UCA Discussion - Long Term Ownership (Maintenence, Cost to own, JBA, TC, Icon...)

After 40,000 miles it has come time to Rebuild my Total Chaos UCA's. I was hoping it wouldn't have happened so soon but the lower Urethane bushings on each side have become mis-shapen and are embarrassingly squeaky. (I lube the zerks with superlube and the bolt loosened at least once a month). I have also had to start using liberal amounts of triflow on the Uniballs.

The UCA's have worked well up until now.. I only have about 1.5" lift with kings all around and 265/75/16's. Alignment numbers are good and I get all the usable travel out of my suspension. I am however disappointed in terms of maintenance; cost, complexity and interval frequency. I definitely didnt give this enough thought when purchasing, but am thinking about it now. (pics just cuz)





The first rebuild including bushings, uniballs, press tools, and new UCA bolts (cuz bending the fender flange is a PITA) will cost about $240, and then another $170 every 40,000 miles after. In my opinion, thats kind of ridiculous considering I dont do any hardcore off-roading.

So now I am weighing my options, which to me are:

1). Stay with TC and rebuild every interval - kinda spendy and time consuming...they do look cool though

2). Replace the Uniball with an ICON Delta joint and hope it lasts longer. Although this still leaves me with Bushing Maintenance.

3). Go with a set of JBA UCA's, which supposedly use stock style bushings (eliminate squeaks and maintenance) and have a more robust greasable/easily replaceable joint.


I would like to hear peoples experience with the JBA UCA's, at $450 bucks they seem like a bargain. If in the long term they save me money and time without sacrificing functionality then I would just sell my TC's or take the loss. So far the only negatives ive heard is that there are some clearance issues with certain tire sizes, as well as a rusting issue which has supposedly been resolved.

I would also like to hear anyone's advice or alternatives, as well as long term experience with any brand of UCA that you run. Our trucks are finally getting some mileage on them with aftermarket UCAs.

 

Uniballs or grossly overpriced and overrated. I've heard mixed reviews on delta joints.

Imho, SPC Light Racing UCA or the JBA will work just fine and require little to no maintenance. I have the SPC and paid under $400, no squeaks, solid forged piece, greasable ball-joint and adjustable to whatever I want.

http://www.spcalignment.com/component/content/article?id=372

They dont look sexy or scream super gucci but will outlast most everything else.

 

The main reason I went with SPC's...I wanted an OEM styled UCA that used factory style bushings and greasable style factory ball joints. I had same set on my 08 for 150k miles, seriously!!...the only thing that I did was replace the ball joint to the updated one because their first design didn't have the sert fitting. And NEVER had a squeak from them...

 

These Guys?
I've read that alignment shops have fits with these because they have extra adjustment or something? is that correct or was that a different brand? To me it looks like it just has a ball joint like OEM except its a little bigger and greasable? Is the upper threaded section for vertical adjustment? When you need to replace the joint, do you just replace the entire assembly?



Also, how do the bushings work? are they just rubber bushings which deflect torsionally and spring back or something?

If you were choosing between SPC and JBA, which would you choose and why?

 

I have Icons Tubular UCA with a uniball but I do have a dust cover at the top and periodically clean underneath the uniball. So far 30,000 miles no problem or no squeaks, but once the uniball goes I'll probably switch it over to the delta joint.

 

http://www.spcalignment.com/home/291

This makes way more sense than using poly bushings...

 

No issues with alignment. Its best to bring them the SPC alignment sheet so they know what to do. I think most might have a fit because they have no idea how to setup the SPC. The threaded section is just a nut that locks in a steel plate that you use to roate the balljoint to get the right alignment, additionally the balljoint can be moved inward or outward for further adjustments.

http://www.spcalignment.com/instructions/25480-INS_WEB.pdf

I chose between JBA and SPC and picked SPC because it was way cheaper. Either will work fine.

 

oh... thats interesting. So then technically these offer about +2 degrees of additional caster adjustment than any other Control arm?

These BDS ones offer a similar Pivot joint and a Ball joint but with a little better looks. They dont however have the extra caster adjustment. Too pricey for me though... especially since I already forked out for TC.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQA7_AC95SY

 

You do bring up a good topic. There are a lot of variables when it comes to life expectancy of the uniballs and bushings. Harsher climates will require more TLC. We have some customers that prep their components every 30k and some with 100k+ and little maintenance. The key to a long lasting product is to keep them clean and well lubricated.

