Has anyone seen these spindle spacers?
 

Any thoughts?


http://www.accuratesuspensioncompone...9-7c38b9e873dc

Looks like a good concept. But, I wouldn't trust my truck on those.

first time seeing these. wouldn't trust it IMO.

Yeah I'm curious myself about them. I'm no engineer. I'm wondering what kind of forces are being applied to them. I'm thinking it's not lateral forces since the upper and lower arms are maintaining them.

Considering the upper ball joint is a non load carrying suspension component, I can see where those would work quite well for those that use adjustable front struts for lift, eliminates the need for a uniball upper control arm.

The only downside I see is the price, by the time you add up the cost of the lift/leveling struts, along with those your getting close to what a real lift kit costs.

Suspension/alignment has been one of my specialties for 30+ years now so I speak with confidence saying I would probably use them along with the adjustable struts for a level if cash was tight.
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i get the concept... but my question here is, how do we attach it to the existing ball joint? I see the wrench bolster and the stud out the bottom that goes through and attaches to the spindle. I just don't see how one gets that spacer tight to the ball joint. I'm guessing it's spun on with loctite??

I'm in the category of having already purchased Auto Spring spacers and being happy with the height, ride, etc. I'm just looking to correct the suspension angles. I'm not looking for new upper arms with Uniballs and the cost associated with them. Plus, they're 50% off right now. For a $100, if they extend the life of my ball joints and give better articulation I'm pretty happy.

I figure many folks are in the same position with either a spacer or some Bilsteins, etc. I'm going to give them a try. I'll report back.

I have not seen anything like that before but it sure looks promising. I may have to try a set too. Hey back2gas, where are they 50% off for $100 at? That price is easier to justify than the $200 price tag.

There's a promo code: accurate50
Use it at check out.

The ICON UCAs have a similar design.

Attachment 412760

Wayne

Bought!

Me too! Says self install is doable so we'll see how that goes.

I may be wrong. But according to the website, it looks like they are only available for the 2004-2008 year models. Has the fit been verified?

Interesting for something so simple. Another way to help the UCA angle for when you're running a leveling kit. Much cheaper than uniball UCA's and perfect for those who don't want to run a uniball UCA. If only there was an efficient/cost effective way to correct LCA, tie rod, and CV angle's. Obviously a full lift could does this, but not everyone wants to go that high or run a tire large enough to look right with said lift. I don't think anything has changed as far as UCA or steering knuckles from 04-08 and 09-14 f150's. Only the LCA and struts are different I thought?

Interested in those as well. Please share your results.

Through some research, it appears that the UCA's are the same from 2004-2015. Not sure why their website shows a break in the years. It kind of threw me off when it said 2009-2014 "coming soon". I sent an email to Accurate. Awaiting a response. According to their Facebook page, the 50% off expires tomorrow.

Here is the email response to my inquiry about the fit.
"Thanks for the inquiry! We believe so, but we haven't actually installed them on a newer truck to say for sure. We just sold a set to a guy last night with a '13. We do offer a money back guarantee(need to add that to our website), so if you try them and they don't fit/work, send them back for a full refund!"
Since my research points to the UCA's being the same, I am confident they will fit.
I am about ready to drop the hammer on these, as well.

I also inquired about them being reusable in the event of UCA/Ball Joint replacement. The answer is "yes", yet they can sometimes be stubborn to remove.
Ordered placed. $99.99 + $10 shipping :)

If you use red or blue loctite to install them you will need a High heat torch to melt and burn the loctite away before removal.

The question has been stated however, how do you keep the ball joint from rotating while you are threading this tapered socket onto the ball joint. I believe stock nut is torqued between 70-80 ft lbs.

They told me there was no need to shorten the stem to install them. I was curious due to the hex portion extending below the nut. Not sure if the 2004-2008's had this. The "pocket" must be deeper than it appears in the pictures. I guess I will be finding out in about a week.

blue locktite can be broken free by hand with a ratchet no prob.
Red loctite will require heat to remove

This exactly^
.

Sad thing is that I have actually thought of this very idea but not being a suspension engineer and knowing how this would affect things I never designed them. If this works as well as I think it will in my head I sure will be kicking myself if there as good as I expect them to be.

Wayne

Oh and this says 04-14

Attachment 412827

Wayne

Cant wait to hear results on these. Smart idea and way cheaper than UCA's! Subd.

