Who’s got Nitro Gear UCA’s?

reviews? longevity? comparison to SPCs? maintenance?

 

bump

 

I googled on “site:tacomaworld.com nitro gear uca” and found this:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/nitro-gears-uca-and-cmc-w-3in-lift.682683/

You owe me a beer.

I’m assuming they are relatively new, because I have never heard of them and there is almost zero mention of them on here.

 

UCA and ball joints are straight forward. They are what they are.

 

Look likes just another over priced aftermarket UCA. Didn't see anything special about it.

 

Nothing is perfect

 

seemed like it was more “stock” sturdy but accounted for lifts most owners have which the oem UCAs couldn’t accommodate for which is why we all jumped to TC or SPC.

i guess i was seeing anyone was able to confirm they are good enough and don’t need all the maintenance and eventually replacing parts as you do on the other popular UCA brands

 

Installed Nitro UCA with a 2”/1.5” lift. After some reading, they appear to be rebranded Blackhawk UCA. Originally planned to go with SPC, but found these for $329 on a July 4th deal at Suspension Connection. They came packaged exceptionally well and shipped directly from Nitro Gear. Very sturdy and built solid. I believe they have OEM style bushings and OEM sized greasable ball joint. Install was smooth, even without instructions.
I had major castor and toe upon installation with lift, but my local alignment pro got it dialed in pretty easily. So far the ride is fantastic.

 

I have the Blackhawk UCAs. Very well built with gussets. OEM bushings. Greaseable balljoints. Mounting points for the ABS cables. Checked all the boxes. Only downfall is they have at least 3 degrees built in caster and I got pretty much the same #s in as the above printout which caused a rub on the cabin mount. The lowest caster I could get with the camber still in spec was 4*. I have a 2" lift up front.

 

Same, never knew they produced UCAs

 

I’m still on stock wheels and tires. What is your wheel size/offset and tire size that rubbed? Did you chop the cab mount?

 

@MyMidLifeCrisis how those uppper control arms doing to date? I got them in my basket

 

5k miles later, no squeaks or issues. Hindsight, probably could have stuck with OEM UCA with 2” lift. I’ve since added 4Runner Trail wheels (17x7.5, +15 Offset) with 265-70-17 MT Baja Boss AT- no rubbing, no cutting. Would recommend this UCA as a quality and affordable option.

 

The arms themselves are solid - no issues there. However I have had their UBJ's blow out relatively quickly - less than 10k miles - first set I did some hard off roading. My second set of UBJ's mainly a pavement queen with only one mild over land trail.
At close to $200 just to replace the UBJ's not including labor - I am having a hard time swallowing over $400 in maintenance just on UBJ's.

I am strictly following their lube recommendations (2-3 pumps every oil change). Their UBJ's or at least their boots are rather proprietary - and the boots burst way too easily. I understand that aftermarket UCA's and those things do require more upkeep - but I'll be damned if I am going to spend $200 every 10K miles, just for UBJ's.
I'll be switching to SPC's or JBA's very very soon.

Id steer clear of Nitro-Gear UCA's.