Upper Control Arms, JBA vs. SPC vs. Camburg

Exactly, do we need another "what control arms are best" or "what's the biggest tire I can fit stock" super annoying to have a bunch of the same threads

 

To play devil's advocate here (and to be clear I think jbas are a fine product); didn't JBA go through a decent amount of revisions for quality and fitiment issues? Seems like these have all been resolved now, but spc aren't the only ones that have had issues.

As far as spc arms breaking that was an old bushing design which did not allow the arm to freely rotate around the mounting bolt which stressed the connection from bushing sleeve to arm over time. That's been rectified for quite a while now.

SPC ball joints are also super simple to change just like jba. Sure you can't find them at the local vatozone, but if you're greasing them every oil change and periodically checking them you will be fine. Order a few spares if you're concerned, they're relatively inexpensive.

I wanted the option to have almost infinite adjustment, plus I did not want to buy wheel spacers just to fit control arms. IMO if you have a lifted truck(or really any modified vehicle) spend a little extra money and go to a good shop that has experience with modified vehicles. Most chains/ local shops don't have much experience with modified vehicles and set the alignment to factory specs which is not what you want. Get on your local regions SCCA boards and ask for a local shop that does alignments on autox/ track day cars. They understand proper geometry, not just trying to get the computer to go from Green to red.

 

To summarize: no. Make sure to torque the bj to correct amount per instructions and you're good.

 

But internets arguing ...

 

SPC are not a good option if you actually wheel your truck. I’ve seen it twice now, on two separate trucks, where the balljoint has slid inward from a hard hit. That’s enough for me to not recommend them to people and recommend JBA instead.

 

Not properly torqued bj?

I've had some pretty hard hits on mine with no issues. Even was not paying attention and literally drove into a concrete bollard with the pass side tire at full lock hard enough to severely bend the spindle with no movement of the SPC bj. And my pile has been wheeled all over rocks in NH with no issues.

That being said if you're beating on your junk I guess if not properly torqued it could shift in on a hard hit, but that's not my experience.

 

Yeah, that’s a possibility. I don’t know for certain but it’s just one more thing to potentially move/go wrong/however you wanna look at it. I think people just get caught up in the adjustability aspect of it when they reallly don’t need that. I like to keep it simple.

 

I'd be all for them but no 3rd gen option their control arms end at 2015 MY. I have no budget on important parts, but just ordered the JBA HD. THANKS

 

I’ve seen mention in the thread about the JBA combo with 285/70/17s but what about 275/70/17s with the Sema pro 17s.

I currently have 265/70/17s, 2.5 inch lift and the JBAs with zero issues. Playing with the idea of doing a slight tire size increase to the 275s but if there is rubbing/clearance issues I would just stay where I’m at.

I don’t think the tires I have now look bad but you know how it goes, I’ll always wonder what the 275s will be like until I give them a shot. Ha!

 

I have JBAs + SEMA wheels + 265/70/17, and the wheels rub slightly UCAs at certain turns/angles.
Had to get spacers which didn't wanna do.

If you don't rub now, bigger tires probably will. I'm upgrading to 34x10.5 KO2s myself.

 

What kind of angles are you experiencing the running? What kind of suspension/lift? What tires?

Sounds like I may stay with my current setup. Only had the kit on for a week but haven’t had rubbing yet

Thanks for the info!

 

I run 295s with JBAs. I did have to swap out to rims with more clearance, actually basically the most clearance offered by a 17” rim from FN, but I’m happy to do that over running spacers. I wheel my truck hard sometimes and I’ve bent or broken almost everything up front except the standard JBA UCAs. Definitely a great product. The folks I wheel with avoid SPC like the plague, as it’s been stated a hard enough hit will move the ball joint. Not to mention their history with not supporting customers after catastrophic failures in the past.

 

JBA's are made in the USA so that's a big plus for me

 

Ko2s in 265/70. Lift is BP51s at 2.5". It had rubbed on hard turns ...like into the driveway or offroad.

 

Which FN wheel did you end up going with and what is the offset and backspacing if you don’t mind? I have the FN Fx Pro which is 17x8, 0 offset and 4.5 backspacing. Just wondering if I can step up from 265/70 to 275/70 or 285/70 without rubbing. I don’t want spacers either.

 

JBA all the way.

 

There’s a 17” with 4.1” BS. That’s what I’m running.

 

Cool, thanks!

 

Did you end up going with something different? I was all set on the JBA’s until I saw this post, now I’m bummed.

 

Yeah I went with Total Chaos. No issues.