Front Suspension Problem, Need Help

[SuedeStonn]

First off I'd like to say I'm not a mechanic and know very little about vehicles. About 10 months ago I got a white 2019 2-door Ranger 4WD, and immediately started upgrading: 16x8 Am. Rac. Baja wheels/ Dick Cepek 33" tires, Aries grille guard, Blackhorse bed sport bar, Ford Performance Power Pack tuner + K&N air filter, and an Icon Stage 2 lift kit w/ billet aluminum UCA's. I have a friend that is a mechanic and does side work, and did all installs except the FPP... the Icon suspension upgrade was flawless. Unfortunately 3 months ago someone decided to have a head on with me on my way to work and my Ranger became a total loss. *I suppose I was lucky in that I was about to have a Planet Audio deck, JBL amp and 8 speakers installed 3 days later starting on a Sunday, but instead...

I picked up another 2019 Ranger, this time a 4-door XLT. First I got 4 Am. Rac. Baja 16x8 wheels with Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac tires (285/75-16, 33"), then I purchased a suspension setup consisting of Fox 2.0 coilovers front/ shocks for the rear, with Icon tubular UCA's. (*As before I made sure to check that the knuckles were aluminum, no steel surprises.) This Ranger came with 2" leveling blocks, spheres on top of the coilovers, but they going in the trash... and this is where things go sideways. The Fox coilovers wouldn't fit correctly, they had what my mechanic friend called "play", they wouldn't sit correctly on the lower control arms. Try as he might they would shift on the LCA's and was forced to put the stock suspension back on. Our research could only point to some piece was missing, something we found in a BDS setup but couldn't know for sure. My next idea was get an Icon front coilover pair, same as I had on my first Ranger... except I in my infinite wisdom mistook one pair for another on a certain website, to which said pair were for a "T6" 2019 Ranger, but not the right ones. After immediately sending those back I decided on something different, Eibach coilovers. I wasn't surprised they installed just fine, but was hit with a new problem... the UCA's wouldn't install correctly. Once again, try as he might, my mechanic friend couldn't get them to install correctly. They would pinch and the washers get bent. Given a few more days my friend would get them installed, but the part of the UCA attached to the knuckle doesn't sit correctly... the driver side UCA has about a 1" space, while the passenger side has about a 1/2" space. (He wasn't exactly happy the UCA's were mislabeled to begin with, the labels being upside down now, the driver side label on the passenger side and vice versa for the other.)

And now for some good news... its drivable. Even without an alignment it tracks straight, which actually amazed the shit outta me. My friend is checking it out weekly, and so far no problems. I live in Susanville, CA, which is high desert, and the streets aren't much better, lol. As a final note, he did say that he suspects this Ranger may been in a minor fender bender, and a friend of his that works on vehicles also agreed. The "Carfax" report shows no accidents but this is too strange... something here ain't jiving. I don't see my friend doing a perfect job the first time then blowing the second, it should've been easier and faster the second time instead of a massive headache. (If I win the lottery he has my permission to C4 it to the moon.)

I'm going to take it to a body shop first chance I get, but I would really like to get some input from the community on what the problem/s could be. I loved my first Ranger and want to get this one up to speed, i.e. ARB Summit bumper, Coastal Offroad rear bumper w/ spare tire and gas can swing arms, Overland accessories, you know, the works.

Thank you in advance, and will post pics tomorrow (new and old truck),

Tom

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[Frenchy]

To start i wouldnt be suprised if the Icon UCA's are simply garbage due to it being ICON. Who truly knows what happened but there are a few on here that dont like it. Second the Fox struts probably were fine even though you friend thought different. Now as long as the current eibachs ar not set above 2.5 inches of lift then you should have no need for the UCA's. This is something I was able to confirm with the Old Man EMU lift.

 

[SuedeStonn]

To start i wouldnt be suprised if the Icon UCA's are simply garbage due to it being ICON. Who truly knows what happened but there are a few on here that dont like it. Second the Fox struts probably were fine even though you friend thought different. Now as long as the current eibachs ar not set above 2.5 inches of lift then you should have no need for the UCA's. This is something I was able to confirm with the Old Man EMU lift.

I quite liked the Icon's, though I will say that of late I've seen some negative comments on them. The Fox struts didn't have anything that appeared wrong with them, and we suspect their wasn't anything wrong with them, likely something to do with the truck frame or some other component... but the Eibach's still installed correctly first time, which is strange, the Fox's should have as well. I believe he set the Eibach's at about 2.5". (Its so nice to have stiffer suspension, the stock is too squishy! )

As you can see in the pictures the UCA's aren't seated fully, anyone have an idea of why that would happen?! And are their any other UCA's with greater adjustability, preferably billet aluminum, that I could buy to replace these and get a solid install?

Thank you,

Tom

Edit: the first picture of the UCA's is the passenger side, the second the driver side.

 

[Frenchy]

Do yourself a favor and remove those control arms. They will cause problems like that.

 

[P. A. Schilke]

I quite liked the Icon's, though I will say that of late I've seen some negative comments on them. The Fox struts didn't have anything that appeared wrong with them, and we suspect their wasn't anything wrong with them, likely something to do with the truck frame or some other component... but the Eibach's still installed correctly first time, which is strange, the Fox's should have as well. I believe he set the Eibach's at about 2.5". (Its so nice to have stiffer suspension, the stock is too squishy! )

As you can see in the pictures the UCA's aren't seated fully, anyone have an idea of why that would happen?! And are their any other UCA's with greater adjustability, preferably billet aluminum, that I could buy to replace these and get a solid install?

