Alabama thread!

Morning crew

 

Do they have a stainless outer sleeve? If so, let me know where you got them please.

I looked into FK standard Uniballs when I was replacing mine, and you can get the same part number as the ones in the UCA with a stainless inner and mild steel outer that’s significantly cheaper. FK will make “custom” runs with stainless outers and inners if you order in in a quantity of 100 or more and that’s what icon does and I’m sure TC does the same.

 

Stony is a fun place with I feel a good mix from just a forest road to some big hills. I took my 2wd on AT tires and had a great day with the guys. This saturday they are having the "B.O.G. Barbie Jeep Races" at 2 down the main hill which is a lot of fun to watch.
@JBTacoma knows a lot more about the park than I do. @newdles took his stock truck out there last year also, so he might be more help than me.
http://www.stonylonesomeohv.us/

 

From AlabamaWX

COLD AIR RETURNS: Parts of Alabama enjoyed 70 degree warmth yesterday, but cold air returned last night, and today will be a raw winter day for the state. Clouds linger through the day with an icy northwest wind of 15-25 mph. A few snow flurries or showers are likely over the northern counties today, but no impact is expected. Where heavier snow showers develop, a few higher terrain locations across the northeast corner of the state could see the ground become white, but even there we are not expecting travel issues.

Temperatures won’t change much at all day. They hold in the 30s over the Tennessee Valley… the high for places like Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, Anniston, and Gadsden will be around 40. South Alabama will see a high in the mid to upper 40s today.

The sky will clear tonight, and we drop into the 20s early tomorrow morning. Then, during the day tomorrow, the high will be in the 45-50 degree range with a good supply of sunshine. Wednesday will be sunny with a high between 50 and 55.

RAIN RETURNS: Thursday will be dry with a high close to 60 degrees, but clouds will increase by afternoon ahead of a cold front. That front will bring rain to the state late Thursday night into Friday morning… rain amounts should be 1/2 inch or less, and severe storms are not expected. Friday will be cloudy and colder with a high around 50.

FRIDAY NIGHT: Model madness makes for a low confidence forecast. The American GFS global model shows a wave of low pressure forming on the front, which will be over far South Alabama, and suggests chance of snow for North Alabama. However, the reliable European global models says “meh” and doesn’t develop the wave, keeping just a chance of some light rain over South Alabama. For now we will side with the dry solution for North Alabama, but obviously watch for model trends in coming days.

THE ALABAMA WEEKEND: Saturday will be mostly cloudy and colder with a high in the 40s; some rain is likely for the southern half of the state around the stalled front. Then, the coldest air so far this season begins to arrive Sunday as temperatures will fall into the 30s over North/Central Alabama with a strong northwest wind.

COLDEST SO FAR: There is a high probability we will see temperatures in the teens Monday morning (one week from today) with a clear sky. A little too early for a specific forecast, but for now it looks like we will see lows in the 10-20 degree range. Monday will be sunny with a high between 35 and 42.

REST OF NEXT WEEK: Clouds return Tuesday, and there will be some risk of precipitation by Tuesday night into Wednesday. At the moment it looks like thermal values favor rain for most of the state, but this is 8 days out and things could easily change. The latter half of the week look dry with a warming trend. See the Weather Xtreme video for maps, graphics, and more details.



ON THIS DATE IN 1955: Seen first as a “well defined cone-shaped funnel” over the Mississippi River, an F3 tornado cut a path from Commerce Landing to Clark in Northwest Mississippi.

ON THIS DATE IN 1996: Very cold, Arctic air covered Alabama, and an “overrunning” precipitation event started that night, the beginning of a significant ice storm for many places. A period of freezing rain followed by light snow brought traffic to a complete standstill across north Alabama. Ice accumulations up to 1 inch downed numerous trees and caused power outages. A number of chicken houses in the northern part of the state collapsed under the weight of the ice and snow. Ice and snow accumulations varied widely with some of the highest amounts reported in the 1 to 3 inch range.

 

Here is three of them, FK stainless race and ball. I got the ones from Amazon.

https://www.offroadwarehouse.com/product/wssx16t-f1-tighter-teflon-plain-spherical-bearings-1-bore

$55 FK Bearings WSSX16T Spherical Bearing with Teflon, 1" (1-3/8 Wide), 1 Pack

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073SVF23L/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.kartek.com/parts/fk-rod...coated-uniball-spherical-bearings-f2-fit.html

 

Now that you post that, I remember what the issue was. Icon uses a different sized uniball (no surprise) than everyone else so you basically have to buy from them. FK makes the COM16T for icon and does not produce them for sale in small quantities in stainless/stainless.

 

Helped install 2 sets of JBA UCA's on Saturday. The new and old styles. Very impressed with both. I think JBA just went to the top pushing out SPC for simplicity on my end

 

Uniballs used to be the thing, then it was delta joints, now everyone is on the ball joint train. What’s next?

 

All this talk of ball joints got me checking mine closer and passenger side lower ball joint looked rough. Plan on at least replacing both of them on each side. What factors or how do I decide whether I need to do bushing on LCA or replace cam bolt? Cam bolts look alright visually but hard to tell on bushings. Truck is 150k so I’m thinking it may be good idea while I’m near them but seems much easier to just do bj.

 

welcome. SOS in South Carolina is the closest one I know of so a bit of a drive but there is local guys that fan them. Bought my sos ones off @bamataco when he fabbed his own. I like the sos ones.

 

the inner joints of the spc are better in my opinion. X-axis bushings and are 0 maintenance as opposed to the JBA. But just all preference i guess.

 

Sorry got mine used from @BamaTaco56

 

I'm trying to figure out uca's still. What maintenance are you talking about? Grease or replacement intervals ? I was set on spc but the new jba looked stupid easy

 

Delta joints are technically a ball joint of sorts just fancy name from icon.

 

yeah i help put the new JBA on phil's truck they are nice. I just like the SPC better because of the bushings and super easy to swap out ball joints. Some people complain that the joint could move because its moveable but ive not once run into this if its properly torqued. You've seen what ive done with my truck so take that for what its worth. Yea JBA need to be greased regularly and the bushings wear out faster.

 

people pay a crap ton on those arms and i have no clue why lol. I guess for the people who shock load the crap out of their trucks lol.

 

yea, I know. Little different design, but a ball joint for the most part. A near $300 ball joint at that. And it’s not a really good design either.

Icon just likes to make everything they do proprietary so they can double down of customers money.

 

Nice im all about the torque specs. I'm all about ease of changing on my end. Once you bend or cut the sheet metal, or cut and flip the uca through bolt, replacing bushings is not too bad. Just need em pressed. The ball joint though I have no idea.

 

I didn't flip my bolt. Not saying if its torque right it will come out but there's the possibility that the bolt could rattle off if the nut fell off.

 

I was one of those when they wore out prematurely and icon wanted some videos and pictures of the play in the balljoint I ditched them for JBA.