just saw this pop up so I figured I would drop my .02 from my lc200/stock width swap.. though I know both of you guys are probably pretty well aware.. but in case others stumble across this and haven't seen my thread.. so here it is..
-Fitment: It is possible to run the LC200 rack with the stock width control arms. You just need to fabricate your own outer tie-rods, which means you're pretty much stuck running a heim joint instead of the factory tapered ball-joint
-Steering Geometry: While it is no question that factory width control arms are signifincatly better for bump-steer compared to long travel arms which exaggerate the bump steer due to additional downtravel gained, not everything is fine and dandy. I have physically measured... and probably will later today, but there is visible bump steer from ride height, to full droop. As far as on-road experience ... I have been running this setup for a few months now.. and will say that there is definitely a different steering wheel feel... but to be honest.. I don't really notice it much anymore.. certain bumps, in particular the un-even ones, will make the steering wheel wander a bit, but the rig tracks straight for the most part. Probably not the best for tirewear ... but it's certainly doable.
The biggest issue I have seen comes not from bump steer, but actually from the slighly different ackermann angel.. I can tell that this is different because when making near-full-lock circles in a parking lot, or during a U-turn, you can hear one of the tires scrubbing out pretty hard. This is very indicative that either the inside or outside wheel is now turning significantly more or less and not following the factory radius. Not a HUGE deal, but it is there.
For my application, this is OK. I'm looking to have some rock-crawl ability wihtout the fear of blowing out my rack or bending a tie rod because I down wrong on a rock. I don't plan on abusing this, it was more of a just-in-case project. If you're planning on doing some fast paced desert whoops sections, I can't tell you how this will react.. maybe it's doable, maybe it isn't... I'm still unclear on whether or not the marlin crawler RCLT kit solved the bump steer issue with their spindles... or if they suffer from the bumpsteer as well.. but they do use the same rack.. so who knows.
to summarize .. here is where I stand..
Pros:
-I will be very hard pressed to bend/break anything in my steering setup simply due to the added beefiness of everything
-I was able to take advantage of the heim joint & 3/4" bolt to do a double-shear setup on the spindle for added security.
Cons:
-not cheap. My project, with no added labor cost, ran me over $1100.
-time consuming... this was by far one of the longer upgrades I performed in my entire build.. and was the furthest from being straightforward. Lots of custom work, fitment, re-fitment, cutting, welding, more cutting, etc.
-added maintenance.. because I am running heim joints on the spindle now.. I have some added greasing/cleaning to do to hopefully keep them alive for as long as possible. I can already tell these will NOT last nearly as long as a balljoint..especially a factory one.. I may need to look into upgrading to a nicer heim joint at some point.. but these also weren't cheap and from ebay..
-impacted steering geometry..like it or not.. it just isn't the same like it was from the factory. Between bump steer and ackermann there is a difference in how the rig steers.
final thoughts... if I had to do it again... I would probably consider spending a few extra bucks to do the cut -down tundra rack instead.. that would at least resolve the bump-steer issue.. the other work would be the same and I think it would have been worth while. I also don't think I would go through the trouble of upgrading to the LC200 rack on a factory width setup if I had to do it again..
