OME UCA play in arm

You're missing parts (washers). Get them, install, and then torque the arm up. You will be good then.

 

maybe reuse the stock inner ones

 

Just got off the phone with arb armed with some of the info we have covered on here. ARB is saying the first gen arm sleeves are 3mm too long and either need to be ground down or swapped with their gen 2 ones (back ordered a few months). I’m not missing any washers and it’s installed correctly the issue is the inner sleeve being too long. Thanks for the help though.

 

So you have 1st gen arms?

 

It appears so

 

I will say ARBs customer service is top notch. They acknowledged the issue and have said they will replace. The arm is great other than the sliding issue caused by the bushing sleeve being 3mm too long which is said to be resolved in their second generation arm. It aligned with zero issues, handles well, its beefy, greasable, and looks good. I would just swap it with a new one if it was readily available but can’t wait until august for the new arm. I went against the forum grain and wanted to try something new. All in all if you are in the market for new arms this fall I would recommend the ome uca.

 

I think they/he means first generation of their design, 1st gen Tacoma upper arms will not fit a 2nd/3rd gen Tacoma. The shape is too different

 

Oh I see what you mean. No I got the correct arm for 3rd gen Tacoma. I was referring to old man emus initial release of the control arm. The ones that are rolling out now (2nd generation) have a modified sleeve length.

 

I had this defect on my arms. I ended up contacting the manufacturer about it and they replaced them on warranty.

reference: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/after-market-ucas-loosening-by-themselves.669371/

 

Yeah I read that one before. The difference is on these is that I have them torqued completely and the bolts are installed the way they come from the factory. The inner sleeve on the bushings is too long so it slides along that and no amount of tightening can fix it. The option is to either shave the sleeve down 3mm or send it back for the new ones.

 

Definitely let the manufacturer know that defect. Or that they missed a washer when shipping

Personally I would shave down the bushings instead of adding extra parts. I had the worst squeaky suspension and less metal on metal contact would be my preference.

 

OP did you end up getting whatever replacement they were going to send out? I think I’m having the same issue.

 

I have this issue with these arms, have had a slight clunk on sharp turns and bumps since installing them but didn't figure it out until now. Talked to two different guys from arb that were no help at all, didn't know about any revisions, etc.

 

Just found this thread. Had a clunk in my front end since installing the lift on my 3rd gen Taco back in 2020. Most noticeable while turning and going over bumps, and especially while tire goes off driveway lips while turning. Found exactly what the OP was saying about the sleeve being too long. This pic is with the nut and washer loosened, looking at the rear of my driver's side UCA. You can clearly see the sleeve protruding from within the arm. This allows the entire arm to slide back and forth, since it isn't captured by the factory washers because of the gap. I can get a pry bar in there and easily slide the uca back and forth and the noise is quite noticeable, even with that small amount of force. I think I'm going to pull the sleeve out and grind it a tad shorter to take out the slop.

 

have you tried to contact arb?

 

No. Can't find my receipt and I have no idea where I bought them from unfortunately. I guess I could still try, but their warranty policy on their website seems pretty strict so it's probably a long shot.

 

Here's an update. Pulled the whole thing apart and shaved off a bit of the rear sleeve to make it flush. Successfully took out all the slop when it is tightened up.

 

Glad you fixed it, but this isn't something we should have to be doing. They should be sending out the right bushings/sleeves at a minimum. But they won't even return a phone call or email.

 

Oh yeah I agree 100%. Shouldn't have to do this on any part and definitely not on an expensive set of UCAs. I didn't want to mess with customer service. Just wanted it fixed. I'm not one to complain but I'll let my dissatisfaction show with my wallet next time. Probably not buying any more OME/ARB stuff.

 

I feel that ARB’s quality has diminished in some areas. From what I understand these UCAs are made in Asia after talking with a vendor. They released well after the same UCA design was already being marketed by other companies. And then looking at the relative high number of reports of their compressor harness melting/burning up on the people running the arb twin. Rather sad.