Alignment woes with a minor lift; Don't new UCAs help??

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50BMG

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I didn't want to hijack Mike's thread regarding the Eibach pro lift struts and spring setup with this question, but I'm pretty sure that's what I'm going to be doing as soon as they become available again. I'm also going to put on either Zone or Ready Lift UCAs while I'm at it...
I recently visited a local, very trusted frame and chassis shop and asked my favorite mechanic, who is also a Ram truck guy, about installing the Eibach setup and he tried to discourage me from doing it.
I explained to him that I planned on going with new UCAs to help account for the different geometry with the truck lifted and he said he thought it would still be difficult for him to get a good alignment.
I know the new UCAs help to provide for a better ball joint angle but aren't UCAs which are made to work with a lifted truck in a specific range of heights also slightly longer to account for the change of arm & wheel angle?
Since Mike's pictures look so good in terms of half shaft angles and everything else I wasn't too concerned about excessive wear with a 2.75 to 3.5 inch lift on the front end. but, my mechanic guy said that all of the parts in the front end including the wheel bearings will probably wear worse with the truck being lifted that way.
OK, tie rod ends, maybe sway bar links, and other items which aren't working at exactly the same angles as they were designed to with a lift I can see wearing a bit more. But Wheel bearings? Really? How could that be if I retain the stock wheels and only slightly larger than stock tire size?
Anyone?
Bueller?
 

RedSRT4Me

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I didn't want to hijack Mike's thread regarding the Eibach pro lift struts and spring setup with this question, but I'm pretty sure that's what I'm going to be doing as soon as they become available again. I'm also going to put on either Zone or Ready Lift UCAs while I'm at it...
I recently visited a local, very trusted frame and chassis shop and asked my favorite mechanic, who is also a Ram truck guy, about installing the Eibach setup and he tried to discourage me from doing it.
I explained to him that I planned on going with new UCAs to help account for the different geometry with the truck lifted and he said he thought it would still be difficult for him to get a good alignment.
I know the new UCAs help to provide for a better ball joint angle but aren't UCAs which are made to work with a lifted truck in a specific range of heights also slightly longer to account for the change of arm & wheel angle?
Since Mike's pictures look so good in terms of half shaft angles and everything else I wasn't too concerned about excessive wear with a 2.75 to 3.5 inch lift on the front end. but, my mechanic guy said that all of the parts in the front end including the wheel bearings will probably wear worse with the truck being lifted that way.
OK, tie rod ends, maybe sway bar links, and other items which aren't working at exactly the same angles as they were designed to with a lift I can see wearing a bit more. But Wheel bearings? Really? How could that be if I retain the stock wheels and only slightly larger than stock tire size?
Anyone?
Bueller?

Just to affirm what your mechanic is saying is true. All those parts will wear out but they are designed to. Every truck will be different in the amount of life they get on the vehicle.

So far on mine. I used stock UCA's for as long as I could and just recently upgraded to aftermarket. I've also replaced both front hubs myself. I'm sure tierod ends will be next. Probably tackle those when I do the brakes.

Truck was new in 2015. At 28k miles I lifted it and currently it has 80k miles. I've enjoyed every second of it.

Edit: Maxtrac 7" lift F 4.5" R

20190319_094110.jpg
 
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50BMG

50BMG

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Thanks for the reply Red. Looks good!
Yours looks to be lifted pretty high (6"?). You were using stock UCAs with that much lift?
Yea, I'm not expecting "zero" extra wear due to a 2.75" to 3.5" spring/strut induced lift.
Sure, stuff will probably wear "quicker" but every 30-40K going through tie rod ends, etc... would be a little too fast for me. I was surprised to hear him say wheel bearings would also wear faster. Sure with big monster-mudder-gumbo tires I can see how the bearings would be affected but with stock wheels and @ 1" taller tires?
I don't plan on changing wheels either and the tire size I'll run after the factory Good-crap tires wear out have already been used on the past 3 Ram's I've had (no lift on any of them) and I haven't had a problem on any of those rubbing or wearing stuff out too fast.
I'm basically looking to level the truck and get just a couple more inches to compensate for the side-steps this truck has.
I was going to remove the steps entirely when I first got the truck because I just step over them anyway, but my wife likes them now....
:emotions122: so I'm :****:
 

RedSRT4Me

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My passenger side hub got into a fight with a Subaru at 57k miles and obviously won. However the blow the wheel took shortened the life span of the hub. Since I replaced the passenger side I felt obligated to change the driver side while I was at it. Tierod ends are still factory but again since it's a wear item I'll change them when I do the brakes.
 

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