Front suspension issues - help me understand please...

[mikea57]

Hmmmm, lot of lookers but no bites. I'll simplify it some.

 

In late 2010 I did some research and decided to purchase a Rough Country 3 1/2" lift. Bought it, installed it, and everything was fine (installed in Jan. '11). Fast forward to this spring and all of the sudden I start hearing squeaking, creaking, and groaning when I turn or go over bumps and such. When I removed the tires and examined things underneath I found that the boots on the upper control arms were busted and grease of course just gushed out when I added it.

 

Rough Country immediately shipped out a brand new set of UCAs when I called to ask them about this. My SIL and I put them on this past Sunday and although it drove better it still squeaked real bad when turning the wheel one way or the other. We also noticed that the springs had been rubbing against the frame on the passenger side.

 

I took the truck for an alignment yesterday at an alignment shop and they called me into the work bay and showed me that there was a whole lot of slack in the upper control arms (1/4"+ !!). They also said the lower control arms were bad as well and that they wouldn't align it until the problems were fixed because it wouldn't hold. That's cool, I'm glad they were straight up with me. It's why I go there. On the way home I took it to another shop that my SIL does a bunch of business with (this is a tire shop) and asked him for a second opinion. He agreed that there is a good bit of slack in the UCAs, the LCAs are bad and he also mentioned that one of the inner tie rods needs replacing.

 

My question is this: What could cause a brand new set of UCAs to have this much slack in them? Everything is tight but the alignment tech moved the tire and I could see the slack they were talking about very well. I'm not trying to bad mouth RC, they were great to send out a new set of UCAs. I called them yesterday and they asked me to take pictures of the gap and of the slack (I'm gonna do a little video) and send it to them. So this is nothing against them; I just want to understand what the real problem could be.

 

-- Could the fact that the LCAs are bad play into the UCAs having slack in them?

 

-- Does the bad tie rod play a part in this?

 

-- There was no washer sent with the new UCAs, just a king nut and a cotter pin. The king nut is flanged out on the bottom and it looks like it is a nut/washer combined. Should I have put a washer on the king nut? There was one on there before.

 

-- UPDATE --

My son and I got the truck jacked up and I started looking at everything but we couldn't get it to move like the alignment guys did at all. We wrenched on the tire and it would move but not to the extent that I saw it doing at the shop. I even got a heavy pry bar and put it under the tire and lifted up trying to see something with that and I couldn't. I got some good video but it doesn't really show anything happening. I've got another friend that owns an auto repair shop and I'm going to try to take it over to him and see if we can tell me what the problem might be.

 

 

Thanks,

 

Mike

[blackout07]

I'm not sure if RC ever "fixed" the ball joint issue that required you to drill out your spindles to allow for fitment, but this could be the issue. If that wasn't done perfectly, the ball joints could have started to move around in the spindle causing slack. RC sucks...it's okay to say it.

[BlackZ71Silverado]

The kit you have is known for issues you are describing. Best option is to get a better kit & your $ back ron RC.

 

 

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[ruggedlife]

when you jacked it up to shoot your video did you jack it up from the lower control arm or from the frame... try from the lower control arm, i then take a pry bar and lift up on the bottom of the tire while pushing in on the top of the tire and you can see/feel the balljoints clunking. agreed that this kit is known for these problems.