raised UCA mounts axle side

[bugsnbikes]

background: ive been running adjustable uppers for a while now (37's-frankies 3.5"lift Landtank (longer) LCA's, and adj.uppers, and a raised panhard mount (vs. adjustable for flatter bar angle). Not a bad ride but i did notice a bit of body shimmy at 65-75mph over rough highway/grade changes and under highway speed choppy turning. I decided to take the uppers back to flat by raising the axle side uca mounts similar to the panhard mount that i had done a while back.

 

[bugsnbikes]

So far a few noticeable impressions vs just using the adjustable upper arms:

- smoother at high speed hyw grade changes/potholes or other road rash
- less rear shimmy and a bit more planted rear end that doesnt get as disturbed even at 80mph over same stuff at 60mph.

this is with an empty cargo area. The Frankies springs really are dialed in my rig with 200-400 more lbs in the cargo area ......and generally soaks up alot more of the shimmy/ higher speed road rash.....so it will be interesting to load it up and see how this setup compares to the adjustable upper arms alone (without raised UCA mounts).

Ideally the plan is to drive this a while and then make some changes to the lowers mounts at both the axle and frame mounts FRONT AND REAR.

heres the centering of the rear 37's

 

[bugsnbikes]

as far as clearance- the uptravel has a measured clearance for 7.5" uptravel before the upper arms make contact with the frame side(front upper arm mount) with a few inches to spare on the axle side mount and underbody contact. So no real issues with a higher mount.

 

[chap79]

Tech in the 80's section .

I like the out of the box thinking. I've been thinking about lengthening my LCA's recently as well to recenter the axle in the wheel well but I'm not running as much lift as you are. So pinion angle will be a little different.

Still curious how this will play out in the end. Get out and wheel it and report back!

 

[bugsnbikes]

Part of this was to open up the mounts on the axle side which should relieve a bit of binding. about 2mm more open.

 

[bugsnbikes]

heres a pic of the pieces of the puzzle on the panhard mount lift......yellow is a 2x2x1/4wall square tube....notched upper area. Lower (red circled bolt) uses the original panhard mounts captive nut to thread in and hold the new piece. The upper bolt holds the panhard approximately 2.25" higher (center to center) from the original/ lower bolt. The blue platform is what you leave when chopping out "most " of the original panhard mount.

Then bolt them in loosely........allowing the yellow to toggle back n forth as you center the rear axle. i used the inner wheel to frame distance. And once centered....weld the mount in, Mine was about 2.25" for the Frankies 3.5" lift springs and worked well for 37s and 38.5 xzl's. Lower control arms were Landtanks .25" longer arms (to center the axle on the wheelwell for that lift).

 

[bugsnbikes]

Adjustable panhard bars are bandaids that correct the axle center issue when lifts get over 3"-6". Whats not corrected is the more horizontal travel of the axle as the suspension cycles. The closer to the stocks flatter panhard angle......the more vertical the travel is......in its initial suspension stroke and the less side to side movement of the rear axle. (rear end side to side shimmy) which occurs as the rear axles horizonstl movement reaches the binding point in the LCA and UCA bushings. .theoretically it should extend bushing life. practically it takes out alot of the high speed rear end wiggle.

UCAs are the same principle and where its more noticeable is at the pinion where its angle is changing less dramtically and theres a tad less drivline noise

 

[GW Nugget]

This might be a silly question, but have you seen the Delta VS bolt on panhard bracket?

 

[thatcabledude]

This might be a silly question, but have you seen the Delta VS bolt on panhard bracket?

Looks like he raised his lower panhard mount before DeltaVS existed. On Mud anyway.

 

[bugsnbikes]

Yeah - my bad.....i did all this probably 2015ish. i think i posted up in 2017 when i realized no one else was doing it....i had figured everyone was sorta doin'something already since its fairly easy and costs about $5 and some elbow grease.