SPC UCA Alignment Sheets

[psraff]

I was just asking because I was missing rear also do to broke bolts and had to drill and tap them. I'm currently at 4* caster and when it was missing had same issue on highway. She is pretty solid now. The rear sway bar helped dramatically. Went from unsafe feeling to completely safe. Months back I installed adjustable Panhard and had rear aligned. That helped a lot also. I don't see how adjusting rear pinion angle with adjustable lca's will help.

I'm getting aligned Saturday on g. I did still notice some rub when pulling into drive way quickly even on g with 33's. Hope alignment helps.

It does help. Any info helps. I'll have to work on the rear sway bar when I return. My pinion angle is fine. To adjust that I would get rear adjustable uppers. I'm getting lowers to fix the axle not being square.


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[JayRolla]

It does help. Any info helps. I'll have to work on the rear sway bar when I return. My pinion angle is fine. To adjust that I would get rear adjustable uppers. I'm getting lowers to fix the axle not being square.


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So the lcas can pull or push the axle to shorten or lengthen wheel base but dont you need the panhard bar adjusted to square the axle to the front tires?

 

[psraff]

So the lcas can pull or push the axle to shorten or lengthen wheel base but dont you need the panhard bar adjusted to square the axle to the front tires?

Pan hard bar centers the axle side to side.

LCA will square the axle front to back.

UCA adjusts pinion angle.

That's the experience I've gathered.

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[Falonious]

255/85 cooper ST maxx.

Gota know how you like the Coops....after you've driven on them a bit. That was the size I wanted but ended up with the 285's

I'm having a bit of trouble finding shops willing to mess with the SPC's....checked around locally before I did the swap so I could just take it in after....no custom work....both places said. :tsk:
So much for small town America. If it's not in the book we don't do it.
Have to expand the search...and the drive.

 

[JayRolla]

[MENTION=116877]fourfive[/MENTION] thanks for the help. I've been fighting alignment shops almost two years since my spc install. On stock control arms I had about 1.5* caster and zero rubbing. I've had rubbing issues on the spcs on settings A-E. Two offroad alignment shops recommended A and got me 4-5* caster and still slight rub on the street.

Just finished with alignment on the G setting. Pretty much puts the spc arms in stock uca location. They had to max the lca's to get me 1.5* caster. Pushed tire way out. So much room at the pinch weld now. I could easily run some 35's with the clearance now.

Again thanks so much!!

 

[fourfive]

[MENTION=116877]fourfive[/MENTION] thanks for the help. I've been fighting alignment shops almost two years since my spc install. On stock control arms I had about 1.5* caster and zero rubbing. I've had rubbing issues on the spcs on settings A-E. Two offroad alignment shops recommended A and got me 4-5* caster and still slight rub on the street.

Thats awesome man. Glad to hear the G setting worked out for you too. I've wanted to mention my experimenting on the the different caster settings and having the best outcome on G for a while but kept putting it off because I didn't think it would go over too well with others since I have not heard or read of anyone else on G. Also the rationale for being on G can be a bit confusing initially & didn't want it to appear that I was giving bad information especially since i realize that my experience may not generalize to everyone else with SPCs. Your alignment numbers look almost identical to mine.

Just finished with alignment on the G setting. Pretty much puts the spc arms in stock uca location. They had to max the lca's to get me 1.5* caster. Pushed tire way out. So much room at the pinch weld now. I could easily run some 35's with the clearance now.

Again thanks so much!!

Sounds like we'll be seeing some 35s on your 4runner......I like it!

 

[sr3tlaw]

What is everyone putting inside the LCA bolts to keep then from freezing up? Had to go with something so I just put in some standard high temp lubricant when I replaced the drivers-side LCA bushings. Went with OEM Toyota everything. Still need to do passenger-side.

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[JayRolla]

What is everyone putting inside the LCA bolts to keep then from freezing up? Had to go with something so I just put in some standard high temp lubricant when I replaced the drivers-side LCA bushings. Went with OEM Toyota everything. Still need to do passenger-side.

