Do I need UCA with lift?

[Mineral]

My apologies if I inadvertently started a controversy involving SPC UCAs. Good to know the ball joint failures aren't all that common and may not be that big of a deal to replace if they do fail.

@justdifferentials - You guys did a Tundra conversion front end w/ 34-35s on a LC200. (reference: Nitro Gear / Justdifferentials, Project 200 Series Land Cruiser) Can you comment on whether you were able to retain positive caster with that setup?

 

[Markuson]

My apologies if I inadvertently started a controversy involving SPC UCAs. Good to know the ball joint failures aren't all that common and may not be that big of a deal to replace if they do fail.

@justdifferentials - You guys did a Tundra conversion front end w/ 34-35s on a LC200. (reference: Nitro Gear / Justdifferentials, Project 200 Series Land Cruiser) Can you comment on whether you were able to retain positive caster with that setup?

No controversy. no worries!

Key info:
SPC updated the ball joint since that article was written. Any SPC unit you buy now will have an updated ball joint. They changed them a year ago or so...and offered them free to existing installations. If anyone has an SPCs that are a couple years old, contact SPC. Pretty sure they’ll provide the update. I learned this after Slee swapped it out last June after SPC sent them updated units.

 

[linuxgod]

@Markuson, thanks for the link to that article. I too agree on the need for aftermarket UCA's, but am not sure about his viewpoints on the SPC's. I know you run them, Christo recommends and sells them, as do a number of others. I'm not saying the TC's are bad, but I think the author's view on the SPC's may be based on a limited occurrence. Has anyone had any issues with their SPC UCA's?

Yes I'll second (or third or whatever) the need for UCAs. My Tough Dog lift is supposed to be mild (2" up front, 1" in the rear) but the shop had trouble getting the alignment back into spec (caster, specifically). I found the truck wandered on the highway a lot, and weighing it down when towing made it especially squirrelly. With aftermarket UCAs they were able to push caster positive all the way through the spec and then some - actually went with about 4 degrees, and the truck tracks better on the highway than it did when stock.

I bought the updated SPCs with the greaseable ball joint. I installed and while greasing the ball joint the first time I snapped the grease zerk off. Had to jam a tiny screw driver into the hole to back out the zerk. Biked to the auto parts store and picked up a couple replacements which worked fine. No issues since (so far).

 

[Climbingnut]

No controversy, just trying to see what people's experiences have been. I think brand competition is good. For me, living in Angola, SW Africa, I prefer to buy things once. I don't have the luxury of being able to drive 6-7 hrs to Slee's or order something from Amazon. I have to do my research, be confident in my purchase, and then pay a butt load of money to get whatever I want either in South Africa, where it's marked up significantly, or I purchase it in the USA, and ship it to SA, which costs a significant amount of money. So, even if I have to pay more, I prefer to buy once. Thanks for all your responses! It solidifies my decision to buy SPC's!

 

[Dan Higgins]

I must confess, it is convenient living less than an hour from Slee! I don't know what brand UCAs Slee used for my OME lifts (2700/2721 w/ OME Nitrocharger shocks) but I do remember that they set the caster to +4 degrees. It tracks great. I was a tiny bit concerned that my dealership would be confused by the different caster but I definitely got it as they saw I had a lift.