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Old 11-18-2020, 06:45 PM #16
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Those are the old style, you can see they are two pieces welded together and prone to catastrophic breakage. I threw them out and replaced them with the new style. They are filthy but you can see if they are designed completely different.
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Old 11-18-2020, 07:26 PM #17
Argyle Edison Argyle Edison is offline
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Originally Posted by LandCruiser View Post
Those are the old style, you can see they are two pieces welded together and prone to catastrophic breakage. I threw them out and replaced them with the new style. They are filthy but you can see if they are designed completely different.
Well, that changes things. I'm all set with catastrophic failure, so these are getting shitcanned.

Does anyone have an issue with the Freedom Arms ?

The few threads I read on them seemed as if they were holding up pretty well.
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Old 11-18-2020, 07:58 PM #18
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Originally Posted by Argyle Edison View Post
Well, that changes things. I'm all set with catastrophic failure, so these are getting shitcanned.

Does anyone have an issue with the Freedom Arms ?

The few threads I read on them seemed as if they were holding up pretty well.
The problem I have with them is that freedom offroad is just an importer. They don't design, fabricate, or even own any vehicles that I know of. It's a warehouse that just imports and sells cheap chinese made products. I bought a pair of ebay chinese arms early on - and they broke catastrophically. They were spherical bearings and the misalignment spacers that should be stainless steel - were cast aluminum. Yeah - that's a big deal when it's the only thing holding your spindle to the control arm. Lots of people have had good luck with the ebay arms. And they're great - until you get one of the ones that someone swaps in a different metal part. And the seller is just an importer/reseller.



Freedom uses a ball joint of unknown origin or size. So it may be better than the design I had. It can't be much worse. I find it very troubling that they can't even tell you what ball joint they use - what make, model, size or anything. So if you end up in this situation down the road - what ball joint would you buy to replace the current ones?

And if you're willing to run unknown chinese arms - just buy them direct on alibaba. You can buy the same pair of arms they sell for $150 or so. Off Road Suspension Lower 4x4 Upper Control Arm Shock Absorbers For Prado - Buy Suspension Arm For Tacoma,Lower Control Arm For Prado,Lower Control Arm For Hilux Product on Alibaba.com
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Old 11-19-2020, 06:04 AM #19
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The problem I have with them is that freedom offroad is just an importer. They don't design, fabricate, or even own any vehicles that I know of. It's a warehouse that just imports and sells cheap chinese made products. I bought a pair of ebay chinese arms early on - and they broke catastrophically. They were spherical bearings and the misalignment spacers that should be stainless steel - were cast aluminum. Yeah - that's a big deal when it's the only thing holding your spindle to the control arm. Lots of people have had good luck with the ebay arms. And they're great - until you get one of the ones that someone swaps in a different metal part. And the seller is just an importer/reseller.



Freedom uses a ball joint of unknown origin or size. So it may be better than the design I had. It can't be much worse. I find it very troubling that they can't even tell you what ball joint they use - what make, model, size or anything. So if you end up in this situation down the road - what ball joint would you buy to replace the current ones?

And if you're willing to run unknown chinese arms - just buy them direct on alibaba. You can buy the same pair of arms they sell for $150 or so. Off Road Suspension Lower 4x4 Upper Control Arm Shock Absorbers For Prado - Buy Suspension Arm For Tacoma,Lower Control Arm For Prado,Lower Control Arm For Hilux Product on Alibaba.com


Understood. Thank you for the insight, I'll step up and get something better.
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Old 11-19-2020, 11:25 AM #20
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Understood. Thank you for the insight, I'll step up and get something better.
The real tragedy is that they might be perfectly fine. It's just that the owners of Freedom Offroad don't seem to know anything at all about them. And they don't have enough of a relationship with their suppliers to be able to get any information on what the product components are or where they come from.

If they could tell you that they use OEM toyota joints - or even that the arms would physically fit the OEM joints for replacement, that might be good enough. The arms aren't anything special or hard to produce. They SHOULD cost $200 for a set. OEM arms are $10/ea in bulk. Aftermarket ones shouldn't have to cost $500. So the price isn't out of line with what it should cost for a decent quality arm. It's just that this particular seller doesn't seem to have any knowledge of what they're selling.


Also - steer clear of the Tough Country ones. I actually bought a pair of them also - and they ended up making the alignment worse, not better. They are local to where I live. They said "trucks drive just fine with 1* of caster". No. No they don't.

I ended up with JBA arms which are okay, but the compromise is that they rub on my 20" wheels if I don't use spacers. Seem to fit fine with my stock 17" wheels and 285/70/17 tires. Some others have had some amount of rub with OEM wheels IIRC.

Last edited by Jetboy; 11-19-2020 at 11:35 AM.
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