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Anything water proof works. Cool thing about my SPC aftermarket cam bolts are they come with a plastic sleeve so they will never seize up.

 

[TorqueOfTheDevil]

Great thread guys..

I run the same setup as fourfive (Toyotec Boss, 4 Crawler 2" lift and SPC UCAs) and have never seemed to quite clear the rubbing issues on my surf.

I only run 285/75/16 but they are a heavy negative offset so catch the rear on lock. as a result I had to track the Front shocks right up, and have lost all droop so it doesn't ride tat well. (And has also pushed up the spring preload).

Mine have always been on "D". its a pain getting truck aligned here in the UK, as no one has lifted trucks. Plus no ones alignment gear will fit my regular wheels, so I need to put stock on.

I'd love to have a day with proper alignment gear to get it how *I* want it.

 

[psraff]

Great News!!!! I have it dialed in and it's damn solid!!! It still wants to pull \ drift to the right a bit, but I will drive it for a few days and then swap the front tires to see if that helps. If that doesn't help, then maybe I have a worn spot in my Steering Rack.

But the great news is, is that I'm all in spec even though I'm sitting on the "G" position.

So the first step was to get the rear end straight with the new adjustable rears. That took a bit of work of trial and error but we had it exact.

This is before any work to the front was done:

We then set the UCA to "G" and put it about center on the top. After working on the bottom and the top a bit we had it close, but then we needed to rework the back again (Pass. Rear to be exact).

Note how much length we got just by setting it from "D" to "G":

Now for the Money Shot!
They said the magic to getting it back into spec is this...
Rear Cam Bolt all the way forward
Front Cam Bolt all the way BACK
If both are moved forward like you would think, you only get around 1.6*.
Then fine tune with the top bolt for caster.
As you see where mine sits....

Here's a shot of how much room I have from my tire to my rock slider:

Drives Amazing now! Thanks for all the info and opinions that was given on this thread. I think this should be required reading for anyone installing SPC (or other) UCAs.

 

[JayRolla]

Great News!!!! I have it dialed in and it's damn solid!!! It still wants to pull \ drift to the right a bit, but I will drive it for a few days and then swap the front tires to see if that helps. If that doesn't help, then maybe I have a worn spot in my Steering Rack.

But the great news is, is that I'm all in spec even though I'm sitting on the "G" position.

So the first step was to get the rear end straight with the new adjustable rears. That took a bit of work of trial and error but we had it exact.

This is before any work to the front was done:

We then set the UCA to "G" and put it about center on the top. After working on the bottom and the top a bit we had it close, but then we needed to rework the back again (Pass. Rear to be exact).

Note how much length we got just by setting it from "D" to "G":

Now for the Money Shot!
They said the magic to getting it back into spec is this...
Rear Cam Bolt all the way forward
Front Cam Bolt all the way BACK
If both are moved forward like you would think, you only get around 1.6*.
Then fine tune with the top bolt for caster.
As you see where mine sits....

Here's a shot of how much room I have from my tire to my rock slider:

Drives Amazing now! Thanks for all the info and opinions that was given on this thread. I think this should be required reading for anyone installing SPC (or other) UCAs.

That's awesome. Yes to max lower control arms that's how the bolts have to be. One forward and one back. That's how mine is and I'm still under 2* caster. Every truck different.

I was pulling also after alignment. Swapped front tires and it's perfect now.

 

[Falonious]

I don't know how you guys are all getting the low caster numbers. I can't get under 4.0 with the lower arms pushed all the way forward and on G.
Been in 3 times and we are at our wits end with this thing. Not cool to drive at that # although not as bad as the 6.0 I got on D....Holy wanderer!

Moved the front cam back a bit to get 3.5 ish but tires will rub now if I'm turning and compress the suspension at all.

Tires are 285/75/16 on Toy 5 stars.....with the dang spidertrax that I can't seem to run this setup without. I wish I could but I am too close to the UCA without them.
Never had a vehicle fight me soo much as this one.

