Camburg UCAs with moog ball joints - right for me?

[newbian]

Hi all, I've been unable to get more than a bit over 2 on my caster with stock UCAS after my modest 2.5" lift several months ago. Tried two different shops, one of which is a fairly reputable off-road shop around here. I didn't mind it at first but now the truck is flat out unenjoyable to drive at highways speeds. Add in any cross wind and goes to feeling unsafe real fast.

So my sole purpose for new UCAs would be to get a better alignment. Would the Camburg ball joints provide a reasonable boost to the caster without sacrificing too much of the strength and durability of OEM?

Not opposed to spending more or even going uniball, I just want to enjoy driving my truck again because right now it's not there for me. Besides more maintenance needed for uniball, I am also worried about early corrosion from all the road salt around here. My wheeling is not extreme by any means.

 

[weeeee]

Hi all, I've been unable to get more than a bit over 2 on my caster with stock UCAS after my modest 2.5" lift several months ago. Tried two different shops, one of which is a fairly reputable off-road shop around here. I didn't mind it at first but now the truck is flat out unenjoyable to drive at highways speeds. Add in any cross wind and goes to feeling unsafe real fast.

So my sole purpose for new UCAs would be to get a better alignment. Would the Camburg ball joints provide a reasonable boost to the caster without sacrificing too much of the strength and durability of OEM?

Not opposed to spending more or even going uniball, I just want to enjoy driving my truck again because right now it's not there for me. Besides more maintenance needed for uniball, I am also worried about early corrosion from all the road salt around here. My wheeling is not extreme by any means.

Short answer- depends.

The Camburg Moogs have positive caster built in to the arms- so in theory with the arms in the same position as OEM it should give you more caster. However, there are some members on here and the Tacoma forum who have not gotten any additional caster beyond OEM specs (0-2 degrees). Whether that's a common issue or widespread install/alignment error is debatable, but in my opinion if I'm paying $500+ for added caster I don't want it to be a hit or miss. Camburg has also gone on record to state that beyond a 2.5" lift their arms won't give you much caster beyond OEM specs. If your lift is less than 2.5" you will probably be fine.

If you want the convenience and low maintenance of a ball joint, I'd go with Camburg w/ Moogs, particular since the only other offering is the SPC/Light Racings which give awesome caster adjustability but have had a very poor track record with failures.

If you want added caster over OEM specs especially with a lift over 2.5", go with the Total Chaos.

Here's a great article on the amount of built-in caster over OEM arms for the TC and Camburg BG arms.
UCA offsets and adjustments - Toyota FJ Cruiser Forum

 

[marshal]

yes.

 

[raycie]

I forgot to keep my alignment specs, but so far I like my camburg ball joints a lot. Wheeling and camping this weekend. 884s on nitrochargers for now.

 

[flyboysgt]

FWIW... I just contacted Camburg directly and asked them about these. They said hey have 2 degrees of caster built in to them over stock. I think the majority of the problem is lazy or inexperienced alignment techs. After my level, I took my truck to get an alignment with stock ucas and told them what I wanted. I got it back with 2.1 and 2.3 caster iirc. They said that was the best they could do. I took it back a month later after u got tired of the pulling and wandering. Another tech redid the alignment in an hour and got it perfectly aligned with 3.5/3.7 caster and pulling perfectly straight. Nothing was done or change in the mean time on my end. Drives great now. It all depends on who does it. Not to mention when you buy the lifetime alignment at Firestone and they know you'll keep bringing it back until it's correct. Don't let the techs fool you. Oh btw, this was about 1.5 inches higher in the front when I did all this.

 

[NZDZRT]

UCA's

I am set to order the JBA Offroad. Less expensive than Camburg, still a BJ design. Perhaps another option for you.

Not an endorsement, yet.

http://jbaoffroad.com/index.php/toy...r-upper-a-arms-for-2005-14-toyota-tacoma.html

 

[Shred_Head]

I'm running the Camburg BJ ucas with a 2.5" lift and was able to get just over +3 caster while keeping everything else in spec.

So far they have been trouble free and ride perfect! No wandering or anything.

 

[jwkilgore]

If you want the convenience and low maintenance of a ball joint, I'd go with Camburg w/ Moogs, particular since the only other offering is the SPC/Light Racings which give awesome caster adjustability but have had a very poor track record with failures.

This isn't an endorsement, but my understanding is the Light Racing failures were with an early design that was changed several years ago. They changed the design then issued free upgrade kits to retrofit the originals that hadn't failed yet. I haven't heard of any significant LR failures in years.

 

[Magnetic4R]

I believe most are able to get in spec with 2.5" lift, myself included(2.6-2.8 caster) You should try another alignment shop to save you $500-700 UCA. But if your primary purpose is to get the alignment in spec. I'm sure the Camburg is more then sufficient. I'm still debating between TC and Camburg as I am planning to set it at 3". I want to try it without the uca at 3" but that would waste my time and effort.

 

[weeeee]

This isn't an endorsement, but my understanding is the Light Racing failures were with an early design that was changed several years ago. They changed the design then issued free upgrade kits to retrofit the originals that hadn't failed yet. I haven't heard of any significant LR failures in years.

No worries, I still think the LR UCAs are a good bang for the buck for those just wanting proper alignment after a lift as they have more adjustment options than any of the other UCAs on the market.

Yes they've changed the design, but it took five different bushing revisions for them to get it correctly, and that's just the bushing failures. When you start to look at the cracked welds that's a whole other issue that I don't think was ever addressed. The last weld failure was in October 2015 to my knowledge. There were at least 3-4 of these failures since I've been posting on here.

Personally with such a major suspension component, I'd rather pay the extra $200-300 to get piece of mind on Icons/Camburgs/TCs knowing that it's less likely to fail.

 

[Jhalko]

I shared my specs via PM, but I'll post for others that come along. Also I agonized over the decision for a little bit myself, not just the bushing issues and a few failures on the SPC LR, the rust issues several folks had just turned me away. My concern was also how much caster I might get after several early buyers didn't seem to get much added caster from the Camburgs. It seems like it has been quite awhile since anyone had issues getting added caster out of the camburgs though.

My caster was right on the line of spec with 2.5" up front with stock UCA's, highway driving wasn't always fun though, when I installed the Camburgs and they ran it the caster was nearly 4.5 and the final alignment came in at 3.6/3.7 after dialing everything in and drives great.

 

[DeepSea]

No worries, I still think the LR UCAs are a good bang for the buck for those just wanting proper alignment after a lift as they have more adjustment options than any of the other UCAs on the market.

Yes they've changed the design, but it took five different bushing revisions for them to get it correctly, and that's just the bushing failures. When you start to look at the cracked welds that's a whole other issue that I don't think was ever addressed. The last weld failure was in October 2015 to my knowledge. There were at least 3-4 of these failures since I've been posting on here.

Personally with such a major suspension component, I'd rather pay the extra $200-300 to get piece of mind on Icons/Camburgs/TCs knowing that it's less likely to fail.

The cracked welds are caused from improper installation with using the inner washer, as shown in the pic. That stretches the welds over time.

 

[weeeee]

The cracked welds are caused from improper installation with using the inner washer, as shown in the pic. That stretches the welds over time.

This was not my photo, but see here:
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-gen-t4rs/151943-official-spc-light-racing-product-update.html

There were some previous bushing/washer combos in the past that caused this cracking issue even when installed according to SPC specs, and this was not an isolated incident.

As others have stated, the bushings were again revised and to date I haven't heard of anyone who has had these issues with the revised bushings.