>BUILD THREAD< The4kbeast's 3rd-Gen 2000 T4R SR5 (Highlander Edition) 4x4 Build

[The4kbeast]

Light Racing UCA Install Part 2

So.. Another day...

Good shot of the support setup:

Installing the upper arm - very interesting to see the pockets on the inside of the newer spec ride bushing that retains the grease that's included in the kit:

Will add tips on some stuff that I've found solutions for. For example, read on yotatech that one guy had to have a friends help to hand him the bolt from the engine bay. On to two tips for installing the uca bolt by oneself. First, use a piece of tape to hold the head of a bolt under the washer reservoir. Do NOT have the washer on the bolt yet or it will hit the body up closer to the suspension:

HERE'S where the washer comes into play. Throw the washer on the tip of the bolt, then hold the arm in place with your right hand and tug the tape loose on the washer bottle. Wiggle and pull into place:

Arm clearance pics. This thing is amazing, and I no longer have interference between the UCA and the larger Tundra spring at max droop.

Guess it is hard to show in a pic...

 

[The4kbeast]

Started with loose fits going together. Would like to cycle through the 0-4* of caster adjustment and measure from the centerline of the strut to the vertical arm... At least we'd be able to compare to non-LR arm and OEM. Only issue is where e lower settings are. I remember reading about a setting on the lower that would set it to max caster and actually slightly increase the wheelbase. It is only suggested for trucks with no tire clearance issues. Basically set the front all the way towards the vehicle, and set the rear all of the way away from the vehicle. I'm always wary of having an adjustment set to max, but it may be worth playing with to have some type of repeatable setup.

Here is what it looks like up front at max droop. There is awesome amount of room between the spring and upper control arm.

Normally it would be on to the next side, but earlier I noticed that Light Racing forgot to include hardware for the other side.

So now I have to wait for Fat Bobs to be able to get ahold of LR on Monday, and hope they can get parts to me by Wed. Meanwhile my vehicle is on jack stands. We'll see how it is handled.

 

[The4kbeast]

Wheeling up Skyline in Corona, CA

So my 4Runner wasn't ready, but we still were planning on meeting and exploring the mountains. Snapped a few pics of the trip and figured I'd share. There was heavy cloud cover and it got late quick, so some of the pics are dark.

 

[The4kbeast]

Pics from this weekend's trip:

 

[The4kbeast]

Installed some 1st gen Tundra alloys on dhalsey's 2002 4Runner:

Before:

After:

 

[The4kbeast]

Light Racing Upper Control Arm Install - Part 15 1/2

Started work on the passenger side UCA. I guess now would be a good time to say that this install is NOT for the faint of heart. The lower ball joints were cake compared to the upper ball joint

There are three tough parts to this job (per side):
- Pressing the OEM UCA off of the spindle
- Pressing the upper ball joint out of the spindle
- Pressing the new aluminum LR ball joint joint mount into the spindle

I've rented a ball joint press from auto zone, bought two different sets of two- and three-claw presses of various sizes. I've snapped and bent three different presses, and the auto zone press gets hung up on a bump on the spindle. SPC sells a ball joint press that I'd recommend for the install. I ended up building my own press for the drivers side that got the job done, but I bent up my press and stripped a grade 8 bolt doing it on the passenger side. Had to zip it off with a cutter. That's also how I handled the stock upper ball joint. Ugh.....

The pic I took of progress consists of the clearance you have when removing the UCA bolt. There is an ac line in the way that you have to move to the side. That is all.

Right now I'm at the point where I'm pressing the Aluminum LR upper ball joint into the spindle. I'll have to wait two days since its thanksgiving social get more tools to finish the job. A side benefit to this is it should slow my wife down for Black Friday shopping.

Happy Turkey Day... Gobble gobble

 

[awpsome]

damnn what craziness to get these in!
you sound to be very patient with it though so thats a good thing. id be going crazy by the last couple pages. HAHA
but overall looks good man!

 

[The4kbeast]

damnn what craziness to get these in!
you sound to be very patient with it though so thats a good thing. id be going crazy by the last couple pages. HAHA
but overall looks good man!

Thanks man. It is craziness! It has been quite the epic install, which is why I say that this install is best left to professionals, or people that know what they're doing, WITH the proper tools.

Fat Bobs really did a stand up job for me by insisting that Light Racing overnight me the parts missing from the UCA kit before the holidays. Good thing too, because the other parts they sent didn't make it. Now to finish the install... but Formula 1 is in Brazil this weekend, so I probably won't be super productive. Should be done by Sunday.

 

[The4kbeast]

Got my upper control arms on. Headed to the hills for some late night testing! Pics to follow...

 

[The4kbeast]

Light Racing Upper Control Arm install: Part 103

Here's my Runner, "Armed" and sitting on the ground. Passenger side.

And here is how it was before, so you can see the stack height and resulting angle on the UCA difference.

The longer spindle stack length (caused by the adaptor and larger ball joint) is longer than stock. Would be interesting to know how much longer the assembly is, but I have no dimensions to share.