I did have a couple of questions for you;

When you said "I lube the zerks with superlube and the bolt loosened at least once a month", did you loosen the UCA thru-bolt before pumping grease into the control arm?
I want to confirm you did loosen the bolt before greasing. Failure to loosen the thru-bolt will result in bushing deformation. We do have a HOW TO thread on greasing your bushings and uniballs. We cover everything you need to know HERE. I wanted to mention this as improper maintenance has occurred in the past.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvMdAX2uybs

Did you spray some triflow on the lower shock mount?
Most aftermarket coil over shocks have spherical bearings and misalignment spacers at the lower shock mount. This is often overlooked as a squeak point and requires lubrication. We'd recommend checking that area too. Sometimes the uniball gets mis-diagnosed as the problem.

We designed the TOTAL CHAOS components to easily be maintained. Replacing the bushings and uniballs can be done at home if desired. We have a HOW TO thread HERE as well as a video online.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjAqneTSDys

I apologize about any delays in response. The TOTAL CHAOS shop is on vacation until the 8th. Contact one of our Authorized Dealers if you need anything or reach out when we are back in the shop. We'll be checking this, but may not respond crazy fast!

TOTAL CHAOS
WWW.CHAOSFAB.COM

 

How long did it take to put 40,000 miles on the control arms?

I have Dirt King tubular arms with moog joints, I don't think I put 10,000 miles on them. No issues that I'm aware of. I greased them for the first time this weekend since install. Something was making noise that sounded like urethane bushings squeaking.

I really haven't a clue, but 40,000 miles sounds like a lot for any aftermarket suspension components.

 

I really appreciate the response!

Yes, I loosen the UCA through bolt completely every time I lubricate the bushings so the grease can purge, then I clean off the ends. On that point though I have a question about how the pivot is supposed to work, and I cant quite recall the assembly configuration. Is the through bolt supposed to clamp the inner sleeves to the spring bucket, and then the poly-bushings are allowed to slip and rotate around the sleeve? The UCA isn't supposed to rotate about the bushings right? In other words, the bolt and washers should stay stationary and the UCA and bushings should pivot together about the sleeve?

I didnt think about the spherical bearing on the lower end of the coilover. I will give that a few shots of triflow.

I agree that the whole assembly is serviceable but its not exactly the easiest procedure considering you have to pull out and press in a new spherical. I of course knew this going in.. I happen to enjoy working on my rigs just am not excited about doing it every 40,000 miles. I live in the PNW and dont do any hardcore offroading, just logging roads mostly.

 

Yeah I'd be elated with 40k miles

 

Whenever I can afford to get a lift, I plan on going with BDS UCAs, they have a no-fault warranty on most of their products and their UCAs use a generic Moog (GM 1500?) Ball joint so you can get replacements from most part shops for relatively cheap. Around 8 years ago I worked in a GM dealer in accessory sales, namely BDS suspension. Some of the stuff they would send replacement parts for, full warranty, sold me for a long time.

 

Here is a PDF of the instructions, page two shows a exploded image of the UCA:

HERE

The bushing stays in place within the control arm. The inner diameter of the bushing is greased and slides along the sleeves. Living in the PNW can be a little tough. Lots of moisture in the air and chemicals on the roads in the winter. We use 100% stainless steel uniballs for the best corrosion resistance to help fight these conditions.

Keep us posted on lubricating the lower shock mount.

TOTAL CHAOS
WWW.CHAOSFAB.COM

 

If I were to do it over again I might go with these too. The design looks solid, and in my opinion using a ball joint or sealed flex joint as SPS calls it makes way more sense than poly bushings which are rotating against clamped hard washers. I really would like to get away from the pressed in Spherical Bearing as well.

Although, the SPS ones are hard to beat for the price, they just dont look as good cosmetically. They do however have added caster adjustment built in if ya need it.

 

I did a lot of research before I did my lift because my truck is a daily driver so I went with the standard JBA's that have 2 degrees of castor built in. Main reason I went with them was I didn't like the uniball being exposed to the elements and having to worry about them being so exposed. The JBA ones are more like a normal ball joint and are easily replaceable if they ever need to be replaced. I used to work at an import shop and they used SPC stuff all the time. Never had any issues with their stuff and they are a great company I just didn't need that much adjustment. The JBA's aligned great and after about 5000 miles on them they are still squeak free. For the price they were a steal and the customer service is top notch. There is a whole thread on them too.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-and-suspension-mega-thread-bs-thread.364484/

 

I try to warn people but what do I know... never mind I went through all this stuff 30 years ago and in reality, nothing's changed. High performance stuff still takes a lot more maintenance and cost.

If I were going to lift another truck (not) and I used it mostly on road with a bit of off road, I would just simply go with a spacer lift and call it a day. You get the "look" and still keep all factory components.

This is why Toyota dealers who customize their trucks mostly use spacers. They don't affect anything except look.

 

Are the SPC or light racing uca's
A good design as in bushing and balljoint lubrication and reliability..?
Looking at these for a mild 2 1/2" lift.

 

Yes