Thank you,

Tom

Edit: the first picture of the UCA's is the passenger side, the second the driver side.

Hi Tom,

Something is very wrong with the taper engagement on both sides. I am not familiar with the company, but it appears you have very poorly manufactured UCAs....Junk as it were! I am with Chris and junk those UCAs.... I have seen the pictures of the billet UCAs and they were VERY nice and likely Robust... I would resort to OEM UCAs, JMO.

Best,
Phil

 

[Aonarch]

My guess is the passenger has a uniball designed for the steel UCAs. The taper is different between the steel and aluminum knuckles.

I have no idea what you all are talking about with the coilovers having play.

Pictures would help.

Also you need to clock those two grounds away from the UCA and zip tie on the rubber protectors.

 

[Whiplash]

APG does Billet Upper control arms that are made with a taper to correctly match either steel or aluminum spindles...they are also made with on the truck adjustable Heim joint ends for fine tuning the geometry beyond what is in the design by itself .....

As to the quality of ICON shocks and coilovers I know people that use them ( and won) running them on their race trucks... the 2.5 CDCV extended travel, adjustable are top shelf.... right up there with King.....
.

APG also makes a Billet tie rod end with FK Bearing adjustable Heim joint for a greater range of motion without binding , for people (like me) running an extended travel setup...it like the UCA ,also is made with a choice of made for steel or aluminum spindle matching taper

 

[SuedeStonn]

Thank you for the replies, much appreciated. By "play" my friend was saying the coilovers weren't seating in the lower control arms, they were shifting. No, I don't plan on having the current UCA's on for long if they're the problem, but I haven't gotten a lot back in the way of what the problem might be... and buying new UCA's won't help if the same thing will happen as with the current UCA's. @P.A. Schilke AFAIK Icon is respectable, but who knows, I may have gotten some junk UCA's (duds), and if thats the case I'll be highly displeased with Icon.

APG UCA's sound good if they have a wide range of adjustability, may go with those if I don't find others with more adjustability, but I'd still like to know why the current Icons don't.

 

[P. A. Schilke]

I'd still like to know why the current Icons don't.

Hi Tom,

Me too!

best,
Phil

 

[P. A. Schilke]

My guess is the passenger has a uniball designed for the steel UCAs. The taper is different between the steel and aluminum knuckles.

Hi Alec,

I had that same thought too...

best,
Phil

 

[Aonarch]

Thank you for the replies, much appreciated. By "play" my friend was saying the coilovers weren't seating in the lower control arms, they were shifting. No, I don't plan on having the current UCA's on for long if they're the problem, but I haven't gotten a lot back in the way of what the problem might be... and buying new UCA's won't help if the same thing will happen as with the current UCA's. @P.A. Schilke AFAIK Icon is respectable, but who knows, I may have gotten some junk UCA's (duds), and if thats the case I'll be highly displeased with Icon.

APG UCA's sound good if they have a wide range of adjustability, may go with those if I don't find others with more adjustability, but I'd still like to know why the current Icons don't.

Are you sure that your friend knows what he is doing?

The lower control arm mount are two simple holes, where the studs on the bottom of the strut/ coil-over go. There is really nothing to "seat" like VW style.

Those two pictures are from a Volkswagen.

 

[SuedeStonn]

Are you sure that your friend knows what he is doing?

The lower control arm mount are two simple holes, where the studs on the bottom of the strut/ coil-over go. There is really nothing to "seat" like VW style.

Those two pictures are from a Volkswagen.

Yes, my friend is a mechanic and not only installed the Icon Stage 2 suspension upgrade on my previous 2019 Ranger with no problems whatsoever, he also installed the aFe Featherlight suspension on my 2016 Mustang V6 (among other upgrades). Yes, its just two holes that bolts go up through and into a cross pin at the bottom of the shock... should be simple but for whatever reason wasn't. :l

 

[Trigganometry]

It almost seems you have one of each flavor they offer for the Ranger. One is for steel knuckle and the other has a taper for the aluminum knuckles.

You sure he has them both on the proper sides? They’re not universal

 

[SuedeStonn]

It almost seems you have one of each flavor they offer for the Ranger. One is for steel knuckle and the other has a taper for the aluminum knuckles.

You sure he has them both on the proper sides? They’re not universal

I was wondering about that as well, not one of each but getting a pair for the steel and not aluminum knuckles... which again would not make me happy as I checked the knuckles before ordering the UCA's, ordering the ones for aluminum and not steel. I suppose I could have gotten one UCA for aluminum and one for steel, will have to inspect when I get them taken off.

Originally the UCA's were mislabeled when shipped, he swapped them and put the UCA's on the correct sides (passenger and driver). At first he said he was confused, something wasn't right, but figured it out quick enough that they got mislabeled.

Edit: on a good note, there are no problems with the rear Fox shocks. ?

 

[SuedeStonn]

Update: Received new SPC UCA's, will have them installed soon. I figure if they fit correctly then the Icon UCA's were the problem, if not... well, something's wrong and I'm back to square one. ? Something tells me the SPC's will fit correctly, more adjustability than the other aftermarket UCA's, which would be a relief. ??

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