UPDATE 12/02: Anyone with ICON Billet UCAs? I need some advice (kinda long)
So I purchased an ICON stage 6 kit back in February but had to wait a few months for a lot of the parts to be delivered since most were backordered. Around mid April I had the Billet Upper Control Arms, Coilovers and Rear Springs installed at a pretty well known off road shop (Not an ICON shop but they had done some kits before). For about the first 3-4 weeks everything was perfect. It drove great and there was no noise whatsoever.
At about the month mark I started to hear some minor squeaks or so when pulling into my parking garage. Then things progressively got worse. Around the middle of June my 4Runner started to sound like a rickety old truck. It pretty much makes this horrible creaking at low speeds (<20 MPH). Even when parked I can tug on the roof rack and hear the creaking from the front end.
I looked over the ICON instructions which say absolutely do not lube the uniball and heim joints on the UCAs. So I decided to take it back to the shop that installed it to make sure nothing had loosened up. They looked it over and said everything was tightened to spec and that the noise was definitely coming from the UCAs. They told me they had talked to ICON in the past about similar noises and ICON said do not lube and it should resolve itself in time. My only other option was to disregard them and spray them down.
Not really satisfied with both those options I began to read some posts in other forums about issues with the uniballs going bad. Seeing as how they are sealed with a cap and teflon lined you wouldn't think they'd be an issue right? Well today I decided to remove the covers and take a look inside. The pictures below show what I found.
Left UCA
Right UCA
I cleaned them both up the best that I could with some tissues and compressed air. There's still a lot of gunk left and what looks to be rust in both.
Left UCA Cleaned
Right UCA Cleaned
The most interesting thing I found while cleaning them besides all the gunk was a 3/4" metal shaving in the Right UCA.
I'm starting to think these are definitely the cause of the noises. What I don't understand is how after only 2 1/2 months and less than 3000 miles these things look that bad? Mainly just highway driving and the occasional dirt road. The real off road test isn't until August. I checked the o-rings on both the caps and they looked fine and are definitely bolted down all the way.
I plan to call ICON on Monday about the issue but wanted some advice. Is this typical build up and wear or are the uniballs shot? I've read of people just replacing the uniballs only to have them go bad again. Do I demand both UCAs be replaced in case they are out of spec or something? Anything else I should mention or look into?
UPDATE 12/02
Sorry for the long awaited update but life has a way of keeping you busy. Anyways, after receiving the new bearings for the UCAs I had them installed by Slee Off Road (they also did the original installation) way back in July. There was no change whatsoever in the noise level or squeaking/creaking.
At that point I said screw it and figured I would just live with the noise until I had a garage to work in again which would be around Nov/Dec. Since July I've put on only about 3000 miles and don't drive it unless I absolutely have to. Noise is just as bad if not worse than before. Here's a youtube video which doesn't really do the sound level justice but at least you can get an idea. I'm going 5 MPH through the whole video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qT-7VlkNyU
So now it's December and finally having a garage again I decided to pull the UCAs completely, inspect, reinstall and re-torque to specs. The drivers side UCA looked pretty good visually but I did notice the uniball binding at a certain point which required a smack from a rubber mallet to free it again but otherwise moved freely.
The passengers side UCA was interesting. The uniball moved freely and I noticed no binding. However there was some corrosion again:
I also figured out where the metal shavings were coming from:
Bottom of passenger UCA
Top of passenger UCA
The missing chunks of metal are at the exact same position above and below the uniball bearing. I'm almost positive this damage was before the bearings were replaced but I'm not sure why Slee did not notice it.
So after all this I cleaned them up a little more and reinstalled them both and retorqued to Toyota specs. Did I still hear the noise you ask? Yep!
I decided to stick my head way down in the wheel well next to the coilovers and have someone rock it back and forth. Sure enough the squeaking noise is coming from there. I pull my tires again and find what appears to be a leak or was a leak on both coilovers:
Driver side coilover:
Passenger side coilover:
I say "was a leak" because I remember back to when I first had my suspension installed that one day I noticed some grease or oil sprayed all up under my wheel wells. At the time I figured I ran over something and didn't think anything of it and just washed it off. Now I'm thinking my coilover seals failed and sprayed fluid all over the place and was the start of all my problems.
Am I just this unlucky or do other people have the same problems with Icon? After being installed only 7000 miles ago I have all this happen? At this point I'm so frustrated that I'm debating scrapping the whole setup and putting the stock suspension back on. Then again why should I eat a $5000 setup? I plan on calling Icon again on Monday but it will be very hard to remain calm.
