Quote:
Originally Posted by Jetboy
The Tough Country UCA's are the next cheapest I think along with the Freedom Offroad. Again - don't. For starters, they don't correct for caster angle that I'm aware of, the Tough Country ones for sure do not. They were one of the first to use a ball joint instead of a uniball so I ordered a set. They do not have any caster correction, I sent them back. Freecom Offroad are just chinese import junk. They (the reseller warehouse) doesn't even know what ball joint they use and literally could not provide any information on what it is or whether you can replace it and what you'd replace with. They don't even own a 4Runner or have any testing. They are just a different version of the cheap ebay model with a different sticker.
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Couple of things I'd like to clarify from my research before buying the Freedom Offroad arms.
1. These are OEM style ball joints, not uniballs, so I'm a bit less concerned about a failure like your Uniball UCA's (glad there was no major damage or injuries BTW!). From my understanding, your uniballs actually pulled through the uniball due to the bolt being smaller than the hole in the uniball?
2. These are made in Taiwan, not China. Not saying that changes much/if anything with the long term quality one way or the other, but seems like manufacturing is usually a little better from Taiwan
I highly doubt they are the same as the Ebay junk/Alibaba arms as they don't even look the same (different gussets, weld quality in images alone is better etc.)
3. These do have built in caster correction. There is no way I was pulling a 3.6 caster with my lift at 2.7" (hub to fender measurements) on OEM arms. Also, you can see it in the attached image. It's not nearly the caster you can get from SPC's but it's also fixed.
4. I ordered based on multiple reviews from people running for years on Tacoma World without issue. Was there some hesitation since they aren't TC/SPC/JBA? Definitely. So far am I satisfied with them? Yup.
5. If I recall correctly (can't find the image anymore for the 4Runner UCA's, but did find one for Nissan Titan SPC's) the SPC arms are made in China but assembled here in Colorado.
So they might be Chinese junk, they might not be. What i do know is the build quality looks great, I've had no issues so far, they are a serviceable and replaceable ball joint, and have a lifetime warranty.
Not trying to start an argument, but to have some good conversation on these, as I appreciate the input and knowledge you provide to the forum, as seem recently in another thread. So far I've only got about 100 miles of bashing offroad on them, so they will be inspected, as they are new. Just trying to provide as much information as possible to people.