Upper control arms have upward angle?

Hey all, I’m in college and am unable to work on my truck myself, so I had a shop install a rancho easy lift 1.75”ish strut and coil. I had previously a little larger lift with SPC upper control arms. The shop told me I should stick with these, even though my truck doesn’t have much lift anymore. They have a 3 year warranty so I figured I wouldn’t worry about it, if it became a problem I would take it in again.

I didn’t worry at first, the ride was rough but they were new coils so I wanted to let them settle. After some time though, even running them on a soft setting, the ride is still pretty rough and I am worried the control arm angles may be to blame… is it bad that they don’t have a slight downward angle? Thanks!

 

Take a measurement from the center line of your wheel/hub straight up to the bottom fender. Curious what your lift height is.

 

I wonder if they torqued your control arm bolts before setting the vehicle weight on them? That could be easily remedied if you wanted to make sure.

 

Looks fine to me. At full flex the uca will get pretty damn close to the fenderwell, so you have plenty to go. You're probably about stock height.

 

Spindle doesn't look stock

 

This was my first thought. His description says he's in a first gen, don't the ball joints press into the spindle and bolt upward into the control arm on a first gen?

 

missed the 1st gen part.

Rough ride is not likely due to the control arms. Only thing you changed were the shocks right? Must be the shocks then...

 

no Im agreeing with you. I don't think these are stock spindles. His photos look like the ball joint is in the upper arm with the castle nut at the bottom, whereas normal first gen spindles have the ball joint pressed into them pointing upward with the castle nut at the top like this:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/removing-upper-ball-joint.301174/

 

Stock spindles with SPC UCA's.

 

So the SPC's flip the ball joint and bolt through the spindle for a 1st gen? Through the big spot where the ball joint is supposed to be pressed into the spindle? Seems weird but possible I suppose

 

This helps explain it all:
https://youtu.be/7zM7n3IwBiA

 

Yep. SPC's invert the castle nut. They use a slug that presses into the top of the stock spindle to do that.

 

Ahh I get it. Makes sense now

 

22” in the back and around 21” in the front. What are the stock measurements?

 

You’re right around stock measurements with a fraction of an inch sag in the rear

 

Weird… I have 265/75r16s and I definitely have way more space above the tire than stock…

 

Looks 100% normal for a 1st gen. Have lifted a bunch of them. This one below has more lift so not as pronounced. 1st gen uca sits higher at ride height compared to a 2nd or 3rd gen.

 

No experience with rancho but that lower bushing looks kinda fucked.

 

X2