UCA recommendation for camber issues

'08 DCLB on a drop bracket 6 inch RC lift (not my choice). 265/70/17

In January I replaced factory UCA, LCA, and tie rod ends with Mevotech parts and put on a fresh set of coopers for winter. 5 months and less than 20k km later this is what the front tires look like.



I had always had increased inside wear since buying the truck (with lift kit installed) nearly 3 years ago. Had significant play in factory ball joints which prompted replacing uppers and lowers. Recent wear on tires is drastically accelerated.

Alignment specs from yesterday. Final spec is pretty much where it was at in January after all the front end work. Everything is easy to get to spec except camber, and it seems like camber is falling way out of spec fairly quickly.


Mechanic is recommending adjustable UCAs to help get camber into spec since lowers are maxed out. Suggested SPC. Went to the forums and saw everyone shitting on SPC and recommending JBAs. As far as I can tell JBAs come with increased Castor but not Camber. Looking for any insight or recommendations/experiences.

JBA i was looking at.

$596 SPC Specialty Products 25470 Upper Control Arm for Toyota Tacoma - Pair

SPCs I was considering.
open to other recommendations as well

Obviously not trying to break the bank, but also dont want to be replacing balljoints every 10k.
Also don't want to be tearing through tires.
I understand i'll have to bite the bullet somewhere, and would rather cry now and drive with confidence later.

Not sure how much of this is relevant but ill include it just in case.
Installed rough country's M1 in January to replace what were i believe N3s.
Fox 2.0s with AAL and 2inch block in rear.
last 20k km were 80% city/highway, 20% logging roads (some unmaintained and much rougher than others).
typically 95% on road 5% off road

 

Jba would be my route. But that my opinion. Fast shipping. I went with the standard version. The HD has extra gussets

 

Looking at your sheet, I suspect the wear on that tire came more from the toe alignment being off than from the camber (-0.4° - 0.6° camber alone shouldn't do that to tires in just 20K km (12.4K miles).

Assuming you had the frontend aligned right after you replaced the UCAs, LCAs, and tie rod ends, I would say something may be moving around under there that shouldn't be (something not properly tightened).
Check the bolts holding the drop-down crossmembers to the frame (the torque specs on these are pretty high, 175 ft-lbs or more, I recall), as well as all the control arm bolts. Make sure your wheel bearings are good & tight (the alignment place should've caught this if they were bad, but it doesn't always happen).
The possibility is also always there that the first alignment place botched the alignment as well (this does happen somewhat often unfortunately).

As for the SPC arms, they fairly recently redesigned their ball joints, which it still seems like it may be up in the air whether they've solved the problem or not. It's also been said they require a special moly-type grease, which isn't overly common among chassis grease types (people using whatever grease happens to be in their grease gun causing the failures). I've no personal experience, but in liking the design of the SPC arm myself, I've been reading a lot on them. Still haven't been able to bring myself to commit on them though.

 

I appreciate the informative response. About to pull the trigger on these JBAs. After lots of research online, many phone calls, and some very educational conversations, it does seem like camber angle might be the scapegoat, and there is a bigger culprit somewhere in the front end. I will check out the bolts on the drop bracket, hadn't considered that. Planning to widen my focus next time I'm under the truck.
Hopeful those JBA uppers will serve me well, whether or not they prove to be the solution to this problem.

Almost went SPC since despite the QC issues they seem to stand by their warranty. Unfortunatly the quickest way to get a hold of those arms in Canada would be through Amazon, and some of the reviews said they loopholed their way out of warranty from there.

 

I know this sounds ridiculous, but you need to find a GOOD alignment tech. I really think a lot of them just adjust the toe and call it good. That may be easier said than done.
Also, after you have it aligned, check the torque on the lower control arm bolts. One is a nut you tighten and the other is a bolt, I don't remember which. They really should be at about 100 Ft*lbs. I greased all of mine when I changed them out years ago, to keep them from rusting back in place, and I had to retorque a few times. I'd check them weekly for the first month or so afterwards.
Familiarize yourself with the front suspension and look up the torque values. With a lift, in my opinion, it's even more important to check this stuff periodically.

 

JBA is one I've been considering as well, mostly so I can set up the suspension for a bit more droop travel than the stock UCA allows for with my Fox 2.5s, but the adjustability of the SPC would've also been nice to have.

JBAs might not have any built-in camber correction, but the additional caster correction might allow for a bit more leeway in adjusting the cam bolts at the LCAs, which might be enough to get the camber a few tenths of a degree better (this because Rough Country went rather aggressive on their 6" lift as far as angles go, their drop crossmembers only drop down 3.25", so the last 2.75" lift is made by boosting the control arm angles up higher). Another option might be to lower the lift a small bit (to around 4.5" - 5"), which would also bring forth a tad more caster angle availability (and therefore cam bolt adjustability) as well.

 

SPCs will give you the most adjustability