The world's first adjustable upper ball joint kit for N60 generation IFS Hilux!
These will give you the ultimate adjustability in the front end of your IFS Hilux.
Have you lifted your vehicle?
Got crap on-road handling?
Struggling to get a decent wheel alignment?
Have you got big tyres?
Struggling for clearance at the rear of the wheel arches?
Then you are in the right place! Our upper and lower ball joint kits will solve all your front end alignment/geometry problems.
Our adjustable upper ball joints are designed to give a broad range of adjustment/correction to camber and caster on your front end and to top it off, they act as a 50mm ball joint spacer as well - so multiple birds - one stone, type scenario!
KEY BENEFITS:
- TOTAL ADJUSTABILITY FOR CAMBER
- SPACER ALLOWS PRESSURE TO BE TAKEN OFF THE TORSION BARS - GIVING A SOFTER RIDE AND GREATER ARTICULATION
- POSITIONS UCA IN A BETTER POSITION BETWEEN BUMP STOPS - GIVING GREATER RANGE OF UP & DOWN TRAVEL TO SUSPENSION
- GAIN IN VEHICLE RIDE HEIGHT
PLEASE NOTE:
1: FOR MAXIMUM WHEEL CLEARANCE & CASTER GAIN, YOU NEED THE CASTER CORRECTED LOWER BALL JOINTS AS WELL (As they do most of the work)
2: THESE WILL REQUIRE A -22 OFFSET RIM (OR WIDER) To give adequate clearance from edge of rim/tyre to the edge of the UCA.
3: There MAY be some CV bind-up at full droop if using longer length front shocks and depending how much diff drop you have.
4: THIS KIT WILL ONLY WORK WITH FACTORY UCAs and KNUCKLES. It will not work with aftermarket lift kit knuckles (like Snake Racing etc) PLEASE check with us before purchase if you are unsure of fitment.
How they work?
When you lift your 4WD, you are changing the geometry of your suspension/steering components. In doing so, this usually throws your caster and camber values way out. These two values can make or break how your vehicle feels/drives on the road.
The added struggle with the double wish-bone suspension configuration is that, when you adjust the lower arms with the eccentric cams you may fix one issue, but create another. For example, you may move them around and correct camber as best as possible, but then you will likely find the caster is then sub-optimal or visa versa. This is exactly where the upper ball joint adjustment comes into play.
These upper ball joints allow you to be able to set your lower arms up in a manner that gives you maximum caster and push the wheel as far forward as possible for wheel clearance (33+ inch tyres especially) And then you can correct/fine tune the camber with the upper ball joint.
How we set the up:
For example what we do, is set the rear LCA adjuster all the way OUT and the front one all the way IN. This essentially pushes the wheel to the forward-most position in the guard for max caster and wheel clearance.
You can then dial out the excessive camber you will now have, with the upper ball joint, by sliding it in or out on our billet bracket. Once in the ball park, you can then adjust your toe settings into the ball park.
With these now in the right range, you will be able to see how your caster is looking (you usually want them as close as possible, usually with a tiny bit more positive caster on the passenger side to counteract the camber in the roads) If you need to fine tune caster, you can do so, by rotating the ball joint about its axis. As it has 12 index positions that it can lock into.
Once this is done and as good as you can get it, double check and finalise camber as well as toe settings then tighten EVERYTHING down to required torque specs.
CASTER:
In lay-mans terms, not enough caster, your steering will feel very floaty and not self centre. Ideal caster values for your Hilux would be between +2 to +3 degrees. Looking at your suspension from side on, caster is the imaginary line through the centre of the upper ball joint and lower ball joint. Forward of the 0 degree vertical line - this is positive caster. And rear of the 0 degree vertical line - this is negative caster.
Commonly after lifting your vehicle, you will struggle to see any more than 0 degrees. This results in poor road holding ability and overall terrible, 'boaty' feel on the road.
CAMBER:
This is the angle at which your wheel sits when looking at the vehicle front to back.
When you lift your vehicle, this will result in your camber figures being sub-optimal. The usual case is your front wheels will gain positive camber, which is both terrible for handing and for tyre wear.
Wheel leaning in = Negative Camber, Wheel leaning out = Positive Camber
For your Hilux you are generally shooting for a 0 to -0.5 degree camber figure. Our upper ball joints will allow you to pull the wheels back in to spec.
FEATURES:
- Billet 7075 T6 aluminium with Milspec Hard Anodising
- Super strong & lightweight
- Uses a readily available N70 adjustable upper ball joint assembly
- Incorporates a 50mm spacer in the design
- Multiple levels of adjustability for both camber and caster
- Gives back your range of movement between up and down bump stop (when setup correctly with diff drop etc)
- Allows softening of torsion bars for better ride and more articulation
WHAT YOU GET?
- 2x Billet Upper Ball Joint Brackets
- 2x N70 Adjustable Upper Ball Joints & Associated Hardware
- 2x Billet Taper Adapters
- All required hardware for install
REQUIREMENTS/RECOMMENDATIONS:
- 2-4" Suspension lift
- Front diff drop
- New Poly LCA bushes (great upgrade to sharpen up front end handling)
- Will possibly require a tiny bit of cutting bending metal in the ball joint area on UCA to fit in position