2007 2wd 3.5" RC UCAs/UCA pockets/alignment

[Bowtied]

Hi y'all!

So I got a 3.5" RC kit installed on the '07, love the look and have no issues running 33x12.5's on 20x10 with -19 offset.

However, when it comes to alignment, with stock struts and spacers installed within the kit, the toe is straight (it drives straight) but the caster has no room to be adjusted and is off meaning the wheel won't roll back like normal.

Also, the ride is pretty bouncy - I've gotten somewhat used to it over the last few weeks, but it handles bumps realllly bouncy and shoots angles when hitting them, also gets loose braking. Doesn't handle very plush and sits slightly more than level in the front end.

When I looked at the kit install, I noticed on both the passenger and driver side front - the new RC UCA's had a rear pocket cut for travel but not the front pocket (or towards the front of vehicle, or right side as seen in photo *passenger*) -
If I cut both of those droop stops with a grinder, will I potentially get some amount of suspension travel/squish back up front? Will the front suspension run into any issues by not having that metal cut off, considering two fo the 4 pockets have already been cut? - Thanks.

 

[Dustin Jackson]

Hi y'all!

So I got a 3.5" RC kit installed on the '07, love the look and have no issues running 33x12.5's on 20x10 with -19 offset.

However, when it comes to alignment, with stock struts and spacers installed within the kit, the toe is straight (it drives straight) but the caster has no room to be adjusted and is off meaning the wheel won't roll back like normal.

Also, the ride is pretty bouncy - I've gotten somewhat used to it over the last few weeks, but it handles bumps realllly bouncy and shoots angles when hitting them, also gets loose braking. Doesn't handle very plush and sits slightly more than level in the front end.

When I looked at the kit install, I noticed on both the passenger and driver side front - the new RC UCA's had a rear pocket cut for travel but not the front pocket (or towards the front of vehicle, or right side as seen in photo *passenger*) -
If I cut both of those droop stops with a grinder, will I potentially get some amount of suspension travel/squish back up front? Will the front suspension run into any issues by not having that metal cut off, considering two fo the 4 pockets have already been cut? - Thanks.

View attachment 254104

@Bowtied So you already have 2 out of 4 droop stops cut and you are wondering if cutting the other 2 will make it ride better? Is the new upper control arm making contact with the droop stop?

 

[Bowtied]

@Bowtied So you already have 2 out of 4 droop stops cut and you are wondering if cutting the other 2 will make it ride better? Is the new upper control arm making contact with the droop stop?

It sure does look like it is making contact with this photo here - I see no space and this on level ground.

 

[Dustin Jackson]

@Bowtied I thought that those control arms were supposed to be designed so that they don't contact the droop stop. This is interesting. If it was me I might cut them

 

[Bowtied]

@Bowtied I thought that those control arms were supposed to be designed so that they don't contact the droop stop. This is interesting. If it was me I might cut them

Yeah that's what I'm thinking - I know lots of lift kits where cutting these are normal procedure, and looking at it closely on both sides, I'm not really sure why the lift shop cutting only one side on both driver & passenger really does anything to alleviate the travel. My only concern as to cutting is what the suspension will sit like once I cut (or have those cut) off. I think it won't allow the suspension to change much given the strut & spacer itself is keeping the ride height, but we'll see.

So you run 5100s on your fronts? Do you have a spacer lift also or just adjusted? How do you like the ride quality compared to stock?

 

[Dustin Jackson]

Yeah that's what I'm thinking - I know lots of lift kits where cutting these are normal procedure, and looking at it closely on both sides, I'm not really sure why the lift shop cutting only one side on both driver & passenger really does anything to alleviate the travel. My only concern as to cutting is what the suspension will sit like once I cut (or have those cut) off. I think it won't allow the suspension to change much given the strut & spacer itself is keeping the ride height, but we'll see.

So you run 5100s on your fronts? Do you have a spacer lift also or just adjusted? How do you like the ride quality compared to stock?

@Bowtied I was taking a look at the install instructions for the 3.5 inch lift and it does include a little bit of cutting but it doesn't have the droop stops cut so I am not sure but I am curious because I am going to be lifting a couple inches and was looking as using the forged RC upper arms, I plan on only lifting 2.5 inches so hopefully I won't run into any droop funny business.

I am running 5100s on the front and back but I have them set to factory height, I am running Moog HD 81069 springs in the front also and I think they give a little lift but not much. The front is basically stock height. They ride much better than my old struts but I feel like there is a little bit of biding going on, when I go over speed bumps my front is very quick to rebound with a lot so I think I need a little more travel in the front arms to make it ride better. I am hoping that by installing a 2.5 spacer and RC upper control arms that gives the front more travel and then it should be better but I am overall happy with the 5100s.

my truck sits at 36 inches in the front and 38 inches in the rear. Thats from the ground to the fender, i am running 20 inch wheels with 30 inch tires i think. looking to level it to 39 inches front and back.

 

[Bowtied]

@Bowtied I was taking a look at the install instructions for the 3.5 inch lift and it does include a little bit of cutting but it doesn't have the droop stops cut so I am not sure but I am curious because I am going to be lifting a couple inches and was looking as using the forged RC upper arms, I plan on only lifting 2.5 inches so hopefully I won't run into any droop funny business.