So I purchased an ICON stage 6 kit back in February but had to wait a few months for a lot of the parts to be delivered since most were backordered. Around mid April I had the Billet Upper Control Arms, Coilovers and Rear Springs installed at a pretty well known off road shop (Not an ICON shop but they had done some kits before). For about the first 3-4 weeks everything was perfect. It drove great and there was no noise whatsoever.
At about the month mark I started to hear some minor squeaks or so when pulling into my parking garage. Then things progressively got worse. Around the middle of June my 4Runner started to sound like a rickety old truck. It pretty much makes this horrible creaking at low speeds (<20 MPH). Even when parked I can tug on the roof rack and hear the creaking from the front end.
I looked over the ICON instructions which say absolutely do not lube the uniball and heim joints on the UCAs. So I decided to take it back to the shop that installed it to make sure nothing had loosened up. They looked it over and said everything was tightened to spec and that the noise was definitely coming from the UCAs. They told me they had talked to ICON in the past about similar noises and ICON said do not lube and it should resolve itself in time. My only other option was to disregard them and spray them down.
Not really satisfied with both those options I began to read some posts in other forums about issues with the uniballs going bad. Seeing as how they are sealed with a cap and teflon lined you wouldn't think they'd be an issue right? Well today I decided to remove the covers and take a look inside. The pictures below show what I found.
Left UCA
Right UCA
I cleaned them both up the best that I could with some tissues and compressed air. There's still a lot of gunk left and what looks to be rust in both.
Left UCA Cleaned
Right UCA Cleaned
The most interesting thing I found while cleaning them besides all the gunk was a 3/4" metal shaving in the Right UCA.
I'm starting to think these are definitely the cause of the noises. What I don't understand is how after only 2 1/2 months and less than 3000 miles these things look that bad? Mainly just highway driving and the occasional dirt road. The real off road test isn't until August. I checked the o-rings on both the caps and they looked fine and are definitely bolted down all the way.
I plan to call ICON on Monday about the issue but wanted some advice. Is this typical build up and wear or are the uniballs shot? I've read of people just replacing the uniballs only to have them go bad again. Do I demand both UCAs be replaced in case they are out of spec or something? Anything else I should mention or look into?
UPDATE 12/02
Sorry for the long awaited update but life has a way of keeping you busy. Anyways, after receiving the new bearings for the UCAs I had them installed by Slee Off Road (they also did the original installation) way back in July. There was no change whatsoever in the noise level or squeaking/creaking.
At that point I said screw it and figured I would just live with the noise until I had a garage to work in again which would be around Nov/Dec. Since July I've put on only about 3000 miles and don't drive it unless I absolutely have to. Noise is just as bad if not worse than before. Here's a youtube video which doesn't really do the sound level justice but at least you can get an idea. I'm going 5 MPH through the whole video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qT-7VlkNyU
So now it's December and finally having a garage again I decided to pull the UCAs completely, inspect, reinstall and re-torque to specs. The drivers side UCA looked pretty good visually but I did notice the uniball binding at a certain point which required a smack from a rubber mallet to free it again but otherwise moved freely.
The passengers side UCA was interesting. The uniball moved freely and I noticed no binding. However there was some corrosion again:
I also figured out where the metal shavings were coming from:
Bottom of passenger UCA
Top of passenger UCA
The missing chunks of metal are at the exact same position above and below the uniball bearing. I'm almost positive this damage was before the bearings were replaced but I'm not sure why Slee did not notice it.
So after all this I cleaned them up a little more and reinstalled them both and retorqued to Toyota specs. Did I still hear the noise you ask? Yep!
I decided to stick my head way down in the wheel well next to the coilovers and have someone rock it back and forth. Sure enough the squeaking noise is coming from there. I pull my tires again and find what appears to be a leak or was a leak on both coilovers:
Driver side coilover:
Passenger side coilover:
I say "was a leak" because I remember back to when I first had my suspension installed that one day I noticed some grease or oil sprayed all up under my wheel wells. At the time I figured I ran over something and didn't think anything of it and just washed it off. Now I'm thinking my coilover seals failed and sprayed fluid all over the place and was the start of all my problems.
Am I just this unlucky or do other people have the same problems with Icon? After being installed only 7000 miles ago I have all this happen? At this point I'm so frustrated that I'm debating scrapping the whole setup and putting the stock suspension back on. Then again why should I eat a $5000 setup? I plan on calling Icon again on Monday but it will be very hard to remain calm.
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plenty of off-road. they dont rattle or squeak and certainly are not rusty. 