Looks good.

I did a rough "Dhalsey's Computerized Alignment" alignment on it so I could gas up and hit the hills. Caster +3*, Camber zeroed out. Toe was unchanged. Will get a professional alignment soon, but I have it down to a tenth of a degree.

The view towards Orange County, PV, LA, etc. Was an amazingly clear night.

We probably put 40-50 miles in. Here are some dirty girl shots. Will have to type up some of my suspension impressions later.

 

[TCMach]

Wow, just perused your thread and you have tons of good information on here. I'm jealous of your new UCAs although I don't think I need them (yet). My alignment guy said it was still relatively easy to get into whack. I'm looking forward to those tires and wheels!

 

[The4kbeast]

Wow, just perused your thread and you have tons of good information on here. I'm jealous of your new UCAs although I don't think I need them (yet). My alignment guy said it was still relatively easy to get into whack. I'm looking forward to those tires and wheels!

Thanks man. I got a lot from this site, so I'm tying to add anything I can to help out while doing my own thing. Some would argue I didn't need it with a small 2" lift. But I wanted to add more caster than stock to improve the on center feel without screwing up my camber. Fat Bobs is having 10% off tomorrow if you want a pair... If they are still charging $379 and allow an additional 10% off, that'd be a steal. I think Metal Tech has them for 375 with free shipping, too. Looking forward to the tires and wheels. Last night I could drive the thing on its rear wheels because there was so little traction. Not to mention how silly it looks with the small tires and incorrect offset.

 

[dhalsey]

Very fun night of wheeling. It was worth all the busted knuckles. Cheers.

 

[The4kbeast]

Very fun night of wheeling. It was worth all the busted knuckles. Cheers.

Yup. Thanks again for all the help. Can't wait to see your Icon setup and go for a ride!

 

[The4kbeast]

Researching SPCs recommendation for setting an alignment... Also a slight cure for wheel rub on back of wheel well.

TIRE RUB FIX
Q. My tires are rubbing at the back of the wheel well, can I use the adjustable arms to help fix this?
A. Yes, you can! Use the lower arm adjustment cams to roll the lower ball joint forward for maximum caster. (Pull the forward bushing in and push the rearward bushing out.) Then adjust the upper ball joint to get the caster and camber alignment in spec. Doing this can move the wheel center forward by ½"- ¾" in most cases.

Alignment Procedure
Q. After installing these control arms I now have camber and caster adjustment on both the upper and lower control arms. What is the proper way to adjust the alignment?
A. On many Toyotas, the factory lower cams have seized in the control arm, and cannot be used to adjust the alignment without a lot of work. If they have not seized, they can help to fine-tune the alignment.

If tire rub is not critical:
1. Set caster roughly by clocking the SPC upper ball joint per the chart on the instruction sheet. (For 2-3" lift, they recommend the 0 setting, which adds 2* of caster.. I went for +3*)
2. Once caster is close to your desired setting using SPC’s upper arm, use the factory cams on the lower arms to dial it in. Ignore any change in camber while setting caster. (Any alignment shop will be able to handle this)
3. Now that caster is where you want it, use the sliding feature of the upper ball joint to put camber exactly where you want it. (This is what you may have to show the alignment shop... it's harder to change the camber setting than SPC makes it look in the videos)

 

[The4kbeast]

Thnking of running the 255/85/R16 on my LX wheels... sample photo of the frontal look on an 80:

Ok, so they do look kind of funny from the rear:

Although if you choose a tire that has side lugs, it doesn't look that bad:

Only question is if a 33x10.5 will fit in the spare tire location on a 3rd gen (LC80 shown):

 

[SCRunner12]

Typically the 255's won't work in the spare location. They are taller than a 285 and 285's don't fit. You might be able to if you do some modifications down there, but I'm not sure what is needed.

 

[The4kbeast]

Typically the 255's won't work in the spare location. They are taller than a 285 and 285's don't fit. You might be able to if you do some modifications down there, but I'm not sure what is needed.

Good info, thanks for saving me the search.

I know you're running 32s on a set of the LC/LX wheels... what are your thoughts on tire sizing? For all I go back and forth on sizing, I think I'll end up with the 32s. Just sucks that it takes ordering a Treadwright to get. A true 32" diameter tire.

 

[SCRunner12]

Good info, thanks for saving me the search.

I know you're running 32s on a set of the LC/LX wheels... what are your thoughts on tire sizing? For all I go back and forth on sizing, I think I'll end up with the 32s. Just sucks that it takes ordering a Treadwright to get. A true 32" diameter tire.

I would go with 33's if you are debating that. While I don't mind that I'm on 32's I wish I had 33's.

 

[The4kbeast]

I would go with 33's if you are debating that. While I don't mind that I'm on 32's I wish I had 33's.

I went with the 32s from Treadwright (I know). I'll rock them for a few years and hope the industry offers narrower 33s in the future. For my needs, I just can't justify the 33s at this time. Thanks for your input though, SC!