3” Wulf spacers without new UCA

Hello all I’m brand new and my name is Hunter. I just recently got new tires and wheels which rubs a little bit and had to do some trimming on my 2015 4Runner. I was wondering if I will be ok getting 3” spacer with diff drop without getting after market UCAs. I’ll also be putting 2” in the back. I’m running 265 70 17 BFG KO2 with XD135 Grenade OR wheels.

 

I also will be doing no extreme Off roading. Basic overland trips. Camping, kayaking that sort of thing.

 

Surprised a little that you had some rub; probably at full turn, I'm guessing.

Nonetheless, curious why not just put in a lift vs. spacers? Is it a budget thing?

 

Yes it was at full turn and I don’t want any rubbing at all. Yes it is a budget thing. I just don’t have the funds for it right now. I am also not going to be doing aggressive off roading either so if I can get away with the spacers and be ok then that’s ideal for looks and cost ratio

 

Fair enough. I started with spacers on mine, they worked fine and I ran 275s BFG K02s then, with slight rubbing at full turn, in reverse. When I moved to my first lift (Toytec Ultimate, 3" with UCAs), there was no rubbing, and the handling and offroad performance was really quite good.

Now, I've upgraded even further to Icon Stage 7 Billet, w/Secondaries, bump stops, and overland coils along with 295s (Nitto Grapplers/33"), and needed a slight Body Mount Chop. This setup is really remarkable, even when compared to the Toytec, with respect to capability and handling. It's like night and day and really gives me the performance, especially at higher off road speeds--which I love to do.

The short version is its probably always a good idea to do your mods in stages, where you spend less until you learn more about what your needs really are going to be. We always make that mistake, don't we, spending way too much upfront when less money out of our pockets could have easily given us what we needed.

I say go for it with the spacers. You'll like the higher stance, for sure.

 

Will I be ok with 3” spacers an stock UCAs? I was told by a tire and lift guy that I would have trouble with my stock UCAs if I went 3” in front and 2” in back. Problem is I already both the spacers. I just don’t want to create problems down the road.

 

Thanks for this info though. It will help me now and in the future.

 

That's a really good question; maybe go to a different 4X4 shop for a second opinion. The first person might be right, but you never know. 3" spacers are pretty big and might push the stock control arms to their limits, or beyond. (Think of stretching your arm out to reach for something close, and then again for something farther away.) This speaks to the camber of the tire, the UCAs, when adjusted correctly help to keep the camber returning to center; otherwise, you'll have uneven wear and could lead to excessive vibration at higher speeds and/or wandering in the steering. Of course, please keep in mind that this is all just conjecture, as I'm no expert, but when we do mods to our vehicle we are absolutely straying away from Toyota's original engineering, which is not designed for our mods. This is why we change out UCAs, etc., when doing certain suspension related mods.