Amazon UCA's?

Be sure to check out JBA UCAs as well. I've been running them with extended travel icons and love them. They claim more articulation than uniballs.

Edit- NVM they are 2nd gen only

 

JBA makes UCAs for first gens.

http://jbaoffroad.com/toyota/jba-std-high-caster-upper-a-arms-for-1996-2004-toyota-tacoma.html

 

Word from JBA is they're also working on a heavy duty version for first gens.

 

I was communicating with the owner of JBA when looking at options for my 2nd gen and Marlin was a good guy to talk with. Ended up getting a full long travel kit.

 

I'll most likely swap out my SPCs for the JBAs. I don't think they were available for first gens when I bought the SPCs.

 

I have definitely looked at JBA I just couldn't find any reviews for first gens since I believe they're fairly new.

 

If they are torqued properly you won't knock them out of alignment. Many people beat the piss out of them anymore they perform just fine. As far as articulation unless you're running some lt setup they will articulate more than the stock LBJ or mid travel shocks will allow, so any articulation advantage is a moot point.

 

Well I'll be...

JBA's rock for the price!

 

is it just me or does the jbas look like they have little tire clearance. looks like even less than stock

 

oh and as far as the Amazon/ebay ucas i know a guy that installed a set about a month ago. seem to fit without modification of the bushings like you had to with the older ones.

 

This seems to be the main complaint from the 2nd and third gen users in this thread:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...thread-bs-thread.364484/page-93#post-15589962

...but i haven't read that whole thread yet and most of the complaints come from dude running 285's or 33" and up. Didn't see anyone specifically talking about 1st gen UCA's from JBA and thats what I'm looking for, these seem like a good way to go so long as they don't rub the tire.

Im curious to hear more about these on the 1st gen for sure.

 

Great point, I'm on stock trd wheels with 35/12.5/17s and I need 2 inch spacers to not rub on the UCAs. I had 1.25 inch spacers back when I had 33s. I'm sure proper backspaced wheels would fix that, but certainly something to consider.

 

Wheel width plays into this also.

 

Considering that stock UCA's made by ACdelco and Moog (considered 'reputable') sell on rockauto from $80-100 apiece, I wouldn't consider a $350 to be 'going cheap'. They just sound cheap in comparison to the $450 JBA's.
Someone has to try them out first for there to be reviews, right? Try emailing them and see if they'll give you a discount in exchange for an honest review.

 

Or the $780 Total Chaos units.

 

I briefly (VERY briefly) considered those Amazon/ebay arms, but ultimately I have a set of total chaos uca's in my garage along with some Kings waiting to go in.

Don't cheap out. The few extra hundred bucks will be worth it when you never have to replace them, and if you do, there is a VERY well established company to back them up. Not some schmoe on Amazon with mediocre reviews that just copied the total chaos design with cheaper materials.

 

A reputable off road company wouldn't jump on Amazon and sell parts, then give people free/cheap parts for "honest" reviews. At least they didn't just get a bot to write fake reviews, but the good companies start in the race market or doing custom work, and getting their name out by word of mouth and smart marketing.

I would much rather put my money in the hands of a company with a long standing reputation for quality and race proven durability. These amazon/ebay parts are nothing more than chinese copies.

I get it that the tc, camburg and other high end uniballs charge those prices because they can, but I guarantee those amazon parts aren't made with the same quality of materials or craftsmanship.

 

If you had the tools to press out uniballs and knew where to find replacement bushings these might be a good deal once you upgraded the uniballs and bushings and you'd end up with something that would be a lasting component.

However if you aren't prepared to doctor these up without paying for installation fees then I'd imagine a used set of TC or other name brand arms might be cheaper in the long run. For someone with a welder, a press, and possibly a lathe for cutting bushings these could be a fun adventure, but if you're paying for these to be installed by someone it could come back to bite you.

Even top of the line uniballs have a lifespan that varies from person to person so I'm guessing the cheap ones that they can afford to put in these arms won't push through as much before they need replacing as well. Plus you want to make sure you can get replacement uniballs - 1" uniballs have at least two sizes between major brands so who knows what size will fit these until you can tear them apart and get measurements.

 

Ok, ok, those are good points. Obviously, if you're gonna do some major/wheeling, I agree and would probably go with brand name UCA's.

But what about someone on a budget who just needs to get their alignment into spec? Or someone who is maybe just DD/mall crawler? Would Amazon UCA's be better or worse than just running oem/acdelco/moog at their edge? I guess this would be a good time to mention that I just recently installed a 5100 'lift', mostly because my oe shocks were already blown. I only adjusted the front to the 1.75" level because I didn't want to deal with the 'you *might* need UCA's and diff drop' issue that comes with a 3 in lift. Diff drop is nbd, but then I saw the price of UCA's and figured I'd put it off until budget allowed me to drop another $500 on mods.

 

There's several threads about the ebay arms with mostly positive reviews, but that was back when they were closer to the $200 range. I am holding off on my UCA purchase for a minute until I save more funds for a reputable company. I may be looking at some Built Right Fabrication arms they are currently in production and considerably cheaper than tc/icon/camburg.