Anyone heard of Camburg UCA?

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They've been around forever, never heard anything bad about them. Those are heims, so you can easily move the upper ball joint around and get whatever kind of alignment you want, but I wouldn't put them on anything but a trailer queen. They are going to require constant bearing replacements and be noisey.
 
I run SPC myself, so I can't comment on first hand knowledge, but I've seen plenty of guys on here running them and a couple guys around my area running them and I've never heard anyone say anything bad about them. From what I can tell, they are a high quality part.
 
They've been around forever, never heard anything bad about them. Those are heims, so you can easily move the upper ball joint around and get whatever kind of alignment you want, but I wouldn't put them on anything but a trailer queen. They are going to require constant bearing replacements and be noisey.


Trailer queen, what about a mall princess? [emoji23]

I’m looking for significant ride quality improvements as this is my daily, we also take it on long trips, so if the extreme caster helps the steering to not deflect when hitting potholes, and stay on-center when cruising at interstate speeds, they can HAVE my money.


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I have their tubular arms with poly bushing and they make clunk noises, so I can imagine the billet ones being noisier
 
Trailer queen, what about a mall princess? [emoji23]

I’m looking for significant ride quality improvements as this is my daily, we also take it on long trips, so if the extreme caster helps the steering to not deflect when hitting potholes, and stay on-center when cruising at interstate speeds, they can HAVE my money.


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Best ride quality will be with rubber bushings. They last longer and absorb vibrations. The flex also makes the ball joint last a lot longer. Spherical bearing aka uniballs are strong and have high available angles in the right orientation, they're cheap and can be easy to swap in many cases, but they don't last very long.

I'd plan on replacing every year or two depending on miles and conditions. If you get more life its a bonus. My shock bearings are about annual replacements. It's a pita to do for the shocks.

For racing use or of you have lots of free time to maintain them - go for it! For a daily driver that you don't want to be constantly tinkering with I'd go for a UCA with rubber bushings and sealed ball joints. Lots of options out there. I've had a few different sets. Over the 7 years I've had my 4R.

Overall the best ride and handling I've found is the aftermarket fox suspension I have set as low as possible (1" front lift, rear stock height). And stock UCAs. Not the best in the dirt. But the best on the highway is pretty much how it comes from Toyota but with the plush fox valving. Same setup but set at 3"lift front 2" rear 220lb coils and UCAs tracked well, but the ride was significant harsher. It was much more noticeable in the back seats.

Anyway - there's no free lunch. Higher you go the more steering feedback and more harshness regardless of UCAs and caster. UCAs and alignment can help with tracking but only so much. Wheel spacers and wide tires make it worse. Just the nature of the leverage on the steering axis. If you want the magic bullet for great highway manners, it's basically free. Just set it back to near stock height and keep your OEM UCAs. :) Doesn't look as good. And you lose some ground clearance for off road. But it'll drive better.

If you can find one - go test drive a stock 4runner. For folks like me who've driven lifted ones for a long time, it's easy to forget just how nice the stock setup was on the highway.

Good luck with whatever you choose!
 
Best ride quality will be with rubber bushings. They last longer and absorb vibrations. The flex also makes the ball joint last a lot longer. Spherical bearing aka uniballs are strong and have high available angles in the right orientation, they're cheap and can be easy to swap in many cases, but they don't last very long.

I'd plan on replacing every year or two depending on miles and conditions. If you get more life its a bonus. My shock bearings are about annual replacements. It's a pita to do for the shocks.

For racing use or of you have lots of free time to maintain them - go for it! For a daily driver that you don't want to be constantly tinkering with I'd go for a UCA with rubber bushings and sealed ball joints. Lots of options out there. I've had a few different sets. Over the 7 years I've had my 4R.

Overall the best ride and handling I've found is the aftermarket fox suspension I have set as low as possible (1" front lift, rear stock height). And stock UCAs. Not the best in the dirt. But the best on the highway is pretty much how it comes from Toyota but with the plush fox valving. Same setup but set at 3"lift front 2" rear 220lb coils and UCAs tracked well, but the ride was significant harsher. It was much more noticeable in the back seats.

Anyway - there's no free lunch. Higher you go the more steering feedback and more harshness regardless of UCAs and caster. UCAs and alignment can help with tracking but only so much. Wheel spacers and wide tires make it worse. Just the nature of the leverage on the steering axis. If you want the magic bullet for great highway manners, it's basically free. Just set it back to near stock height and keep your OEM UCAs. :) Doesn't look as good. And you lose some ground clearance for off road. But it'll drive better.

If you can find one - go test drive a stock 4runner. For folks like me who've driven lifted ones for a long time, it's easy to forget just how nice the stock setup was on the highway.

Good luck with whatever you choose!


Honestly I want to get all the fancy adjustable parts and keep stock ride HEIGHT. I want whatever I do to be advantageous to on-road STABILITY. That’s the word I was looking for.


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Honestly I want to get all the fancy adjustable parts and keep stock ride HEIGHT. I want whatever I do to be advantageous to on-road STABILITY. That’s the word I was looking for.


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dude. just f'ing drive it then. its stock. leave it alone if that's your goal. adding parts is unnecessary.
 
dude. just f'ing drive it then. its stock. leave it alone if that's your goal. adding parts is unnecessary.


Oh I’m driving it alright. 12k miles in 6 months.

I need some more caster than what’s available stock.

I just don’t want to put something on that will need to be replaced every year or two.


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Oh I’m driving it alright. 12k miles in 6 months.

I need some more caster than what’s available stock.

I just don’t want to put something on that will need to be replaced every year or two.


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you should get the billet because you'll be an IG star!
you can go spc and look poor but also i think its minimal maintenance? i dont know i have tc uca. someone with spc can chime in.
or just leave it alone. why do you need more caster if everything else is stock (assuming youre stock) and 12k highway miles?

and camburg's been around since the mid 90's and highly reputable.

you want better on-road stability while keeping stock height? get thicker f/r sway bar + f/r strutbar + f/r/side powerbrace + etc...
 
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Oh I’m driving it alright. 12k miles in 6 months.

I need some more caster than what’s available stock.

I just don’t want to put something on that will need to be replaced every year or two.


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I would go with SPC. I have them and you can tinker with them for caster and camber and they come with + 2 degrees of camber and instructions that show how the settings affect camber for either more or less. So, if you have a recent alignment sheet showing your current settings then you will have some idea where you are once you install the SPC. Measure your current camber with an angle finder and straight edge vertically against each wheel and again after install then you can get it back there with adjustment in your garage. It's fun!
 
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I heard from a friend that Camburg was a ho-bag in college and was a total chaos everywhere he went. Eventually, he cleaned himself up and went to work with Specialty Product Company. I don't know if any of this is true though.
 
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Oh I’m driving it alright. 12k miles in 6 months.

I need some more caster than what’s available stock.

I just don’t want to put something on that will need to be replaced every year or two.


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If all you need is more castor than stock just get the $700 camburg arms or go even cheaper and get some jba's and be done with it.
 
I ran the Camburg UCA with Moog type bearing for about 40k miles but then had some wear on a Moog and didn’t want to deal with press fit maintenance so swapped for JBA. No noises or any other issues on either brand.
 
I added Camburg UCAs equipped with Uniballs as part of a 3" lift I installed in my '18 TRD OffRoad. It got the silver/gray tubular steel model, not the billet. They feel and look great, with perfect wheel camber achieved. Three years riding over the dusty rocky Southern Arizona terrain, and working great. Would highly recommend.
 

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