When are control arms needed?

[Eldermarshy]

When are control arms needed when lifting your Ranger? I’ve seen post on here saying anything more than 2 inches as well as anything more than 2.5 inches and lastly anything more than 3 inches? So what gives? When are upper control arms needed when lifting your truck?

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[daniel3507]

I would say they are helpful at any of those lifts but probably required at 3". You could get away without them even with 3" but your ball joints will not like it and the geometry will be off. Your alignment will also be a struggle. I did UCA with a 2" Fox level and they made getting the alignment in range way easier.

 

[Eldermarshy]

I would say they are helpful at any of those lifts but probably required at 3". You could get away without them even with 3" but your ball joints will not like it and the geometry will be off. Your alignment will also be a struggle. I did UCA with a 2" Fox level and they made getting the alignment in range way easier.

Im going with the Bilstien 6112s and 5160s in the back. I believe the max height is 2.5 inches in the front. I’d like to wait to get control arms so I can save up and get Icons. But if it’s better to do both at the same time I would wait and save more to do it all at once.

 

[Miles Mac]

Installed eibach suspension, with 2-1/2" lift, the stock control arms wouldn't give me enough camber. Installed the rough country control arms, but they require a minimum 3-1/2" lift to keep ball joint angles correct, so cranked them up and added 1" spacer in the rear.
So in my experience anything over 2" needs upper control arms.

https://www.roughcountry.com/product/configurable/ford-upper-control-arms-50008c

 

[Eldermarshy]

Installed eibach suspension, with 2-1/2" lift, the stock control arms wouldn't give me enough camber. Installed the rough country control arms, but they require a minimum 3-1/2" lift to keep ball joint angles correct, so cranked them up and added 1" spacer in the rear.
So in my experience anything over 2" needs upper control arms.

https://www.roughcountry.com/product/configurable/ford-upper-control-arms-50008c

I haven’t heard anything about RC control arms. I’ve heard the lifts aren’t very good. Are the control arms worth it? Any better handling?

 

[daniel3507]

I haven’t heard anything about RC control arms. I’ve heard the lifts aren’t very good. Are the control arms worth it? Any better handling?

The fact that @Miles Mac had issues combined with the reputation of RC would be enough to make me steer clear. I have the Icon tubular UCA and haven't had any issues.

 

[Fawnbuster]

Level lift puts strain on ball joints etc. I installed BDS UCAs when I level lifted mine, they design it plug and play that while lifted they return the ball joints back into there oem positions, relieves strain and less wear an tear.

 

[Miles Mac]

The fact that @Miles Mac had issues combined with the reputation of RC would be enough to make me steer clear. I have the Icon tubular UCA and haven't had any issues.

I never said I had issues?? Where did that come from?
The upper control arms worked flawlessly and still are after multiple offroad events. RC said the arms are designed to work with a minimum 3-1/2" lift, which I verified by cycling the suspension, so I cranked up the coilovers to 3-1/2 and added the rear spacer, no issue.

 

[Miles Mac]

I haven’t heard anything about RC control arms. I’ve heard the lifts aren’t very good. Are the control arms worth it? Any better handling?

Love them, they're greaseable and work great, camber is under control.

 

[daniel3507]

I never said I had issues?? Where did that come from?
The upper control arms worked flawlessly and still are after multiple offroad events. RC said the arms are designed to work with a minimum 3-1/2" lift, which I verified by cycling the suspension, so I cranked up the coilovers to 3-1/2 and added the rear spacer, no issue.

Sorry. Bad choice of words on my part. I was talking about the requirement to have a 3-1/2" lift to get them to work which seemed odd to me. If @Eldermarshy is going to use Bilstein 6112 though the RC arms are out as they max out at a 2-1/2" lift.

 

[SVTPaul]

I'll offer my experience...had my dealer install the Eibach kit set at 3" up front (and 1" blocks in the rear) before I took delivery of my '21. They said there was no issue getting the alignment in spec and judging on how even my tire wear has been over 3 years I have no reason to doubt them.

 

[RK Racing]

I’d say anything over 1.5” and your upper control arms will be thanking you for doing the right thing.

 

[RangerPNW]

So I ran my Fox 2.0's for about 8 months or so on the standard control arms, had zero issues getting them aligned and never noticed any issues with binding. That being said, I did snag a set of Icon arms and had those installed just to be safe. I would highly recommend them, they're built well, greasable (I do it with my oil changes ~5k).

Don't get Rough Country... you get what you pay for, and you're paying for junk... I've talked to some techs at 4wheelparts, and they pretty much verified RC stuff is garbage.

 

[Beach]

When are control arms needed when lifting your Ranger? I’ve seen post on here saying anything more than 2 inches as well as anything more than 2.5 inches and lastly anything more than 3 inches? So what gives? When are upper control arms needed when lifting your truck?

I went to Eibach pro truck kit, 2 1/2” front level only and no new UCA’s needed. If you guy higher then alignment is often an issue but mine worked great using existing coils

 

[MountainGoat]

I have the Bilsteins set at 2.5" and was able to get aligned perfect. Ford claimed it couldn't be done then an independent shop did it fine but that's another story. It looks like that is the limit as far as stock adjustments.

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