JBA Offroad Upper Control Arms And Suspension MEGA Thread BS thread

Went to double washer my JBAs today and saw one of the boots is torn. Are people replacing the whole ball joint when this happens?

Secondly the additional washer made the boot seat nice inside closer to the engine. Though now the outside toward the tire is folded in on itself and I suspect if it’s like this for long I will tear another boot. Anyone had this experience? Icons 2.5 with this if that matters.

 

If it's the JBA ball joints, then you can just replace the boot. If it's aftermarket ball joints like ac Delco or moog, then you're better off replacing the whole joint.

 

They’re JBA. I went ahead and order new joints but maybe I will message and see if I can change my order to just the boots for now since the joints seems fine. They have had 30k miles and about 2 years though

 

Can always add the boots to your order and keep the old joints as spares.

 

Are people still getting washers with their UCA? I thought I read somewhere they no longer did that when I ordered mine. Currently have no washer on mine.

 

I bought mine about a year ago and it came with a good amount of washers. I ended up needing one on each end.

 

Which washers, the big ones that go on the long bolt or the smaller thick ones that go between the spindle and balljoint boot?

 

He changed the ball joint boot design to where it doesn't need the spacers anymore.

 

So after talking with JBA over email the old ball joints cannot be retrofitted with the new boot style. That’s because the new joints have a groove for the new boots to be held up. That’s why some of you are confused as I still had the old style. Will be swapping in the new boot style and taking out the washers and hopefully no more leakage. Thanks for the inputs y’all sorry forgot about this thread.

 

Is this too much caster?

 

If you have front clearance like aftermarket bumper, then its ok

 

I have a us off road low pro bumper so still stock pretty much.

I just drove it home and didn't have any rub lock to lock on the front so I guess i'm good for now. I'll see when I go home and hit the driveway bump, But i can trim in the front if needed. Drives great though.

I had stock UCA, 5100's w/ 885.
I replaced my UCA with JBA's, replaced the 885's with 886's and also replaced my LCA b/c the ball joints were leaking all on Saturday. I tried to get my cams back to the marks I made to get me drivable. It was rough goings until after the alignment. Tech said it was a pain in the ass to align. (no this wasn't firestone)

 

What size wheel /tire are you running.

 

265/70r17

 

I'm looking to go to a 255 85 16 anyone here running that size with the jba? I'm still on stock uppers but just had the eibach pro lift kit installed

 

You will need some offset. I run 255s with with method NV 16x8 0 offset. No rubbing of the control arm but I do believe that I cannot run a 285/75r16 without rubbing at full turn. So if your going to get new rims then get a bit more offset so you can have options if you want them. I’ve had my JBAs since 2017, replaced the ball joints twice now. First due to rust and replaced under warranty. Second time was due to them being worn out from probable contamination due to the washer issue and an old design that needed additional washers but not provided. I’ve also had to do parking lot work on the bushings because they attempted to work themselves out while in Moab. I’m not all that impressed with the JBA UCAs. I had a Jeep that was more reliable...haha. What I’m saying is they seem to come with a lot of maintenance and I’m looking at other options right now to replace these

 

I gotcha so I'm going to look into camburg and OME upper control arms. I'm looking into black rhino wheels but I haven't looked into methods wheels just yet

 

Anyone running 285's on a 16x8 -12 off set 4 bs with these arms? Will that combo rub?

 

This is something I struggle to understand: backspacing.

Let's say that I'm in the market for new wheels. According to JBA's website "11.2" wide tire, if the factory wheel is 8" wide, you need a 4.50" backspace or smaller to clear the JBA ucas."

Let's also say that I'm looking at 17" wheels (17x8 to be exact). The ones I'm looking at have an offset option of 0 or -10.

According to some of the charts I've googled. the 17x7 with offset 0 is equal to a 4.5" backspace. An offset of -10 would be closer to 4.1" backspace.

So here's my question, is 4.1" of backspace less than 4.5"? Seems like a duh statement now that I'm typing it out, but can someone please confirm.

Seems like people either love them or hate them. The ball joint seems easy to change, but I'd almost rather hard to change with a longer service interval.

 

I run 285’s with 4.5” BS with these Arms and only rub is the fender flare bolt heads at the rear bottom of the wheel well which is a easy fix