Ebay UCAs... cheap cheap cheap...

Left my jack at my parents place... cant get the wheel off until my man's shop opens tomorrow... anyways, it seems that the low-quality uniball bolt that came with the ebay UCA kit was loose, and it snapped, thankfully while i was going 20mph near my house and i could hear and feel it... anyone know what parts i'll be needing to replace? and where can i get a bolt for a 1" uniball??

 

You can order the 1" uniball from most UCA manufacturers

 

Looks like you’re gonna need the adapter that goes into the spindle too

 

is that the slug adapter?

 

Yes

 

i guess this could serve as a reason to just buy a name brand control arm in the first place...

I dont think the reason it failed was because it was “over tightened”, but because that first part, the “low quality” part...

 

I've had them in for 2 months now and they been re-tightened twice, once each month, and it snapped yesterday after being torqued down again.

The only thing to do now is to replace all the hardware, as the arms seem to be in sturdy condition.

Any AllPro guys here? I really need my truck back this week..

 

Having to re-tighten them once a month should have been a warning sign, that's not normal... I still contend the issue was more to do with the overall quality of the part, not just that they were "over tightened". Who torqued them? A shop? You? A friend? I assume a torque wrench was used...

I would say you need to contact the manufacturer and get replacements, but you're just going to be in the same boat 2 months from now.

But to me, this calls into question the reliability/durability of the entire system, including the arms. Those arms might "look" sturdy from the outside, but you probably thought the same thing about the parts that failed on you...

The "best" thing, IMO, to do now is cut bait entirely. Get some All-pro's, Camburgs, light racing (unless you're dead set of uniballs), or maybe even Total Chaos.

Yes, they're more expensive, but these failures don't happen to those brands, and IF on the off chance they did, you'd have free replacement parts in your hands already.

You might be able to get some name brand uniballs/slug adapter to fit, but I'm honestly pessimistic about the design tolerances of those ebay arms. They might fit on paper, but I wouldn't trust them to fit perfectly.

 

I had a reputable local shop (Central Coast 4WD) help me install the arms. Installed without a hitch..

As for the arms themselves, I am in complete agreement with you. I was in a rush to squeeze in biggers tires and cut an important corner here. It really should have occurred to me the check the hardware before the install...

The thing is, I feel like these came from ebay missing misalignment spacers, unless they're recessed in there.

My next purchase after replacement bolts/mis. spacers will be the JBA UCAs for their greater caster angles. Do you think it's worth it to even try to fit actual brands' replacement parts?


As for anyone else considering these cheap ebay UCAs, prepare to make them your own!

 

Of the parts that are least likely to fail, I would like to think it's the arms. But, is it worth it to replace all the hardware? For me? No. When I was "in the market" for UCA's, I really considered these arms for the price alone, but then figured I'd spend the extra hundred or so on some Camburgs. Then, when I ordered the Camburgs along with my Kings, the guys at Downsouthmotorsports said the Camburgs were back-ordered for the foreseeable future, so he gave me a deal on the total chaos UCA's. However, the price ended up being like a frog in a pot of hot water, and the price slowly kept creeping up! That said, I couldn't be happier with what I have.

It's kinda like buying equipment from Harbor Freight. All the bolts and hardware are cheap, but the main structure (like for a 20 ton press or something) are probably fine - after all they're just steel I-beams, etc... Replace the cheaper hardware and you've probably got something pretty decent for a home mechanic for a good price.

Your arms appear to be copies of Total Chaos style arms. My TC arms don't need, and were not designed to have alignment spacers. It's the length/geometry of the arms themselves that allow for better alignment after a lift. Do you know that your arms were supposed to come with spacers?

 

The Harbor Freight analogy is spot on. I feel like these arms are a mashup of AllPro and Total Chaos' designs. As pictured on the ebay advertisement, there seems to be a form of a spacer. (I have no idea if this is on a Tacoma...)

 

That does look like a tacoma.

I don't think that's a spacer. The bottom part (below the spindle) is just the bottom of the slug adapter that's pressed into the spindle. The top is just the slug adapter sticking up through the spindle, and the C-clip that holds it in place.

 

Update:

So we took out the cheap uniball to get an accurate measurement of the diameter of the opening. It was 1 inch exactly. Went and ahead and ordered reputable All Pro hardware.

To anyone seeing this, please heed my warning: the difference in price is directly proportional with the difference in quality, for this part, and for most things in general..

Support legal, safe, and trustworthy fabrication techniques and designs and buy from known-manunfacturers such as Total Chaos, Camburg, AllPro, Icon, just to name a few. The extra you pay now goes a long way. Save yourself the headache.