UCA Choices Explained

On a stock tacoma yes.

 

I have to replace both my upper and lower control arm on my left passenger side.I have heavy duty leaf spring kit and 5100s so it is lifted a bit so I will probably not go back to the stock arms I had on before. Thus, I will need to buy a set for both sides obviously. I’m not going to be doing any real rock climbing.. mostly dirty, muddy, snowy, etc roads in Minnesota. What are my options for UCA and LCA’s that’s something smart/safe reliable, but as cost effective as possible? I’d love to get some JBA’a but wondering if there’s anything else that would do the job and not be so expensive to replace all 4. Any info would be much appreciated

 

I am stuck between spending the money on JBA or saving some and getting Freedoms.

 

Just find a Firestone that has a good alignment tech pay the 200 bucks for the lifetime alignment and be done with it. I have a guy here At a firestone when I walk in and say I want 2.7-3 degrees he knows why I want it slammed forward. Plus he has a lifted truck too. The first firestone I went to I gave them the print out from the UCA company that explained the degrees and why they literally must not have looked at it because when I left I was rubbing my cab mount at full lock. I was pissed but luckily some peeps on here told me which one to go to

 

So is it recommended to replace the UCAs on a TRD Sport with the Eibach pro lift kit? 95% of my driving is street. Once in a while I drive on dirt roads in the country. The kit is not installed yet but if i need them i would like to do the suspension job once.

 

Depends on how high you lift it. Peeps on here stated up to 2" lift one could retain the stock UCA. JBA states any lift over 1" and you should replace the UCA (with theirs of course).

 

I have a 1.5in Bilstein lift and after qa year of driving around with stock UCA's I finally got the JBA's installed, got the truck aligned, and the driving experience for me is so much better! The higher caster numbers available with the aftermarket UCA's make a big difference. The truck tracks straighter on the highway and no more bump-steer is felt. If you can afford it then do it!

 

I read that with some UCAs you can move the wheels forward and fit bigger tires? Do the JBAs have that adjustment?

 

Caster is what pushes the wheel forward (or back), far as I know SPC UCAs are the only ones that have caster/camber adjustment.

Most aftermarket UCAs (JBA included) do have built-in caster though, so you get some additional caster just from installing them

I think I read somewhere recently that ARB is releasing new UCAs with camber/caster adjustments, not sure if they are available yet

 

Yup the SPC UCA’s are more adjustable then JBA. There is a way to adjust the SPC’s for a larger tire size but I do not know enough about how that works to give you good advice. Try this link

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=v1RXnk7b2Bs

 

Thanks. My Tacoma came with 265/65/17s on TRD wheels. On the JBA site it says I can run 265/70/17s with no issues so I might just go with the 265/70/17s. Almost convinced to pull the trigger on the JBA.
From the JBA site:
Tire sizes that work well with the JBA UCAs

• 265/75R16 tire 31.6" x 10.4" on factory wheels

 

I have Method 701 wheels with ZERO offset wrapped in 265/75R16 General ATX and everything works great. For real tho, for the price of the JBA and the improved boot and ball joint design and the ability to easily grease you can not go wrong plus that red really pops!

 

did my research between these 2, went with JBAs. no ragrets.

 

Firestone still offers the lifetime alignment? I read somewhere that they don’t anymore

 

So,
I am on the road to 35's and lifted my truck 2.5" yesterday. (Unrelated note: Don't bother lifting with Fox 2.0's) I will be buying UCA's and Fox 2.5 resi Extended travel tomorrow. I've noticed a few UCA's say "Max tire size 33" "....well that throws Dirt King out the window I guess .

I hit trails almost weekly and my Tacoma is my daily as well (I do have a backup vehicle) any recommendations for ball-Joint UCA's that work well at 2.5 - 3" lift with 35's? I have 31's currently.

 

Seeing a lot of talk on this thread about SPC's UCAs. I had them installed with a toytec/Bilstein 3" lift kit last June and the balljoints are already failing after only 16,xxx miles since install. Been on the phone with toytec and SPC and nobody is really helping. This has been going on for weeks. SPC said to call toytec, toytec has been dragging ass getting back to me with anything.

My mechanic loved the SPC's when it came time for alignment, but finds it mind boggling how much play is in the ball joints after sich a short period of time. After taking the load off the upper balljoints, you could rock both front tires by hand quite a bit. I'm not very happy at all with SPC as a product manufacturer and pretty bummed toytec isn't doing more to help me out.

I wheel maybe once a month or so, but I don't go crazy hard or anything. So it's not like I've been abusing them. My mechanic greases them EVERY TIME he has my truck for service.

Edit: toytec called me back minutes after posting this lol. Going to send me out a new pair of ball joints, and just asked I send the old ones back. Thank effing god. This ordeal has been pissing me off to no end. Thanks toytec! SPC can suck it though.

 

Is more expensive more better?


Back in March I ordered an OME UCA from 4WP and have been waiting since.

Tuesday, I finally got impatient and ordered a Total Chaos UCA.

Got a call literally the next day "your OME UCA will be in Monday."

Both UCA are already paid and en-route. On paper they seem about the same in terms of tech.

Any reason to go with one over the other?

 

Im looking to get uca for my 2" lift 6112/5160 w headstrong aal. I just noticed jba is local to me, i asked if i could do local pick up but they said no. I was also looking at other companies too like camburg and such. I will just get the regular ball joint since I live in PA.

 

For anyone curious, here is a post I've made with various comparison shots between OME/TC UCAs: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-ugly-blue-truck.722492/#post-26389499

 

I would go with the OME. Less maintenance for a DD. The boot around the ball will keep all the road crap and dirt out which will make them last longer. Plus IDK why but I like AU shit.