Truxxx and upper ball joint failure

[toad]

I knew this would be a problem after some reading here and seeing the angle of the upper after the lift, but didnt expect it so soon. 07 sport trac with 120,000 km or so lift has been in for 1.5 years, and Ive lost both uppers with in a month, luckily both at slow speed, but kinda scary none the less.

Waiting on all front end parts right now and wanted to get others experiences.

-have you had a failure?
-if so how many miles or klicks
-How long should we trust the uppers to last?
- best or better brand of ball joint
- or just get the BTF uppers $$$

Anything else??


Cheers, Todd

 

[Ronin8002]

I'll be watching this one closely as I am planning on doing the truxxx lift to my 08 XLT in the future.

On my 2004 Eddie Bauer, I never saw a failure with 1.75/1.5 BTF spacers because I switched to BTF arms. I think that's really the best way to avoid the problem entirely.

I knew this would be a problem after some reading here and seeing the angle of the upper after the lift, but didnt expect it so soon. 07 sport trac with 120,000 km or so lift has been in for 1.5 years, and Ive lost both uppers with in a month, luckily both at slow speed, but kinda scary none the less.

Waiting on all front end parts right now and wanted to get others experiences.

-have you had a failure?
-if so how many miles or klicks
-How long should we trust the uppers to last?
- best or better brand of ball joint
- or just get the BTF uppers $$$

Anything else??


Cheers, Todd

 

[Sport Trac 08]

Btf uca

Todd,

I went with the UCAs from Brandon based on reading about others' experiences and before having a problem. If I had it to do over again, I'd add the grease fittings and longer bushings to them like stepj19 did, but before initial installation.

Eric

 

[toad]

Todd,

I went with the UCAs from Brandon based on reading about others' experiences and before having a problem. If I had it to do over again, I'd add the grease fittings and longer bushings to them like stepj19 did, but before initial installation.

Eric

Grease fiitings look like a good plan, I kinda got the idea he fixed the bushing thing but will ask when I email him.

Thanks, Todd

 

[Ronin8002]

Toad what % of your driving was offroad with the truxxx spacers installed? I'm trying to figure if i'll need the btf arms being that I'd only really offroad a few times a year...the rest would be regular road driving.

 

[toad]

Toad what % of your driving was offroad with the truxxx spacers installed? I'm trying to figure if i'll need the btf arms being that I'd only really offroad a few times a year...the rest would be regular road driving.

Not much these days unfortunately. I drive a lot of gravel roads , but none too rough. Mostly just regular driving conditions. Had the lift in for about 1.5 years before this happened .

Ive contacted Brandon and am going to go that way, its that or else Id change the uppers out yearly just as P.M. as really bad things could happen if it separated at speed. Once you put it in and see the angle of the upper, its obvious that its at its limits and wont last forever.

The first let go just as I pulled in my driveway and did no other damage. I replaced it and lie an idiot did not do the other side at the same time even though I had the part. It let go on a busy street, luckily at only 25 mph, but destroyed the whole front end, upper, lower, half shaft, brake line and tie rod. The wheel and spindle basically separated from the truck.....nasty. All this with my daughter in the truck has convinced me to either dump the lift or get the proper parts to be safe.

 

[Ronin8002]

Good to know. My original thinking was that I would just expect to replace the stock UCAs every couple of years or so since they seem to be fairly affordable at about 40 USD each. After hearing your experience though it sounds like that isn't ideal either.

I may look first into making a set of my own UCAs that can use an OEM type ball joint with an angled seat that puts the ball joints at a stock angle with the lift installed.

If that ends up being impractical I guess I'll get a set of the BTF arms and install them from the beginning along with the lift.

Not much these days unfortunately. I drive a lot of gravel roads , but none too rough. Mostly just regular driving conditions. Had the lift in for about 1.5 years before this happened .

Ive contacted Brandon and am going to go that way, its that or else Id change the uppers out yearly just as P.M. as really bad things could happen if it separated at speed. Once you put it in and see the angle of the upper, its obvious that its at its limits and wont last forever.

The first let go just as I pulled in my driveway and did no other damage. I replaced it and lie an idiot did not do the other side at the same time even though I had the part. It let go on a busy street, luckily at only 25 mph, but destroyed the whole front end, upper, lower, half shaft, brake line and tie rod. The wheel and spindle basically separated from the truck.....nasty. All this with my daughter in the truck has convinced me to either dump the lift or get the proper parts to be safe.

 

[cron9900]

I'm new to all this, sorry. I want to install a truxxx lift on my truck, but I didn't know it would cause troubles. What do I need to do to correct any problems before they show up?

 

[Ronin8002]

I'm new to all this, sorry. I want to install a truxxx lift on my truck, but I didn't know it would cause troubles. What do I need to do to correct any problems before they show up?

Call, text, or email Brandon Line at BTF Fabrication and tell him you want to order a set of uniball upper control arms for your truck. Let him know the year and that you are using truxxx spacers. Should be about $570 shipped.

Brandon's number: 909 702 7462
Email: jalopydriver88@yahoo.com

Here's a link to what the new upper control arms look like:

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=319957&highlight=uniball