Extended travel CO's and Stock UCA?

An example of where the clearance issue lies. It is easy to do and does not compromise the lower control arm.

 

All the cases were guys run oem upc’s and l/t for a year or whatever without issue. Is your truck more of a mall wheeler? The suspension parts aren’t seeing any kind of extreme angles under normal driving. The issue is when your buried in the bush under hard flex and your ballj has enough haha. Or like the above picture- how many broken shocks have we seen at that exact spot- alot. I can assume the coilover companies put this ‘requirment’ On their upgrade because the idea of upgrading usually accompanies the idea of harder driving and wheeling.
In my humble opinion of course

 

How many of the aftermarket arms have won at the Baja 1000? Also, a L/T kit would run aftermarket uppers and lowers.

 

I just meant l/t coilovers out being lazy That truck does have custom suspension components such as the uca ball joint area is gusseted. Just saying

 

Haha okay, I think I knew what you meant. @2ndgenny

 

Anything will work properly with the correct measurements and calculations. I think that’s something we can all agree on..?

 

I don't live on dirt, no. My rabbit hole is I want a more stable ride on and off road. I will have a shell, decked drawers, frontrunner rack, and gear in the back of the truck so I need new leafs. New leafs = more height. I want the rear to match the front so I want adjustable CO's. If I'm paying the money for the CO's might as well get all the travel out of them that I can. Do I NEED these? No. Am I mobbing around 80mph? No. But I do want it.

 

I would get uppers if I was you too. I ordered spc’s for my ome lift. For the extra few bucks Why be limited. I like your theory

 

This particular truck runs almost no lift, and purposely so to say a stock Tundra did it. It runs one off Bilsteins, and same bypasses up front that are made to stay in the droop range of the stock arms. Note what’s missing from the suspension(the bump stops), and the chopping in the fenders. They gained their travel in up travel.

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I took some pics of a stock arm I have just for reference. This is max droop available from the oe ball joint.

 

I did not notice the lack of bumpstop in that photo, so thank you. And yes those are custom Bilstein shocks unavailable to consumers. Below is a photo of the 14.5" wheel travel stock full Land Cruiser 200 using more than stock travel Kings, at full droop with OEM Tundra arms. I'm all for people getting uppers if they want and especially if they want some more caster. That's why I run them, but the stock ones do clear aftermarket coilovers at droop and do not bind at the ball joint before most uniball arms. Look at the angle on this ball joint:

 

At the end of the day the c/o companies most likely say uca’s are required so their less liable if something breaks when we decide to jump our stock trucks with c/o’s. The vast majority of people buying aftermarket parts don’t know what we’re doing haha. Everything is always ass coverage in today’s world.

 

You educated me! I was ignorant to this before!

Those of us with oem replacement coil Overs and aftermarket ucas- are we able to remove the shaft spacer on our own?

 

I don’t know this truck, but can comment on a few things. Ball joint is maxed, see the limiting strap preventing it from breaking? Look at the work to the stock shock bucket, see the coilover poke up through it? Look at the work on the fender. It is another up travel set up, and might be older.

I’m done, I will not reply if you find more pics of stock uppers. Not in a mean way, but this doesn’t help anyone. The oe arm won’t work with the available extended travel coilovers, from my own experience. I would never believe an asshat like myself, but in this situation even the manufacturers agree.

 

https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/canguro-racings-monica.912145/

 

If you have the tools:
Strut compressor
Bench vise or 2
Spanner wrench
Snap ring pliers
Set of picks
3/4" socket or combo wrench
Shop rags
Parts cleaner
Shock oil
Nitrogen

It's not hard if you have the the right tools, without the right tools it's better to pay someone to do it.

 

Do you have a photo of those 14" shocks? I'd like to see your setup.

 

Still on topic, kind of. Those of us with trd PRO suspension, would we benefit from a aftermarket uca? What if we add a shim on top that adds another 1/2" of lift?

 

I suppose I’ve been convinced that even if not absolutely necessary, getting the aftermarket uppers will eliminate some risk and help me sleep better at night.

The question still stands though, how much more downtravel do the TRD pros have versus stock and how much added downtravel do kings, fox’s Etc. add if set at the same amount of lift that the TRD pros have?

 

The regular SR5 KYB's or whatever cycled 10" wheel travel metal to metal on mine. I measured travel at the wheel with coils and bumps removed.

A bolt in Bilstein 5100 cycled 11.1".

An extended length Fox will net another 1.25" of travel or so.

 

It will allow you to run more caster and have a more planted truck. It may also cause tire rub.

 

Thanks. I'll probably do them when its time to rebuild.

 

What coilovers do you have? Fox uses a larger OD top out washer on shocks without internal shaft spacers.

 

Kings here

 

Yes sir. They want you to have aftermarket control arms so you can get the most out of your coilovers and get as much travel as possible. If your aren’t going 60 mph through the trails and rock crawling around I don’t see where the aftermarket UCA is needed. I do mainly hunting trails things like that and I’ve never had an issue. I may raise mine up a bit more so I’ll need a little more adjustment for alignment so that’s my reason for getting some.

 

Mine bolted right up no modifications needed with my extended travel Fox with remote resi.

 

Very interesting and informative thread! I’m learning a lot about how these setups work!

Sorry for the dumb questions, but I’m trying to understand the geometry and suspension limits of our trucks. I was under the impression that coilovers achieve lift with their added length, whether adjustable or fixed. The added length has the effect of pushing the control arm assembly downwards, which then pushes the front of the truck upwards. By pushing the assembly downward, wouldn’t that mean that down travel is then being used up? If so, would it then mean that the longer the c/o, the more down travel is being used to achieve lift, until it reaches the point that no more down travel is available (maybe with 3.5” to 3.75” of lift)? Or am I misunderstanding how it works?

I understand the higher you go with these types of lifts, the more prone upper ball joints, CV axles and boots and tie rod ends are to premature wear and damage. I’m just asking from a purely geometric cycling standpoint to gain a better understanding of our suspension setup.

 

Coilovers achieve lift by using a longer spring with more preload. Most coilovers are adjustable from 0-3.5" of lift and are longer than an OEM strut but the lift does not come from being longer. By running a longer overall shock, ride quality can be maintained while lifted because overall wheel travel is usually increased. For the longest service life, keeping all the components such as CV joints, tie rod ends, and ball joints at factory height is best. But that's not what this thread is for. With 2-3" of lift and some more caster with an aftermarket UCA, you can have a truck that is well balanced for on and off road use that still drives great.