Best UCAs

These are the answers I’m looking for. How often are you greasing them?

 

So far every 6 months which ends up being every 15 000km or so

 

I have Camburgs and the only alternative I would even consider is the JBA's.
Camburgs have been on my truck for 10 years, YES 10 years! 140K miles since install. no complaints, no noise, no issues.
They are due for a joint replacement but have been greased 1-2 times a year max.
Living in Ohio, they have held up really well to corrosion and salt spray.

Only reason I like the JBA's is a bolt on ball joint makes it easy to swap out on vehicle without a press.

 

Just swapped my all-pros to JBA, maintenance is a breeze and very little required since they're sealed. JBA bushing designs allows you to grease without loosening the cross bolt as well, very nice touch.

 

My Icon Delta-Joint tubular arms have been good since around 2016-2017. Truck has over 160k miles and they've been on there pretty much the whole time. Only issue is one of the poly bushings developed some play, but admittedly I wasn't greasing them enough.

The Delta Joints have been solid and tight every time I've checked

 

I don’t remember if you ever said you got a CMC. Do you? I had the DKs installed yesterdays and I’m hitting my cab mount. Pretty good. I don’t think my alignment is great though. It’s getting adjusted tomorrow. 285’s and -10 offset wheels, I didn’t think it would hit

 

The cool kids uca's are adjustable with emf or delta joints ...dobinsons..icon...dirkqueen...actune...JD FAB for the win...

 

Another sealed UCA to consider is Elevate Hard Parts. They have tubular and billet, sealed uniball.

 

I did not when I had my 285's on but they were on a +1 wheel. I find the second you push past a 0 offset your in cmc territory. What are your alignment specs? I believe I had 4.5 degrees of caster.

I do have a cmc now but that's to fit a 295 and a -25 wheel

 

I’ve got 2.5 degrees of caster I think. Haven’t seen the spec sheet yet. Just what I was told

 

That will definitely need to be pushed out with 285's. Especially with the negetive offset wheels.

 

You can see here where I would touch the mud flap but no wear lines on the cab mount. Later on I built a new bracket to move the mud flap back a bit and that was mo longer a problem

 

The failure rate you experienced is unacceptable. However the last replacement you got you then sold. I wonder if this replacement from 2023 has failed the person you sold it to? SPC claims to have fixed these issues that plagued them in the past but is this true?

 

That would be quite the phone to call someone you sold a part to a year later. "Hey I sold you some parts a year ago did they fail you like the last 2 sets failed me?"

 

That would be quite the phone call if you worded it that way. My guess would be they have not failed him yet.

 

JBAs were my first choice but my tire and wheel set up doesn't work according to their website. I'm running 255/85r16 with the trail edition wheels and that setup will apparently rub on the JBAs so if you're running pizza cutter tires with oem rims, you'll wanna check their fitment chart on their site. I've been eyeing the OMEs and I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with those?

 

SPC will never get my business again. Even though they handled the warranty claims well all things considered.

If you will read my post, the last set on my truck were supposedly "fixed" and from a good batch. They failed.

There are several issues with the SPC arms. The quality control on the arms themselves is not great. One arm might fit in the bucket nice and snug, the next arm might fit a little loose. That causes the arm to deflect while torqueing and throw the X-axis bearing out of alignment. Now is it the X-axis bearing failing, or is it the arm being a little out of true causing the X-axis bearing to bind slightly after install? For the longest time, these X-axis bearings were only being seen by non-swaybar trucks. I also don't think many customers would have even noticed the failure I had. It would only present itself pulling into my driveway at a certain speed.

What's crazy is I still see big Toyota off-road shops still selling and installing these all the time. There must be a huge number of trucks out there with these in a failed state where the owners are just either missing the noise or it doesn't bother them enough for them to pry on the wheel and watch the lateral play.

 

to be fair with SPC, their adjustability is sometime necessary. My x-axis bushings and both ball joints were completely shot after 18K miles. On monday, I installed Dirt King arms and holy cow the truck drives night and day better. The steering is tight and direct and I have no odd clunking noises or movement. But I do rub with a 285 on a -10 wheel. My cab mount is gonna have to get cut. If youre not interested in cutting, or are trying to fit 35's the SPCs with all of the adjustments are pretty much required. unless you want to tub your firewall

 

I had Total Chaos UCAs and they were great. A friend has JBA. I would say you couldn't go wrong with either.

 

Yes, blessing and a curse with SPC. The problem is I don't think any of us plan for 35's initially so we do some of the work 2-3x before we settle on a setup that's correct.

I had a CMR done 2 years ago "just in case" even though at the time I had 34's and SPC's.

Unfortunately once I went with the Accutune arms, my fenders became a slight problem with my 3/4" wheel spacers. If I took the spacers off, no rub, but didn't like the way the truck looked with a 0-offset wheel. So then I got the C4 fender liner kit. Now all of a sudden I can fit 35's and there are some new 35's out that are c-load and light weight compared with 2 years ago.

My 34's still rubbed the tops of the inner fender out in Moab, some people space the bump stops once they get to 35's to prevent that.

Glad to hear the DK arms drive better!