Light racing UCAs installed

[Mynameistommy510]

Installed these overnight on my 1996 4Runner 5vzfe in about 4 hours from start to clean up.
I have to say the hardest part was dealing with the snap rings on the upper ball joint adapters even with snap ring pliers.
Pressing in the upper ball joint adapter with my HF press was much easier than the rental press clamp from auto part stores I've used previously to install ubjs. Sure I had to remove the brake calipers and remove the entire spindle, but it felt like it was worth it, even when installing the UBJ adapter snap rings.
When I started, I didn't realize the UCA was on there with just a single long bolt, two washers, and a nut that had to be removed from the engine compartment. For the passenger side I had to remove the airbox, three small 12mm bolts, than for the drivers side I had to remove the coolant reservoir by taking off the battery hold down bracket (two 12mm) than the reservoir slides right up. Then the bolts had enough room to slide right out.
With the wheel mounted and lifted in the air, I pushed the top of the wheel close to the Upper control arm to get as much negative camber as I could then tightened down the top ball joint nut, which should give the alignment shop more adjustment room. (More ifs lift = more positive camber)
I set the top ball joint nut adjustment to 0 caster or position D as recommended by other people. The LR ucas already give +2 caster over stock UCAs so we'll see my new specs once she gets an alignment.

 

[MillerPKA]

Looking good man thanks for posting. Will likely be changing mine out soon

 

[Mynameistommy510]

Looking good man thanks for posting. Will likely be changing mine out soon

Thank you MillerPKA. Any questions, post them up.

 

[weekendclimber]

Doing this on the coming long weekend. I'm hoping I don't have problems getting the adapter into the spindle/knuckle.

 

[pattycakes77]

I like mine so far, had them on for about two years. I like knowing there is more adjustment for alignments and when I have to replace upper ball joints it's just a matter of bolting in a new one and not pressing one in. I will be looking at my bushings in the spring, might have to get new ones.

 

[Mynameistommy510]

I like mine so far, had them on for about two years. I like knowing there is more adjustment for alignments and when I have to replace upper ball joints it's just a matter of bolting in a new one and not pressing one in. I will be looking at my bushings in the spring, might have to get new ones.

That is a very cool feature about these ball joints. I heard the later light racing control arms were being shipped with longer lasting bushings.
Weekendclimber: it did take quite a bit of force to get the adapters flush inside the spindle and have enough of a groove to seat the snap ring.

 

[Mynameistommy510]

I totally regret not talking to the alignment mechanic at this shop about the UCA adjustments. 2+ hours later and I'm now watching him mess with the LCA cam bolts and struggle with the wheel getting close to the back of the fender.

 

[kolelt]

I'm debating between uniball or LR style ball joint.

 

[adkins]

Mine are suppose to be here Wednesday. Is there a good setting for the alignment once it's all set?

 

[Mynameistommy510]

Here's my alignment results, which I'm pretty happy with. The 4Runner rides great.
It's 24 inches from center of hub to bottom of fender. I set the washer to the D position giving +2 degrees caster over stock (control arm designed to give +2 without help of caster washer.)
It's nice to see that the mech used the sliding UBJ to get within spec and my LCA cams have adjustability back, no longer maxed.
I had a lot of questions before receiving the upper control arms, but the adjustments made sense very quickly after opening the box and seeing how they worked.

 

[weekendclimber]

Weekendclimber: it did take quite a bit of force to get the adapters flush inside the spindle and have enough of a groove to seat the snap ring.

I got mine in no problem with the tool from O'Reillys. I consider myself extremely lucky with how little rust there is on the rig after 16 years.:rockon:

 

[ARC]

I totally regret not talking to the alignment mechanic at this shop about the UCA adjustments. 2+ hours later and I'm now watching him mess with the LCA cam bolts and struggle with the wheel getting close to the back of the fender.

Mine are suppose to be here Wednesday. Is there a good setting for the alignment once it's all set?

I had these on my Tacoma and always took the instructions on how they work when it was time for alignments. IF you can convince the techs to read them you usually get things figure out quickly. I think a couple I have used didn't know how to read though.

 

[Mynameistommy510]

I got mine in no problem with the tool from O'Reillys. I consider myself extremely lucky with how little rust there is on the rig after 16 years.:rockon:

That's a good point. If the hole in the spindle for the ball joint and new adapter to go is clean and rust free, it will save some trouble.