Installed Dirt King tubular ball joint uca yesterday and got an alignment today with 5 degrees caster and everything else within OEM spec. it really is a night and day difference driving and I wish I did it sooner. I had them sitting for a long time and finally got around to it. UCA are totally worth it, even with just a 2" lift.

Glad to hear, my JBA's should be here Wednesday, once installed heading to the alignment shop.

Did it cause any rubbing?
What lift and do you have a bmc?
Any wheel spacers and tire size?
Thanks

2" lift front and rear, no BMC, 285/70/17 BFG.

I had already done fender liner mod and front bumper trim. When I first put the arms on there was significant rubbing on turns(I still have mud flaps) even going in and out of the driveway. After alignment I have not experienced any rubbing on the mud flap again yet.

Great to hear. Mine is going in Thursday to put my JBAs and Fox 2.0s in the front and align to 5 degrees. Really excited to see how it drives after.

tbh it only makes a difference in straight line driving as it tracks straight better. But because i drive a lot of straight highway to work I notice it for a longer period of time and is more significant for me.

All the parts have arrived. UCAs, assembled coilovers, rear springs & shocks, lean spacers, and skid plates.
UCAs and skids need to be painted.
The slab this work will be done on is being poured today. Then 20'x20' carport. Then install parts.
Slow going having only 2 days each week at home.


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they really just poured it on grade huh. concrete always cracks but at least throw some ABC rock and compact it lol. no footers for the carport posts to set on either?

It has compacted underlayment, it's just the same color as our soil. Also, Wife doesn't photo doc things too well.
The carport was supposed to arrive Tuesday. It's still in transit. Not the end of the world.

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I got everything installed yesterday. They were only able to get it to 4.5 degrees as at 5 it whacked camber out. Maybe because I'm only at 2" of lift. It's pulling right a little bit which I knew (they told me and I test drove it) and it's livable, so took it anyway because I was there and they offered to have me bring it back whenever to get the alignment perfect. The shop owner is a friend of mine. Otherwise, it rides and drives well.

I'm wondering if I go back down closer to factory spec (3.3) it will make a difference in the right pull. Maybe 3.5-4 degrees with a little difference between the sides to make up for the crowned roads? Or, does it just need a finer tuned alignment.

nice, theres always more to it then what photos show. but its fun to assume lol

tbh it sounds like they may not be knowledgeable about how to get the most out of toyotas. I was able to get 4.9 and 5.0 caster and everything else within the oem specs. tracks perfectly straight. more caster=straighter tracking. less caster=wandering to sides.

Suspension mods and alignment numbers are always a case by case basis, even the advertised range is still something to take with a grain of salt in my experience. One guy will get 5° and another can only get 4.5°; just how it goes it seems.

That being said, I would have them inspect your lower control arm tabs, it's possible they are a little flattened out; even a little bit of bend/flattening of those tabs will rob you of adjustment. Usually it's the tab on the back of the front bushing mount that gets flattened out the most frequently. It wouldn't hurt to have them looked at and maybe even reinforced with some welds or a whole new tab kit like from Total Chaos if you plan on wheeling hard.

Additionally you probably don't need 4~5° of Caster if you're only running 285's/33" tires; the main reason most people go over 4° is to get the tire to clear the 2nd body mount at the firewall. I run about 6° to clear my 35's after doing a body mount chop on my 4th gen; but when I was running SPC UCA and 285's I put my caster at about 3.5~4° and called it a day.

I would shoot for something around 3.5 to 4° Caster with -0.5 to -1.0° Camber with maybe 0.02 to 0.04° additional Toe-In over factory specification for the best tracking and tire wear. The slight negative camber is to help offset Toyota's tendency to eat up the outer edges of tires and help "flatten" the wider tire; though you also have to take into account the type of tire you're running, the rim you have it mounted to, the tire pressure you're running, and the capability of your suspension to manage the extra unsprung weight. That being said, it's my rough guidelines I like to apply to most of the lifted Toyotas I see and is usually attainable if they have some decent UCAs.

Exactly the response I was looking for and you are correct. My tabs were flattened and they had a hard time aligning it thanks to the previous shop that did it. I am only still running 265s with no plans to go bigger anytime soon and no plans to do any really serious wheeling outside of getting off the beaten path occasionally. I've done enough rock crawling in my day with my previous jeeps to know what it does on a vehicle and I have zero intention of doing that with this 4R.

I'll bring it back and tell them to do the 3.5 degree range. The more I drive it today the more I disliked the "harder" steering as well that I'm seeing now comes with higher caster numbers. My guess is I'd be happy with 3.5. Aside from maybe a little highway wander, it drove and tracked beautifully at 3 degrees with just the 1" strut spacer before these coilovers and JBA UCAs, FWIW.

Really appreciate your insights. Thanks, man!

No problem, I would talk to them if they can fix your tabs for you. Usually you can just loosen/remove the cams from the bushing and get a prybar or decent punch and "tap" them back in place followed by some welding to reinforce it.

The higher caster will give you straight line stability and better "turn-in" on corners, as higher caster will naturally cause the tires to gain negative camber in a turn. What you're probably feeling in terms of the turning resistance is a combination of camber (you didn't really mention what you're at but I'll assume probably a little positive or near zero) and SAI (Steering Angle Inclination). Usually SAI gets out of spec when we lift our vehicles and rarely can you bring it back within specification (though sometimes you can), it's an often over-looked measurement because there isn't a whole lot you can do with it on most Toyota suspensions save for replacing parts (we'll use it occasionally on curbed cars to get a rough idea if the spindle got ****ed if we think it's borderline). But SAI does affect "Steer Camber" which can affect the effort you feel when turning; like I said dropping the Caster towards 3.5° to 4.0° and maybe shooting for about -0.05° or -1.0° of Camber might help with that steering feel. I would also try chalking your tires if you haven't done it to determine what your ideal tire pressure should be for your vehicle.