 

[Swede]

Great info guys, just what I was looking for! I'll be installing mine this week and I now have all the info I think I need. I think I'll set them at E with the LCA''s set as far forward as I can. I have a 3" BL so I think this will be a good starting point. :cheers:

 

[Swede]

Well I got them put in with the LCA's pushed all the way forward and the UCA's set at "E" and took it for a spin. Right away I noticed the steering didn't want to return to center very well and it handled a little weird, like it wanted to dart from side to side. Not very dramatically mind you but it just seemed like it was. I changed the UCA'S to the "D" position and trued everything up and it was better. I think I'll leave it at that.

 

[psraff]

I've seen a few threads appear with questions or info regarding SPC UCAs so I'll give this thread a bump. Feel free to post your alignment sheets, truck, wheel and tire setup and the final results. That way others can learn from what we've already done.

Thanks Guys!

 

[toeheadskater]

Just ordered my SPC today and will install this weekend. I'm a little bewildered by this information.

My immediate thought was to just set the caster to A and be done with it. But y'all are saying that that caused pinch weld issues?

 

[theesotericone]

Just ordered my SPC today and will install this weekend. I'm a little bewildered by this information.

My immediate thought was to just set the caster to A and be done with it. But y'all are saying that that caused pinch weld issues?

SPC arms are built with 2 degrees additional caster. If you set to A you'll have 4 degrees caster. Set it on D and go from there. I went to E to clear the pinch weld with 295/70r17 Ridge Grapplers. That was after beating and grinding the shit out of those pinch welds.

If you go to A you will hit the pinch welds even more. Stick with D on initial set-up and adjust in needed.

 

[toeheadskater]

SPC arms are built with 2 degrees additional caster. If you set to A you'll have 4 degrees caster. Set it on D and go from there. I went to E to clear the pinch weld with 295/70r17 Ridge Grapplers. That was after beating and grinding the shit out of those pinch welds.

If you go to A you will hit the pinch welds even more. Stick with D on initial set-up and adjust in needed.

So I just purchased 285/75/17 Ridge Grapplers, so this is interesting information. My tire is a little taller, but a little more narrow, so I think I will have similar issues. Seems people are having good luck with setting the arm to G and setting the lower bolts forward. But if the arm has +2 built in and setting to G is -2, isn't this effectively the same setting as the UCA?

 

[theesotericone]

So I just purchased 285/75/17 Ridge Grapplers, so this is interesting information. My tire is a little taller, but a little more narrow, so I think I will have similar issues. Seems people are having good luck with setting the arm to G and setting the lower bolts forward. But if the arm has +2 built in and setting to G is -2, isn't this effectively the same setting as the UCA?

Basically. There's a lot that goes into alignment geometry and I won't pretend to know all of it. What I did was find a really good alignment guy, who happens to be the only person other then myself I'll let touch my rig. Told him to max lower cam bolts for caster and adjust the SPC's till it was either in spec or close. He managed to get passenger in spec and driver super close. He's a smart guy and my truck drives damn near perfect. No weird lopping on turns or death caster settings. Here's the link to the SPC install sheet in case you haven't seen it yet. The mention setting OEM caster all the way positive to gain wheel well clearance.

http://www.spcalignment.com/instructions/25480-INS_WEB.pdf

 

[toeheadskater]

Basically. There's a lot that goes into alignment geometry and I won't pretend to know all of it. What I did was find a really good alignment guy, who happens to be the only person other then myself I'll let touch my rig. Told him to max lower cam bolts for caster and adjust the SPC's till it was either in spec or close. He managed to get passenger in spec and driver super close. He's a smart guy and my truck drives damn near perfect. No weird lopping on turns or death caster settings. Here's the link to the SPC install sheet in case you haven't seen it yet. The mention setting OEM caster all the way positive to gain wheel well clearance.

http://www.spcalignment.com/instructions/25480-INS_WEB.pdf

I did read the sheet you provided some time ago, and I have read it again now a couple times through and it does in fact say to do just that. I must have missed it before. What amount of caster are you at now? I guess I'm curious because it seems like one may be able to just max the caster out to begin with and solve the pinch weld issues.