The problem with that thought is that you're stuck with OEM UCAs... which are essentially junk. Buy the best and cry once. Get the Icon UCAs and be done with it. They won't twist and shout if you do anything "fun" with your truck (off road).

Most serious off-roaders have aftermarket coils and UCAs.

This would be for the large percentage of the spacer leveled trucks that don't "off-road".

Wayne

Pretty much my scenario. Not many places that require "off-roading" here in Houston lol.

These look interesting. Ever since I added my front spacers I've been thinking "why doesn't someone make something to space up the control arm?" I can see how these would give me back some suspension travel. Right now my UCA hits my coil sometimes.

Help me on this one though. They claim it reduces wear on the CV joint. I can't see how. I'm not a mechanic, but the front transfer case is raised up and the wheel hub isn't. How will these affect that?

It's impossible for them to reduce wear of the CV shafts. The angle stays the same with or without this. This only brings the UCA to more stock angles.

Wayne

So we know the CV angle is already bad enough, but I suppose it gets worse as the down travel increases? Does anyone think this could actually hurt the CV due to allowing more down travel? Right now my UCA stops on my coil, but this would allow the wheel to fall lower and increase the CV angle even more.

If your UCAs are hitting the coil anytime other than when being lifted by a jack then your pushing your suspension past its limits anyways.

But yes with that being said if the CV shaft bents past its acceptable point before the factory coil limits travel then damage could be done. Damage could also happen buy over extending the coil.

But most don't get extended that far unless your doing high speed runs or major off-roading which I wouldn't want a factory UCA or coil anyways.

And last but not least you don't want the coilover to be the limiting factor, limit straps should be used.

Wayne

There is a dip/bump in our road. When I hit it at 50+ the suspension drops and I hear the clunk of the UCA on the coil. That is the only time I ever notice it, but it has me thinking. These spacers might stop that. Farm fields is the extent of my offroading.

You and me both bud, except I have the engineering Degree, just was to lazy to sit down and caluculate and design. LOL. I will most likely DO Icons when I go with my COil overs anyway.

Installed: Time 40 minutes
To do: Get a friggen alignment (it's terrible). Camber is toast at a minimum.

I don't see worries of over extension of the CV's currently. Will update after alignment.


https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.f15...8c618e6606.jpg

Before on ground


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.f15...15808aa70d.jpg

Before on jacks


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.f15...b596545b1b.jpg

After on jacks


https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.f15...c0eeba293b.jpg

After on ground

Did the control arm spacer mess up the alignment? Install looks great, keep us updated on how it performs. How are the Boss Coilovers working for you?

BOSS is by far the bang for your buck. If you hate your bank account I would go for ICON, but the BOSS has done great on severe off road and crawling conditions.

It does appear the spacer pushed the spindle out on top resulting in positive camber. We shall see when I get it aligned (hopefully tomorrow). This is speculation but the steering has tons of play and feels sloppy.

Forgot about the fact it would change the alignment. It causes positive camber since the uca is essentially longer(not physically of course) or out farther now since it's more level. I would think the aftermarket uca's would do the same thing as well though. Regardless any changes made to the suspension should require an alignment anyways.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.f15...b4d3838b94.jpg

Positive camber, like a boss.

Positive camber makes sense in this scenario since the movement of the UCA is on an arch and you've moved its static position more towards horizontal thus pushing the top of the spindle outward away from vertical.

This is an interesting product...looks funny as hell installed though.

subd, like others have said, id be concerned that by not have the uca hit my coil, my cv might reach angles they have never reached before! Looking forward to updates!

Does the LCA have enough adjust to allow for Neutral Camber w/ these adapters?

So, back from my alignment.

The LCA at the maximum point allows enough play for them to zero out toe and caster, but camber is 0.5 degrees off from being in the "green" zone as specified by Ford.

Driving it I don't notice any difference after alignment. However my wheel is pulling slightly left, so it will be back in tomorrow (hopefully) to fix that nuisance.

I will try to find a spot to "flex" my front end to show the CV angle for you, but I highly doubt it is an issue as it was fine when the truck was jacked up.

My concern with this is that its not going to put the UCA and LCA's at a a different angle in comparison to each other. If the stock UCA and LCA were parallel to begin with, and you suddenly raise the UCA a couple of inches while leaving the LCA the same you now have them at different angles. This will make it so that the tires do not stay at the correct camber and other geometries as they go through their travel.

So far the vehicle drives fine minus the slightly misaligned steering wheel. The camber is only slightly off based on Fords specs but the geometry feels good through out the range of travel.

