FOX TRD Struts hitting upper control arm

Hey,
So Im I’m the process of putting TRD Fox’s on my 2017 TRD OR and I noticed that the upper control arm is contacting the coil a lot.

anyone else experience this?

Only option is after market control arms?

annoying to say the least.

 

Do you have spacer lift too?

 

Yes, Confed.

 

gonna have to remove them or get aftermarket UCA’s

 

Damm that’s a bummer. Was never told this could be an issue.

I love doing work twice.

 

If you are going to be wheeling, replacing the factory UCAs will be a benefit in the long term. The factory UCAs are a bit cheesy. A new aftermarket UCA will allow you to increase your caster angle which aids in tire clearance and steering tracking.

 

Yeah it just was not in the budget this time around. Was planning to do that down the road. But looks like I have to now.

 

Just take off your spacers for now

 

I would think interference could still be an issue at droop, no?

 

That’s weird. Even with spacers off, there is still a lot of coil left below where it is hitting now.

that said, I think the factory fox shocks on pros are an inch higher than SR5s and Off Road trims. So you might not need the spacers for the height you are looking for. Maybe the UCA will settle between the coils without them.

how thick is your spacer anyways?

I would have never thought they would interfere like that.

 

Is your coil is properly seated in the coil bucket up top? Same thing with the lower perch?

Do your UCA's hit on both sides?

 

Its a 1" internal spacer.

 

Yes, with the 2021 TRD Fox Pros they only give you one position to seat the spring.

 

Internal? As in between the spring and the tophat? Dont the cornfed spacers sit between the tophat and frame shock mount?

 

It’s a confed, see the pic above with it installed

 

It looks like you took the coilover assembly apart to put the spacer in?

the way the top of that coil is angling makes it look the tail of the coil is not seated into anything. Not an expert by any means, but the top of the coil looks “off”

 

Either way, I would bet the spacer is the problem. It’s the only thing that’s different from a stock Pro with the same suspension.

 

Yeah, that spacer looks too big.

It looks like the coil is bowed.

@Jynarik called it.

 

With this coil and spacer combo, there is no real upper seat for the coil b/c it looks like the bottom of the coli, not flat.

 

I don’t see it. It looked straight.

I guess others on this board haven’t had any issues with this size spacer on this set up.

 

I have a new set of ironman ucas Im selling. Let me know if interested.

 

How much lift is that spacer giving you? A cornfed installed on the tophat only needs like 1/2in to give you a 1 in lift at the wheel.

 

its supposed to provide just about 2" of lift

 

I’ll be honest, being since it’s the only difference from a Pro installation, that spacer is super suspect in your current problem.

Also, Im not sure I understood what you meant when you described if the spacer had a seat where the coil tail goes. I guess it should have a seat on top and bottom of spacer for the coil to sit straight.

If not, maybe look for a different brand of spacer, on one that mounts between shock tophat and frame shockmount

 

That coil does not look fulled seated in the picture. Check this video starting at around 2:35 about aligning the strut and when he gives a tip that he got from the guys at Cornfed around 3:30. Good luck! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_-Vpur6IEY

 

Right after I took that pick I moved the coil 1/4” and corrected the seat and still had the same issue.

 

@BattleWagon Do you want to keep the amount of lift you currently have? Right now, you basically have 3in of lift compared to a stock 4runner (1 inch from the fox shocks, plus 2in from spacer)

Did you get it aligned after the fox install? If you didnt, you absolutely need to do that. Alignment just by itself could possibly be leading to the contact with the UCA. However, you will not be able to get it within spec for caster though. At 3inches you really should have aftermarket UCA just to get decent caster angles on your alignment. New UCAs may also clear up your interference.

You’re not clarifying or giving us enough details though. I still dont understand your description of how the top of the spring seats into the coil, and how the spacer seats into the tophat. Is the spacer flat on both sides? Is the top of the coil cut flat? Or does the coil just end, requiring a notch in the seat (like the pic bionicrandy of the lower spring/seat)? That’s important info to know, because your pic has a spring that looks visibly bowed on top. That suggests it’s not seated properly.

 

If it is not installed correctly (it isn’t), aftermarket UCAs and an alignment aren’t going to fix it. That may end the spring contacting the UCA, but there is something else going on there and it will create issues at some point if left like that. Best/safest option: Tear it down, watch some videos and call Cornfed then reassemble it again right.