Another shock, upper control arm question

Guy’s new here so please be gentle lol, 2004 tundra, just installed a new rough country leveling strut and the tires are dead nuts against the control arms, had a stock shock on before with a spacer and had no issues before, ( changed because lower bushings were bad ), now I no the geometry is all jacked up, I’ve lowered probably ten trucks in my life but new to raising them, four runner wheels with 285’s, would a good uca fix this, Thanks!

 

This is a known problem with strut spacers on our trucks.

Please see the “Suspension, wheel & tires…” section in the first reply of this thread: https://www.tundras.com/threads/so-you-wanna-buy-just-bought-a-1st-gen-tundra-eh.115928/

It should outline a lot the common problems with suspension on our trucks.

And if you made the mistake of installing a strut spacer with lifted shocks GET THAT SHIT OUTTA THERE RIGHT NOW. You don’t want to be the other guy on here who bend his knuckles and other shit doing the same. You DO NOT mix lift with strut spacers in these trucks. You’re asking for major damage if you do.

UCA won’t fix the immediate problem. Can’t say more without your wheel and tire specs and better understanding of your current suspension. Give us a rundown of everything you have installed. Pics would be helpful.

 

Oh no spacer just the roughy
Country strut, spacer was old strut I took out, 285/70/17’s on newer four runner wheels, other than that stock, I’ll get some pics! Thanks

 

On old strut sorry

 

First off, with 33s (which you’re running), as I think is pretty clear in that thread I linked, you’re gonna rub. Typically pinch weld with good wheel backspace and alignment numbers. With bad backspace, you’ll rub suspension.

The offset/backspace on the newer T4R wheels, if I recall, is unfavorable. Like 5.5” backspace, which, depending on your actual lift numbers, will put your tire on the suspension. You need to aim for the backspace numbers in that thread. Or run spacers, if you’re aware of the problems/risks associated with wheel spacers.

Give us pics of the wheels you’re running.

 

Yeah those snowflake wheels are notoriously bad with their backspacing. Add wheel spacers, or choose another wheel.

 

Yea funny thing didn’t have a problem with the stock shock and spacer, shifty if I went with a 17x8 or 10 do u no the back spacing by chance, going to read up on what ya sent me this afternoon. Thanks

 

Read the thread, it should help. Wheel width doesn’t matter much. It’s the offset that matters. You can use the width number and the offset number to calculate the backspace. You want at most 4.75 backspace. Ideal for 33 is probably more like 4.5”. A 1” - 1.25” wheel spacer would get you sitting about right. But like I said, there’s certain shit you always do and never do with wheel spacers. Always torque them on, always torque the lug nuts when installing the wheels. Never use “ugga duggas”, never use impact tools to install wheels or spacers. Etc.

There are ample wheel offset/backspace calculators online. I typically use the one at Custom Offsets (it’s about the only worthwhile thing at that site)

 

Shifty, got some wheel spacers ordered, had another question, I’ve got some Skouch control arms, was going to use them but passed, now I think I’ll try them but the instructions are not that clear on washer placement and such that came with the kit, maybe some one will chime in, thanks!

 

I can't comment on install. Their product is cheap Chinesium garbage from what I know, and I don't want to give advice on its install. Essentially the same crap that's branded and rebranded with misc names on scAmazon.

Best bet is to contact the manufacturer for instructions. If they only reply in the wee hours of the morning (2am-5am) be wary, that's a red flag. I will say, you're a braver person than me. Knowing the disaster that can happen if that UCA fails, I don't know if I could trust my truck and my life on a $100 piece of shit from mainland China. There's a reason it costs $100, dude.

Do yourself and your truck a favor. Go get some JBA's.

 

That’s one reason I didn’t install them. Thanks

 

Shifty, I’m learning the hard way all junk, I don’t do any off roading will you give me a good idea on what I should use. Thanks

 

First off, I need to correct something I said prior. Those snowflake T4R wheels, I think I have them confused with the Tacoma TRD Offroad wheels that have +25 offset. It looks like they're actually 17x7 @ +15, which isn't horrible on the backspacing, if true.

Is the picture you show above (this one) taken while the truck is on flat ground?

Also, with (this one), is there a jack under the truck, or is that how it's sitting naturally? Because your truck looks like it's lifted about 4"-5" or more in that picture?

Can you confirm?

• Is there any other lift installed by a previous owner, like a bracket lift, anything?
• Who installed the Rough Country strut?
• What model number is the strut?
• Remind me, you DO NOT have a strut spacer installed with that Rough Country strut, right?
• Can you take a closer picture so we can see the top of the strut tower, i.e. the steel part of the frame where the 3 strut bolts go through?
• Can you take a picture of the suspension laying in front of the truck, which includes one complete lower control arm ("LCA"), and the crossmember the LCA it's bolted to?

Your truck should not be that high up. Granted, your tire shouldn't be that close to the UCA either way, at any height, but ... your truck looks over-lifted to me, to a point it's going to damage more than just the tire.

 

No other lifts, I installed the strut past weekend, no strut spacer, also did put on the skuch control arms. All mistakes, pics this afternoon, btw that pic was taken I believe with the truck jacked up. Thanks

 

Did the front brake delete kit huh?
Those wheels have less offset than you need, once you lift it up you suck the wheel towards the upper A-arm. A 1/4" or 1/2" wheel spacer would likely give you the clearance if you are in love with the wheels. Otherwise you can change the wheels to many different others that have more offset and push the face of the wheel, and tire further outboard away from the A-arm.

 

When the front end is jacked up, the tires are most likely going to touch the A-arm. Look again once you get the weight back on the front end. Mine on all of my vehicles touches the A-arm when the front end is up, but just clears when the weight is on the front end. As long as it clears with weight on the front end, send it.

 

I’m going to post some pics in a sec but I’ve got one strut clocked wrong.

 

You can clearly see the difference