Upper Control Arms

Just did a Readylift 3/2. Truck looked like Miss Piggy on her hooves. Canceled my appointment for alignment after noticing the drop angle of the UCA's. Ordered aftermarket Freedom Off Road UCA's (this is budget build). After installing them the front end went up ANOTHER 2 inches!?!? I went from a nice 1 inch rake back to front after the spacers to my ass dragging by 1 inch?? Anyone ever hear of this happening? Now it's squatting like a bulldog emblem on a Mack truck. I haven't had it aligned yet. Does anyone know if the alignment will drop the front end back to at least level? Thanks

 

That doesn’t sound like it should raise the front 2 inches just by adding control arms.....did you grease the bushings.....did you torque to specs.....it almost sounds like the UCA’s were over tightened while drooped.....did you loosen and then re-tongue the lower control arms....ya....something doesn’t sound or look right with that build....check with freedom off road web site install instructions....triple check everything....when I did my first UCA install I overtightened the nuts and bolts on my f150....ha...I learned to follow the torque and install instructions....many frustrating hours of hard work when performing these installs by yourself....just to save the professional install costs....good luck...hope you find the correct answer....peace...

 

The stock UCA bushings don't like to rotate, so just the act of loosening the bolt and retorquing it can gain you some lift since the bushings relax. The other possible factor is if you're driving around and your alignment is off, if the tires are toed in then the two tires will try to move inboard and force the suspension to droop out giving the perception of increased lift (you can tell if this is happening by backing up, and if the front end drops down as the suspension splays out then it's just your alignment is jacked).

 

@Nativeimages....Truth be told the truck hasn't been moved since the install a few days ago....sooo..im hoping it might relax if I take it around the block. ...we'll see. I have not greased the ball joints yet either. I torqued the uppers to spec (173 ft/lbs). The lowers were torqued ish (220 ft/lbs..... as much as my 1/2 impact could give her). Didnt have a torque wrench over 150 at that time. Got one a few days after when installing the UCA's. So....my take aways are...1st ● pay attention to the details!! 2nd ● check the torque on my probably over tightened LCA's. 3rd ● grease the balljoints. 4th ● Right tools for the right job (amateur hour not getting a higher torque wrench). 5th ● Pray all that tinkering helps Ativan my baby down from looking like a juiced up bouncer in a Peruvian Nightclub. Appreciate the help Thanks. We'll give her a try and get back to ya.

 

@snivilous ....Oh the alignment is definitely off! After the 3/2 install the droop /angle and toe in seemed visibly extreme. Which is why I canceled my alignment appointment. It occurred to me there's no way they we're going to get it back to spec, so I ordered and installed aftermarket (specifically designed for leveled/lifted trucks) UCA's. The thing is the droop angled improved nicely (flattened out ish). The toe in visually actually looks a little worse ( from tippy toes to tippy tippy toes). And....the friggin thing lifted 2 inches. I'm going to try the remedies listed above ...see what happens. Thanks for reaching out.

 

Make sure the spacers were installed correctly ad well. There is a line on them that faces out towards the wheel.

 

Did you torque the LCA’s while the truck was up in the air? It needs to be on the ground. You should definitely get yourself a BF’n torque wrench. Overtorquing the LCA’s is very unlikely to be your problem. If you tighten them while the truck is in the air, they will stay bound in the bushings. Loosen them up, set the truck on the ground and re-torque.

 

@Tundra234 ....spacers were installed in correct orientation...lines out. Thanks

 

Post some pics as well so that we can see it.

 

Copy that. Just checking....I have seen some install spacers backwards before.

 

@15whtrd ...I sure as shit did tighten them in the air. In fact.....all the torque specs were done on stands. You may just be the wizard I was looking for. I'll re torque on the ground. Thanks! And I finally did get that BF'n t wrench! You would think I'd know better....I'll tighten every thread locked bolt and screw to spec on every AR build but half ass it on the truck SMH D'oh!

 

@Tundra234 ...I will when I can. Thanks again

 

@LokiKent
Here is a PDF of Toyota‘s installation instructions for the pro suspension. It’s more than you need but it does give a pretty good breakdown of how to install everything along with torque specs.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/sxjguie9rkx4dti/PTR13-34140inst.pdf?dl=0

 

@15whtrd ...Thanks...this should help! It says on page 6 to torque everything in the air though??....minus the sway bar and tire lugs. I'll defer to your real world experience and torque on the ground.

 

That does confuse things a little bit, but I think they were talking about the wheels. Some of the items can be torqued in the air but things like the LCA’s need to be done with the weight of the truck on the ground.

 

By golly I think your right. It's talking about the wheels...but nowhere after that, once the truck is on the ground , does it say to torque spec anything. It's the little sneaky things they don't tell you that make the difference between a noob install and a Pro.

 

I think they assume you are the one also doing the alignment so that would be torqued after alignment. At least that’s my ass-umption

 

I'm a fairly proficient DIY er ...but I'm not pulling off an alignment job. Watched a few on YouTube and there's computers and lasers and science. It's not cost prohibitive to just let the Pros do it.

 

There are quite a few around here that aren’t afraid of it. But I’d rather take it to a shop myself for the alignment.I went to an off-road shop that are well respected I’m really happy with how it drives.

 

After 3/2 Readylift leveling and Freedom Off Road UCA install. Didnt take pics of the stock heights. These pics clearly illustrate my frustration and reason for the post.

 

That is a huge spacer on top of the shock. The tundra suspension geometry gives a little under double the lift of the spacer height. My truck had a 3.5" lift and the spacer measured 2". Your spacer looks to be over 3" in height, so you are likely getting 5" of lift. That is going to cause issues with CV axle angle and the joint of the axle.

 

Driver Front Before

 

But!!!!!!!!! The Tundras.com Forum to the rescue!!! After the wealth of knowledge and experience bestowed on me from you AWESOME guys posting replies....I took your advice to heart. Jacked it back up. Cracked the the UCA and LCA bolts. Set it back down on the tires (whats crazy is it actually measured higher at 43" in the fronts). Almost lost my shit after that....but!! I backed the truck up a few lengths and pulled forward to give it a chance to settle in......and it did

 

After everything settled re-torqued to spec while on the ground. That was a complete BITCH! getting those LCA's torqued with limited space and swing arc with the BFn t wrench. Have a appointment scheduled in a few days for an alignment. Hopefully, it will adjust to spec and get the numbers closer to a true 1 inch rake back to front. I can't begin to thank everyone one here posting enough. You guys were my paddle up shits creek. Thank you thank you thank you!! Will post a few pics after alignment