too tight and the super pro cam did not fit in between without modifying it. I decided to just use my delete kit instead since I'm looking to max out the setting and let it be.

[aemravan]

Quick update: Been putting a few street miles on this re-worked setup, and thus far I think I got everything where I need it. Haven't had a chance to get this in for an alignment until my brother gets back from his trip for next week, but my driveway alignment seems to be working well.

The caster setting I currently have feels WAY better than it did with the factory UCA's. A part of this is the SPC adjustment, but also moving the LCA with the double-offset helped a ton. I'm thinking I might even be able to pull a bit of caster out depending on what the numbers read, but so far, I haven't had any contact to the body mount yet.

Now that it's all settled, even the camber is still looking groovy Might need to add a bit of positive camber to get it 100% flat, but my driveway setup with an angle finder seems to still be reading exactly (or close to) as the rear wheels.

Worked on a backyard project that required quite a few paver stones, loaded up ~1000lbs into the back and happy to report that it rode level as well with no squat/chirping front tires still. Actually felt REALLY good to preload the rear springs. Rode like a damn lexus~


The coolant leak seems to be resolved.. so my only leaky situation now are the axle seals at the front diff, and the rear main oil seal that weeps a bit here and there. Both will remain untouched for a while. The arm style drop backet kit I ordered will need a little modification to make work on the passenger side.. after a quick test fit I realized it's meant to mount front AND rear to the sub frame.. well, we dont have a rear mount point. I'll leave this for a later project that will likely go hand in hand with recessing the LC200 rack lower in the cross member, as well as dropping the rear diff mount an inch or so. Until then, i'll get it aligned and see how she does on our Solar Eclipse road trip to Arkansas!