JBA Offroad Upper Control Arms And Suspension MEGA Thread BS thread

Lol yup, fuckin michigan I tell ya.

I went out and found me grade 8 bolts, yellow zinc plated and nylock nuts. The UCA could probably care less but I'm happy.

 

You live in MI and dont Fluid Film..? lol time to get on that

 

I actually did fluid film about three years straight in the fall, to prepare for winter. But maybe I'm doing it wrong lol. I didnt fluid film this past winter since I didn't expect to be driving the truck much being 100% WFH. I think I need to go heavier on the fluid film next time and not wash the truck or something. Also, reapply a few times during the year?

 

Bare min is once a year. Ill use a few of the rattle cans throughout the year to touch up as well

 

Here you are my friend sorry it took so long! I can get you the exact numbers if you want but I think zero,zero, and 4.3 if I remember correct. The paperwork is downstairs in my truck lol. I juts got off work and feelin lazzzyyyy.

 

No worries. Hopefully this Wednesday I get things sorted out. Found a guy local here who has been doing it for 30 years and I am really hoping he can get it right for me. Got a big trip planned in two weeks and it would be nice to get these 34s off of the firewall. Thanks for the reply and just seeing what you got going on tells me enough

 

absolutely. i've had my head planted in crypto and making some gains. so i can make some gains on the rig lol. but i did get a pic of my numbers from the alignment last week.

 

Got my new set in a few days ago. Saw they had a ripped boot out of the box. Emailed JBA and they say they are gonna have me a new set of boots shipped out asap and put me down for the updated boots.

 

Maybe y’all can’t help me out... I’ve been to 2 reputable alignment shops that say I’m maxed out on caster. I have the high caster jbas. According to the shop I’m set at these numbers.

 

From what I understand, you have more adjustment there. Sound like your alignment shop maybe meant your caster was maxed out like, they were trying to get factory numbers and couldn't bring it down more

I ALWAYS tell them, 0 camber, 0 toe and 3+ caster. The arms are +2 degrees built in.

But

Here's from DIY ALIGNMENT topic

In a nutshell, if you want to add more camber, you would rotate both front and rear cam tabs “longer.” If you want to remove camber, you would rotate both front and rear cam tabs “shorter.”
If you want to add more positive caster, you would rotate the front cam “shorter” and the rear cam “longer.” Ifyou want to reduce caster (not sure why anyone would do that…but whatever), you would rotate the front cam “longer” and the rear cam “shorter.”

 

I was slightly rubbing the CMC at fulllock, and other spots at fulllock stuffed prior to my alignment. Went to a shop that specializes in alignments in my area who has been around for 30yrs. They do old school manual alignments, so no spec sheet.

He said caster is 4.4/4.5 Tracks straight and no rubbing. Easily clears CMC. 285/75/17s

 

For a baseline to actually max out caster have the rear cams pointed inboard at each other and the front cams pointed strait up.

 

Thanks for that info. I’m going to get a third opinion this weekend and see if I can get forward off the firewall.

 

Take note that if any of the alignmnet cams are pointed down, you'll get a shit alignment

 

Got them installed. I painted mine black. And JBA sent out new boots super quick.

2inch lift
Caster 4.1/4.0
Camber 0.0/0.0
Toe 0.0/0.0

I put them on in under 2 hours after work. The passenger side (side with AC line) was a booger, but I got the bolt out and back in with help of a pry bar. Other than that getting the secound inside washer on was a pain. I centered all my alignment cams and when I brought it in, the passenger one was 0.4 off on the camber. He brought that to zero and fixed the toe.

 

I was just in another thread where they said JBA's suck and the ball joints don't last. Has anyone had this problem at all? I have the same JBA set for 3 years or more, and the only reason I replaced the ball joints was due to a coating issue.

 

I’m on my third set of ball joints with about 40k on the truck. First set had coating issues, JBA sent out new ones. The new ones that JBA sent out had a poor boot design that has since been updated. The ball joint was contaminated with sand and they wore out. Third set I’m running MOOG because that’s what I could find in the part stores and the boots don’t really fit all that well. Still on the old style boots that stink so I plan on replacing these ball joints with the most up to date design that JBA has. Maybe if your truck is a pavement princess and doesn’t get to live life down some fun trails or long dusty roads your mileage will vary.

 

I had my first ball joints replaced because of coating issues but they were fine. I know the boots don't fit that well so I did add extra spacers on the bottom of the boot to push it against the control arm and have been running them that way since new. I haven't had any issues with them other than the coating and thought about getting the new boots but I figure if it isn't broke don't fix it.

 

I can't comment on the life span of them but i don't think there is an easier set of arms out there when it comes to replacing the ball joints on them.

 

I have had JBA arms on another vehicle for a few years. They came with Moogs. They lasted a few years, and replaced them with the mevotech from RockAuto.

I can't say about the new design, but if they dont last long, its chevy 3/4 ton ball joints. So easy to find and replace.