Is there any reason people always use uniballs on long travel front ends? I mean most of the manufacturers make it so the load is vertically placed on them, which negates the strength of the radial load bearing. I plan on building my own long travel front and am just trying to figure a few things out. So far the plan is Al upper and lowers (being at a university gives me cad access) with evolution machining joints. I also plan on have theaded holes in the bottom so I can bolt a skid plate on there with countersunk screws. A little excessive...yes, but its fun to design it.

 

They are usually placed vertically to work woth the stock spindle. Kits that runa custom spindle will often position them horizontally, but that is more money.

If you make boxed lowers, you don't need to thread on skid plates. Check out camburg and Jd fabrication, they make some nice kits.