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Installed the UMI adjustable TA w/ DS loop and LCA's tonight. Eventhing seemed to go pretty smooth.

On the driveshaft loop there's barely 1/4" clearance, less where the driveshaft weights are. I'd think you would want to atleast be able to shove your pinkey finger inbetween the loop and shaft?

Pinion angle was set to -2 by measuring the driveshaft angle and adding that to rearend angle.

On the lower control arms....instructions say to do them 1 at a time which i did.... Wouln't I have been better off setting both sides to the same length as the first factory LCA i took off and then bolting them in?? I measured their length under the car, but i'm sure I'm a tad bit off 1/8" or so. Damn car is pulling to the right now going forward and to the left in reverse. Nothing extreme, but enough to **** me off. Car drove dead nuts straight before.

first trip out took it easy listing for noises, rattles, etc... The LCA's make a hell of a lot of noize, dont notice anything else really unusual. vary speed 20-80 every thing seems cool. did a few test launches. Holey **** what a difference! It does't feel like the *** end squats and wiggles anymore. It just launches. It did seem like the drag radials were spinning a little easier than usual, but its a tad bit cold out to. Over all very impressed in the take off. I'll just turn the stereo up to forget about the LCA rod end noise.

Bring the car back home, jack it up for final inspection... everything looks good, all bolts and nuts are tight. Cool, gonna call it a night, its 3am.

Back out the driveway and start to take off easy but w/ some throttle.. Somethings rubbing. Not a consant rubbing, but a noise every revolution of something. I stop and backup, noice goes away. go forward very lightly, nothing, back up nothing. Forward w/ little power, damn rubbing noise is back. WTF? it sounds slow enough to be something on my tire. It makes the noise close to every tire rotation. It will continue to make the noise as long as im on the throttle 4-20mph. I can stop then ease into the gas very lightly and the noise is gone, but give it a little power and its back.

So its 3.30 am, i say **** it, bring the car home and parked it, i'll **** w/ it tomorrow. Something under the car has to be bright and shiney from that damn rubbing. I just can't think of what. Any ideas? TIA!

WS6Drop

iTrader: (10)

I think they tell you to do one LCA at a time so the rear axle doesnt move on you. It's a bitch to move back into the proper place. Doing one at a time lessens the chance of it moving on you. Even when I did mine per instructions it still moved on me, so you may want to check to see if the rearend tilted on you.

mitchntx

iTrader: (14)

You most certainly should have preset the length of the LCAs before installation.

By "one at a time" the intent was the actual bolting in, not fixing the length. You very well could have a thrust angle problem.

Rule of thumb ...

Make one change at a time ... in this case, install the TA or the LCAs. Right now, you can't be 100% sure what is causing your problem.

99blancoSS

iTrader: (115)

The axle most definately moves when you take an lca off. I did mine one at a time and had to push on the wheel to move the axle to get the holes lined up for the bolt. The DS loop is tight but it shouldnt matter. There should be no "play" in the DS there anyway. Love my lca's and phb! car is solid under power now

VIP1

The pull can be cleared up with a trip to an alignment shop. Insist that they also align the rear (you'll have to explain that you replaced the rear LCAs with adjustables otherwise they'll insist that there isnt anything to adjust back there).

[__--MUD--__]

went out and jacked up the car to try and find the damn ticking noise, i dont see any bright shiny new wear marks on any of the driveline. If i take off w/ a little power in parking lot to around 8 miles/hour, the noise is about every .5-.75 seconds or close to a full wheel rotation. Its loud enough to hear inside/outside the car w/ my headers loudmouth, and no-cats.

Car wont do it in reverse, or if i take off very easy. I can kill the motor and have it in neutral rolling and still hear it. If i try to jack the car up every thing is gonna flex and not be as it was on the ground.

Any ideas on how i can get the car in the air and simulate a load on the drivetrain? As soon as any torque is involved it starts making the noise.

Only other possibility i can think of is when i dropped the rear driveshaft for the loop, i was going to mark the u-joint and my buddy that was helping whos a gm mechanic said i didn't need to do that, does'nt matter which way the u-joint goes back together.

Any ideas besides taking to TA back off and see if the noise persists?

REDSS01

iTrader: (25)

That noise would most likely be that the pinion angle is off. And yes, the DS loop clearance is pretty bad and even worse if you have to upgrade to a 3.5" DS...but it's worth every penny.

C Murda

iTrader: (24)

ya i have the UMI TQ arm with DS loop and my clearance is so bad that everytime i floor it or hit a bump my driveshaft hits the upper part of the loop and sounds like i broke my rear end....maybe this problem should be discussed with UMI cause i too plan on getting a 3.5" DS and theres no way id be able to run that.... as for the control arms i have those too and you must have them set wrong. just remeasure and make sure thy are th same length. if they are then that may not be your problem, if you are lowered and dont yt have the adj panhard rod then id suggest getting that and adjusting it accordingly. your rear end may not be centered

Studytime

iTrader: (15)

If the loop is contacting your driveshaft, that's just as big of a safety concern as not having a loop. If it begins to cut a groove over time, you'll have a nice crack propagation site there.

Ben T.

one2run

iTrader: (5)

i have poly ended lca's w/ a qa1 ended panhard from umi. the ticking noise i get is when i start rolling, i hear it. this is the only time i hear it, though. like a metal clanking on metal sond just for a few seconds. i can even put the car in neutral and roll at 3-4 mph and hear this noise for just a couple of clanks, then it goes away. i think it may be the stock torque arm hitting my drive shaft at this area on the torque arm where there looks to be a hole for a drive shaft safety hoop to go. i have only seen this type of factory torque arm on manual cars. i have just learned to live with all the vibrations and noises this car makes.

JimMueller

iTrader: (9)

Which LCA's did you purchase? The version with rod-ends at both ends? If so, I thought these were supposed to be the ultimate rod-ends which are quiet?