CLOSED 5/31/20 GROUP BUY Dirt King LCA's Ball Joint Type GROUP BUY ENDS 5/31/20 CLOSED

Understood, @12TRDTacoma. I guess I’m just wondering if these LCAs are a good choice for a daily driver. They’re reinforced for offroad beating, sure. Question is, are they reinforced in a way that gives them better long-term/high mileage on road performance over OEM parts?

 

Hell yeah they are.

My truck is my daily driver and as long as Ball or Delta Joints are retained on any control arm setup you will have no issues moving down the road for a very long time.

I run Delta Joint uppers and uniball lowers and the only thing I suffer from is squeaking under suspension movement. It's a small price to pay for running a dual shock setup on my Dirt Kings.

I have owned these arms for almost 5 years and the only issues I've ever had with them is the inherent accelerated maintenance that you should come to expect of uniballs. It is what it is and I would really like to run a strengthened or quieted joint on the lower arm one day, but I am sort of limited due to designs of my setup and the new DK control arms would require work all over again to make them accept dual shocks.

For your truck, ball joints on all uppers and lowers and reinforced where it really counts. It's a no brainer and just a win all around to get these arms.

 

So, to be clear, you’re saying the Moog ball joints in these arms will last longer than OEM ball joints in OEM arms. Is that correct?

If so, how does the BJ replacement process differ between these arms and OEM arms? Probably a very noobish question, but I am a noob.

 

Moog joints and OE joints longevity are relative to luck of the draw sort of results. The quality of OEM grade parts are not what they used to be, also the geometry of OE control arms places stress on the ball joints in a way that is not desirable. Some people have even popped the ball joint out of its socket in the past on 2nd gens, though a rare occurrence.. nonetheless it's an issue that has been rectified in the Dirt King OE length control arm designs after multiple conversations I have had with Dustin @ Dirt King. This places the ball joints themselves at a much lower risk of damage or physical pop out from their respective locations leaving you driving happier, without issues.

The process is likely going to be the same. Both joints require a large C clamp press or standing hydro press in order to do so.

 

Thanks for the explanation, @12TRDTacoma. I’m doing my best to muddle through this lift/suspension upgrade process quickly, but there’s a whole lot to learn.

Where are the grease fittings located, and what type of grease is recommended? I assume the bushings can be greased, which will help with smooth and quiet movement. How about the ball joints? Will keeping them lubed help them last longer?

Sorry to interrupt y’alls offroad party with mundane questions.

 

Joints are sealed with exception to the fitting. You grease very infrequently

The grease fittings question is not answerable accurately as they get located in different locations based on the arm style and design by the manufacturer. Dirt King has them usually by where the bushings themselves are and then obviously at the joint themselves.

I personally use multi purpose black moly grease. It's really not a huge deal though some state that polyurethane bushings that are used on most upper control arms should use whiteline grease exclusively. I say its baloney, some don't. Your results may vary.

 

Oh yeah k k. I can refer somebody to take that 41st spot. These fit on an H1 with King’s?

 

@12TRDTacoma, so my takeaway is:

You can grease the bushings and the ball joints on the DK LCAs via zerk fittings. Just don’t do it often.
Grease won’t help the bushings or ball joints last any longer.
Don’t use NGLI #2 grease (like Lucas Red n Tacky) on any of these parts.

Am I correct?

 

Yes.

 

What's the reason to avoid Lucas Red N' Tacky? Just on Poly bushings?

 

I don't know enough about it to say that it is safe for use on bushings, let alone poly bushings.

I have always used and have had good luck with general purpose Moly grease. You know, the high temp disc brake bearing grease.

I believe the brand I have always used with great success is Sta-lube.

I stick with tried and true winners so I don't make poor recommendations to others on what items to use during their assembly of parts or assemblies, etc.

 

Agreed, can't go wrong with something that been in use for over 153 years. I been using this for decades.

 

Well crap.. I used Red N Tacky as that is what is in my grease gun already and what I've been using on my UCA bushings for the past couple of years.

 

Uhm, excuse me...Sir. I’m going to need to jump on this group buy. I’m new and not sure how to send a PM.

 

I’ve been using Lucas Red N’ Tacky on my Icon UCA bushings and u-joints

 

Click on his name. His bio will come up. Then click on "start a conversation " and it will open up an email type messaging system. After you type the message, then click send.

 

So guys who are running any kind of AM LCA’s... what UCA’s do you have? Have you had any issues with camber/caster with alignments? Will the Dirt king UCA’s +LCA’s not require much alignment adjusting? How many of ya’ll welded the gussets on your spindles? The knuckles of the spindle busted on my 3rd gen 4runner with TC UCA’s. I’ve got a 2020 Tacoma and obviously want to avoid any stupid damage I can.

 

No problems with alignment, I welded everything up.

 

That looks great. I had issues with alignment with the 4runner, that’s why I’m asking. I’m pretty sure it was the stock LCA and TC UCA combo that made it nearly impossible to get the alignment right. I absolutely hated my Total Chaos uppers btw. Way too much maintenance and noise.

Did you weld the gussets for the spindle while the spindle was installed or did you remove it, paint and then reinstall?

 

Did my spindles last year, removed them, sent them off to @glorifiedwelder, he has done a ton of them and I wanted it done right. Welds are a work of art.