Any updates on these? Anyone else get theres in and installed?

I'm waiting on updates from other members as well. I had bought these myself, but waiting for more testimonies before I install them.

Interesting! Subbed!

Apples to oranges but my buddy had an older lift in his 10th Gen that had ball joint spacers very much like these to retain the factory knuckle which made it a cheaper lift... It created a longer lever on a factory (not beefed up) knuckle and he bent 2 knuckles close to where these bolt on and had other problems before getting rid of the lift and going solid axle on the rig... Like I said apples to oranges but the physics of it makes sense creating more leverage on factory parts that weren't engineered for the stress of the added length (leverage)...

I'm a fan of over building and beefing things up, (look at my last truck) One joint is always better and stronger than two in-line on a single part bearing stress... You now have two potential points to fail rather than one with added stress to boot... I wouldn't run these but that's only my educated opinion...

Not trying to be a Debbie downer, I hope they work but I've seen first hand, in person, similar designs fail...

Crawled up on a big rock today. If you can see the pictures of the truck on jacks, that about sums it up. Doesn't look like any over extension.

Can someone explain the concept of this to me? My trucks leveled and im slightly confused as to what the idea of this is?

It extends your spindle, so you don't put so much strain on the Upper Ball joints, from the Level.

What about the Lower Ball Joints? It won't add strain nor push it to weird angles?

None of the pictures posted show the lower ones to see what they did, but I would imagine the would see some more stress.

Could you show a picture head on after the alignment, I would like to see if the camber is noticeable.

Thanks

I can't visually see it, so I doubt a picture would. Right now I have it aligned properly, no issues. I will try to grab a pic or two tomorrow.

Pictures were hard to take while the tires were stuffed in the wheel wells. Hope this helps show the ABSOLUTE max extension.https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.f15...b4a55e3500.jpg

Alignment complete. No visible camber.


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.f15...7375ae3ea8.jpg

Max extension on high tire


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.f15...57334ead0f.jpg

Low tire max extension. Not much difference to before the spacer install.


https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.f15...772133c84c.jpg

Didn't have time to run a trial...so my front yard was the option!


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.f15...e394ee0e16.jpg

Rear tire stuffed to the bumps.

On a side note, nice to see a platinum that works!

Ok, I installed the spacers about a week and a half ago, and have put on about 300 miles. I have my boss coil-overs set to 3". I feel much improvement with the way the truck rides and handles. There is no more harshness with bumps, potholes, RR tracks. No more traction control going off around turns. Very happy with them:thumbsup:

If you install these adjust your tie rods for the ride to the alignment shop, the toe in is horrible. Also, I recommend you install the SPC adjustable cam nuts on your lower control arms for adjusting the camber. My truck aligned perfect with ford specs.

Any particular website you purchase the SPC cam nuts from? I saw some from morepowertunjng website for $39.

Get the best price you can. I got mine last year, and I can't remember from where. I paid around $80

Got my SPC alignment kit from Amazon.

So are you saying that you no longer have positive camber? Or that the camber is now within Ford specifications, but may have some positive camber?

Adjustable camber nuts just make it easier to adjust camber, but will not in and of itself give your truck "more" camber.

Just wanting clarification on "perfect with ford specs" because I'm interested in this but as someone else pointed out, the geometry between the upper and lower control arms are no longer in factory synchronization throughout the range of travel.

I'm just saying the camber is in the specified range.

I agree, the cam bolts do not give you more camber, it makes it easier on the alignment shop. I only suggest them since i had one shop that wouldn't adjust the camber without them. Here is a picture of my alignment sheet.


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.f15...0ff572257e.jpg

Thanks for posting your alignment spec sheet! 100% helpful!

I know this is a really old post, but where did y'all go to get your alignments? When I installed mine, they gave me a crazy positive camber. They didn't look like they were on the UCA bolt all they way (maybe .5" left, if that), but I just couldn't tighten them anymore, so I figure they're on there right. But no place around me has ever heard of them and is pretty weary about the alignment. Any help?

If I have aftermarket suspension components, I bring my truck to an off-road specialty shop (ORW in Sandy Eggo).

were you get that spacer man thats exactly what i need

Were you get that spacer

Sorry to bump an old thread, but has anyone done these spacers recently? I've been looking into something like this, but the website linked in this thread does not work. Curious if they are even available anymore. If not, any other options out there now days?

PM sent.

Anyone know if these spindle spacers are still available. Website looks dead

Spindle spacer