JBA Offroad Upper Control Arms And Suspension MEGA Thread BS thread

@Crom
here's my alignment sheet from last week. not happy with all the red, and I'm sure its worse now after my weekend adventures. it still pulls to the right a bit, and the wheel is off to the left. not sure if it makes a difference that they put it as a regular cab either? on the up side they got the caster pretty high

 

Thank you for that. First, your numbers look good. Caster looks great in relation to the camber. I can confirm that the specified range is in fact different for a double cab, at least it is for 09-10 model trucks. See here for my alignment numbers of the coil bucket hitters. I am going to go to a third Firestone for a new alignment. I'm going to have a talk to the tech before the alignment and make it crystal clear that I want him to open up the cams and try to increase the caster while keeping the camber in spec. The unfortunate thing is I've done this with the last tech and he was quite competent. It's entirely possible that the arms I received are out of Marlins spec (i.e. something moved in jig at fab time).

That's what I'm going to do. I'll do a third alignment and if I can't get into spec, I'll ask Marlin to replace them or refund.

-Crom

Thank you J!

 

Alot of this depends on the alignment tech. Ive had reputable shop do several terrible alignments. Only to find a better shop who could actually get it into spec.

My advice is to shop around, find a place who can do it properly.

 

Looks like junk, and uses chevy k1500/k2500 ball joints.

 

They look to be like the old fabtech control arms that they built for the dodge ram 1500's. Almost every single one of them had fallen apart or broke. Looks like someone just took the same type of control arm and made it work with tacomas. It also doesn't look like they are helping with anything with bigger lifts on our trucks. Lite racing is the best way to go with ball joints, especially when you can adjust camber and caster from them. Also, that spacer doesn't look healthy to put in between the ball joint and the spindle

 

Lifetime manufacture warranty, which covers welds... nothing else.
Edit: Also I didn't mention colors

But it's good that the manufacture will cover it for lifetime.

How much are these?

 

Again that spacer looks cheesy, Ask him if it's gonna get into doing adjustable uppers, then the after market will definitely bump up from there.

 

So what you're saying is, the ball joints is bottomed out in the spindle and that spacer doesn't hold and pressure correct?

 

I take it he's using poly urethane bushings for them as well

 

Light Racing

I think if you opened a forum vote the least trusted aftermarket arm would be the light racing. So many failures, redesigns, etc etc.

No one in my club runs them anymore. While I'd love to buy Light Racing based on price, I've heard enough stories from people face to face on all of the reiterations of light racings product to know not to go down that route. I'll either get these or the Camburgs with the moog joint. I was going to go uniball but with our winters here there seems to be too many issues no matter how well you keep things greased/clean.

 

I've spoken with the rep of spc, and have friends with their componets and haven't had any issues...

 

Just search light racing on here. Tons of issues and headaches getting help. I'm not going to go as far as to say their product is junk. I know a few guys on here that have had really good luck with it. I'm not kidding you though when I say everyone I know in my offroading club who has owned the light racing UCA's, which is 4-5 guys, has taken them off and gone with Camburg, Icon, or All Pro. One guy even had a weld break offroad . Imagine if that happened on the highway. No way I can trust that crap and the crap reputation they have for backing up the product with a solid fix.

At least this JBA guy seems to care if something goes wrong. He actually contacted everyone when there was an issue and made it right. I'm happy enough with that. Not to mention the GM moog joint is a huge advantage for me. I live in a small town with a Toyota dealer 30 minutes away and where I offroad is over an hour from a dealership. Both my small town and the town near where I offroad have a GM dealer though, so not only will a spare be easy to find but I can even grab another one should I have to use mine .

 

i'll throw in my .02 as well. I bought them for those same reasons mentioned earlier - very cheap and very easily replaceable Moog joint (which in reality should be plenty strong enough as I hear it's also used on the Hummer), cheap replacement OEM bushings, and the service reputation of the guys at JBA. being one of the first to rock the new Tacoma arms I definitely encountered some teething problems, but Marlin was very quick to take care of me, even as far as redesigning and rebuilding 3 new sets for me until I was happy, and didn't charge anything extra.


and yes they a pretty red color to match my TRD springs

 

That's definitely good customer service for sure, also @Sterdog, agree, just looks tacky on the pictures, hints why i questioned about the little spacer being there.

Those ball joints, literally every auto parts store should have like 10 in stock lol.

 

The craftsmanship in Marlins product is excellent. I weighed each HD arm before installing and they were within 1/100th of a pound of each other. One was 9.77 lbs, and the other was 9.76 lbs.

 

Just like @tyfoon11 I was one of the original purchasers of this product, after the first snafu on the original arms Marlin was nothing but professional with his business. I couldn't be happier with these arms. Did a lot of research before buying new UCAS and the ease of part replacement was the main seller. JBA has earned my business

 

Ok, finally I have an update on my alignment numbers. Keep in mind that I have an OME lift with 885x coils up front with a 3/8" top plate spacer on both sides and a full Dakar leaf spring set in the back.

Here's the before (numbers are left/right):
Camber: +0.6/+0.2
Caster: +0.4/0.0
Toe: -0.01/+0.29

And After:
Camber: +0.6/+0.4
Caster: +0.8/+1.1
Toe: +0.02/0.00

Suffice it to say I'm a little disappointed. Should also be noted that this was at a Firestone where I had previously purchased the lifetime alignment. I was back there while the Tech worked on it, up until 45 minutes after they closed. Having never done an alignment myself, I couldn't tell if he was an idiot or an expert. But that's as good as he could get the numbers.

I emailed Marlin to get his opinion/suggestions and haven't heard back yet (albeit just a few minutes ago, so wasn't expecting an immediate response). I'll likely go to an independent shop near my work as I've seen some lifted Tacos out front so it may be a better option.

So, to sound like a broken record, I'll update with (hopefully) better alignment numbers as soon as I have them. On a positive note, the truck does drive a bit better...and the red arms look good peaking out behind the tires...

 

@Blackout14 I told them I wanted 0 toe, 0 camber, and between 2 and 3 caster. They tried to tell me it was impossible to get, and maybe they're right for their equipment and tech. But I hope it's not impossible with the hardware on my truck with a competent technician.

 

Thanks for the info on the road force equipment. I'll shop around. I posted in the central VA thread seeing if anyone has any shops around they can vouch for too. Hopefully something shakes loose and I can find a decent tech/equipment combo. Will definitely post updates as I have them.

 

My bolts are seized so after my next two wheeling events I may try to break them loose. And try again.