I am running 5100s on the front and back but I have them set to factory height, I am running Moog HD 81069 springs in the front also and I think they give a little lift but not much. The front is basically stock height. They ride much better than my old struts but I feel like there is a little bit of biding going on, when I go over speed bumps my front is very quick to rebound with a lot so I think I need a little more travel in the front arms to make it ride better. I am hoping that by installing a 2.5 spacer and RC upper control arms that gives the front more travel and then it should be better but I am overall happy with the 5100s.

my truck sits at 36 inches in the front and 38 inches in the rear. Thats from the ground to the fender, i am running 20 inch wheels with 30 inch tires i think. looking to level it to 39 inches front and back.

Very cool - I've heard lots of good things about 5100's - i'm in a weird situation as I just bought this '07 2 months ago and the original owner had level spacers on these struts before I discarded them with these even larger spacers for the RC 3.5" lift. I haven't measured but the lift itself is "level" sans the front end does sit up slightly higher. I certainly have considered just running a smaller spacer by a 1/2" than the ones currently on the fronts (I can't find the actual size the Rough Country's are in the front) and I think as far as stance wise, it would be perfect for right now - I've looked at several options to correct this including also buying Bilsteins or even buying the RC 3.5" struts that come prelifted and don't need spacers (the reviews on the website look pretty good.) She drives nice and straight but she sure is bouncy, compared to newer trucks or other stock vehicles I've driven. Granted I know some of that is a lifted truck feel, but I really would like something not so stiff upfront that doesn't bounce me in the air when I hit bumps on the highways lol. Not to mention, turning at higher speeds seems a little sketchier than previous when the suspension feels stiff. The original fitment was 265/70/17's with a level...the tires stance looked really skinny, but the ride was more plush than current.
The RC control arms are much beefier than the OEMs, I like them a lot more running bigger tires - I just have no idea if this placement on top of the droop is "ok" or something that shouldn't happen. I'll probably drive up to the lift shop today and see what they say.
I think you'll really like the look of adding spacers up front - especially with adding RC UCAs. 2.5" sounds great and it is a significant difference from OEM for sure. To me, IMO, these look a lot better with some lift and stance.

 

[Dustin Jackson]

@Bowtied Those springs you have do not look like original factory ones, I wonder if they are contributing to your ride quality and the reason why the front sits higher than it should and those control arm angles

 

[Bowtied]

@Bowtied Those springs you have do not look like original factory ones, I wonder if they are contributing to your ride quality and the reason why the front sits higher than it should and those control arm angles

I went ahead and got the droop stops cut...I'll post a photo so anybody else that may run into this issue can see later - Def. experienced a much different travel response almost immediately after driving away! (it helped that the lift shop had major road construction and a makeshift gravel embankment/entrance to test it out afterwards.) I now have some dampening now and the ride is overall much less stiff and much softer on uneven terrain and bumps. So far I haven't felt like she's bottomed out yet, which I was concerned about. I won't know if this helps my ability to adjust caster until I can get an alignment. That being said, I still see Bilstein 5100's in my future to really dial the truck in, and possibly springs as well for the fronts: to me I agree it looks like those aren't factory springs and I can't figure out whether the lift shop put them in or the guy I bought her from. if it's not the springs, I'll probably get a slightly smaller set of RC spacers than the kit provides (3") and go to say a 2.5" -( I believe Supreme sells just different varieties of spacer kits/spacers for the 07-14s.)

Question about your rear setup - What differences did you notice after installing your rear 5100s? Did you run new rear springs also? I see you drive a z71, it already comes with a much better suspension/spring setup than the others... Just curious as to what your initial drive time was like with them on and if there was a break in period, etc.

 

[Dustin Jackson]

I went ahead and got the droop stops cut...I'll post a photo so anybody else that may run into this issue can see later - Def. experienced a much different travel response almost immediately after driving away! (it helped that the lift shop had major road construction and a makeshift gravel embankment/entrance to test it out afterwards.) I now have some dampening now and the ride is overall much less stiff and much softer on uneven terrain and bumps. So far I haven't felt like she's bottomed out yet, which I was concerned about. I won't know if this helps my ability to adjust caster until I can get an alignment. That being said, I still see Bilstein 5100's in my future to really dial the truck in, and possibly springs as well for the fronts: to me I agree it looks like those aren't factory springs and I can't figure out whether the lift shop put them in or the guy I bought her from. if it's not the springs, I'll probably get a slightly smaller set of RC spacers than the kit provides (3") and go to say a 2.5" -( I believe Supreme sells just different varieties of spacer kits/spacers for the 07-14s.)

Question about your rear setup - What differences did you notice after installing your rear 5100s? Did you run new rear springs also? I see you drive a z71, it already comes with a much better suspension/spring setup than the others... Just curious as to what your initial drive time was like with them on and if there was a break in period, etc.

@Bowtied When I got my Z71 I didn't realize it was lowered. I replaced the springs and shocks in the front and rear with the MOOG heavy duty/off road springs and used the 5100's for the shocks. It rides much better now than it did and it took like 1000 miles to break everything in. The rear end is perfect. My front end has worn balljoints and it doesn't ride well right now but the bilsteins made it a lot better. The lift and wheel spacers are ending my balljoints and im thinking of using the RC uppers. But no unfortunate I didn't have a stock Z71 suspension to start with.