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How to fix bracket lift and upper control arm problem?
I am installing new upper control arms and as you can see from the picture all is not fitting well.
Here is what the old arms looked like.
Here is the new arm installed. I used a jack to bring the spindle up till there is just contact with the control arm.
And here is how much suspension travel is left to go. I just can't leave it this way. I have considered using a BFH to cut away clearance material and weld a new lip on.
I replaced the picture with one that shows the contact better. I just checked that the lower arm and the axle are parallel to each other and it looks OK. I guess the camera angle makes it look off.
I don't know how you're going to cut it with a BFH. But other than that, that's about all you can do. By the looks of it. Why are they different? Not OEM? Or what? I mean you are saying the old ones didn't have the same issue...right?
Dude...he OBVIOUSLY has the knuckle jacked up to check for clearance. It should definitely NOT be parallel to the ground. And who said anything about a 100% factory setup? Which this is OBVIOUSLY not.
And you're as much wrong as you are right about that anyway.
Chaser,
I think I understand what your getting at is the arms are parallel to the ground with the weight of the truck on the suspension. Right now there are no tires or torsion bars installed.
MudHippy,
I was thinking about using the hammer to bend the lip for more clearance just to get the truck back together. Talked myself out of it because it's too 'hack' and looks like it would still hit anyways.
The old arm (I believe to be OEM) has its lip deformed and bent over as seen in the top picture. It's the only reason I checked the new MOOG arm for clearance in the first place.
You're right though, cutting and welding a new lip is the only way to fix it right. I know of a good fab guy in my area so it's doable but at least another $100.
I'd like to hear from other people with IFS 4" bracket lifts if there control arms have the same deformation. My guess is this is an issue with the design of the spindle bracket. I think any lifted IFS used off road would see this damage. A 'street wheeler' maybe not.
I'm not a fan oh bracket lift and never owned one, personally I feel their more for the mall crawler crowd and bend things if wheeled. Not that's out of the way.
Have you tried removing cv and steering linkage and assembling? Sometimes things like that give just enough to make things not line up. Another idea is during assemble don't torque parts to spec just get hardware started so there's a bit of play to completely assemble then torque everything to spec. Curious to see how this works out.
Dude...he OBVIOUSLY has the knuckle jacked up to check for clearance. It should definitely NOT be parallel to the ground. And who said anything about a 100% factory setup? Which this is OBVIOUSLY not.
And you're as much wrong as you are right about that anyway.
even having a lift you still want factory geometry. factory has them almost level with the ground. so thats what you want.
to op. i would heat up and bend the lip. after its cooled hit it with primer and paint. it will look almost factory. what i would do.
Not to leave a thread just hanging here's a quick update.
As a first try I used a hammer to bend the lip over to 45 degrees. A quick reassembly and test showed it still was not even close to having enough clearance.
Next I used a 4" grinder with a cut off wheel to cut off the lip. After many cut, reassemble, test, disassemble, cut some more cycles. I finally have full front suspension travel. Then weld a custom fitted lip back on and a quick paint job. The paint surface looks so bad because the original paint did not react well to brake cleaner.
Hoping not to offend someone too much but this just another example of the poor, half vast engineering of the aftermarket industry. This kind of stuff seems all too common.
You have a custom suspension. And you're wondering why it needs customized? Your knuckles are backwards compared to stock too BTW. It's a wonder the damn thing works at all..frankly.
I bought this truck with the lift already installed. Not knowing any better I thought if I did not like the lift it was a simple task to remove it.
I was sadly mistaken. It has been the biggest maintenance hassle of the whole truck front and rear. Anybody that taken an interest in a suspension lift I strongly discourage it. It is a very rare occurrence were the lift got me through a trail obstacle that a stock 4WD could not.
My big gripe is that these kits have sold for a very long time. If I could figure out that there is a problem than the manufacture did also but they still to this day sell them as is. It doesn't make me 'wonder' but does kind a piss me off.
01-30-2016, 12:31 PM
