Do you need aftermarket UCA with a 2” lift on a 2nd gen

Gonna buy a 2” lift kit for my 2nd gen Tacoma and I want to know if there is any running issues with it if I don’t buy aftermarket control arms? Like any heavy vibrations or rubs anything off road? This is a 4wd TRD Sport with 6 lug obviously but just to clarify.

 

You should be fine, you will get lots of different opinions here. Lol

 

If you stick with only 2 inches over stock you'll be fine but if you bump it up to 2.5 or 3 inches you'll need control arms

 

I concur with the others. Don't need them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huMztKaHsUE

 

Agreed

 

Don’t need them. Even if you go to 3” lift.

don’t fall Into the trap that people say. I was running a 3” lift with stock uca and it was fine. Got great alignment numbers. The only benefit of getting a aftermarket uca is for the ball joint. Allowing you more down travel.

And if you get a high caster uca….you will push your wheel into the firewall/wheel well and rub. I have 31” tires and was fine with stock uca. Put the jba high caster uca and I’m rubbing on mudflaps. Can’t imagine if I had 33” tires

 

I have a 2” front lift and 33s still stock ucas no issues.

 

This is why I run SPCs.

 

That’s the best one.

there is a member on here, and in his signature he posted a link to explain why a lot of people are misinformed about uca. He says that when we lift our trucks, we need to correct our camber. Not our caster. But it’s all done by the lower control arm and people think that it’s the caster.
I don’t remember it exactly, im butchering it. If I find it, I’ll post it up.

spc is the best option. Hands down…but is it required? Im not convinced, unless your alignment can’t be done to the proper alignment spec.

 

Yep. Because you automatically gained 2*of positive caster which has to be accounted for when the alignment is done.

 

once you install high caster uca, the best caster specs you can get, is around 3.5-4 degrees. Factory calls for 1.3-2.7 or something like that.

 

No one has yet mentioned the ECGS bushing. OP you asked about vibrations. You could install the bushing preemptively or see how it goes and install later. Much easier to install at same time the lift goes on though.

I lifted 2” and needed the bushing.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/most-ucas-have-a-huge-design-flaw.750974/
I got you. It's in the top posts on the Suspension forum.

 

Hate say your wrong. I have jbas and run 4.5 both sides, and some of the guys with spc are running 5+. Your are correct with the factory #s but if you go above 2” of lift it’s difficult to get above 2* of caster with oe uca.

 

Plan on an aftermarket UCA if you like it to drive nice and not wander, as well as having more range of motion to make it to where the stock upper ball joint isnt the limiting factor in droop (bad).

Also plan on the ECGS bushing. I needed both on my truck to get alignment proper at get rid of cv vibes at a 1.75in lift.

 

I’d you want good alignment numbers and clearance, you absolutely need aftermarket adjustable UCAs with any lift.

if you’re one of the “good enough, in the green” dingdongs, your stock UCAs will be just fine.

Stock UCAs will get you nowhere near ~4* of caster, negative camber, and clearance between the cab mount and the tire.

 

In my experience you lose about 2* caster at 3" front lift. You want to correct this, but instead of correcting at the UCA you want to correct it at the LCA. When you correct it at the UCA it pushes the tire into the firewall and cab mount. So instead you max the LCA bolts giving you maximum caster and firewall clearance. This puts camber close to or slightly out of spec. With the SPCs you set the caster setting to G (stock) location and then use the SPC camber adjustment to fix camber. This gives you good caster/camber and maximum firewall clearance. Can easily clear 33s and make 35s manageable without any cab mount modification.

 

I'm running the Baja suspension with an extra 1' lift and stock UCAs with 265-75-16 tires and no issues...