Icon UCA Uniball Binding/Grinding

[Xtremluck]

Been running my Icon tubular UCAs for just about two months now. About a couple of weeks ago I started hearing a grinding noise whenever I turned the steering wheel. Had a friend sit in my truck today while turning the wheel and I narrowed it down to the driver side uniball.

Has anyone run into this? I'm thinking dirt has gotten into the PTFE coating.

 

[honda250xtitan]

Been running my Icon tubular UCAs for just about two months now. About a couple of weeks ago I started hearing a grinding noise whenever I turned the steering wheel. Had a friend sit in my truck today while turning the wheel and I narrowed it down to the driver side uniball.

Has anyone run into this? I'm thinking dirt has gotten into the PTFE coating.

start with some silicon spray. see if it helps. is there any play in the uniball? they're self cleaning, so using a spray is not recommended but its already making noise so it doesn't matter now

 

[Jeremy556]

I have gone through lots and lots of spherical bearings, never a grinding noise, always a squeak/creak or groaning type sound.

Try dropping some triflow on it.

Did you torque the through bolt correctly, and have you checked it since? If that gets loose, you'll start hammering the misalignment spacers into new shapes and have all kinds of bad noises, and eventual failure. I use a lock nut on that bolt and the UCA long bolt.

 

[Xtremluck]

I have gone through lots and lots of spherical bearings, never a grinding noise, always a squeak/creak or groaning type sound.

Try dropping some triflow on it.

Did you torque the through bolt correctly, and have you checked it since? If that gets loose, you'll start hammering the misalignment spacers into new shapes and have all kinds of bad noises, and eventual failure. I use a lock nut on that bolt and the UCA long bolt.

Yeah i use triflow on my mountain bike chains so I may try that. Ill give Icon a call and report back tomorrow.

 

[wfo9]

My guess is that it it is something else... very unusual for a uni-ball to do that within a few months. I would take a closer look at your tie rods.

 

[Magnetic4R]

No grinding but damn, mine squeaks and squeals like no tomorrow. =\

 

[honda250xtitan]

No grinding but damn, mine squeaks and squeals like no tomorrow. =\

replace the uniballs ya goon! if they're not seized in the cup it can be done on the truck. if they're seized....well you may need a press and a torch:ak472:

 

[Xtremluck]

I just got off the phone with Brian@Icon support. They are saying this grinding is normal and part of the break in process. Apparently, the uniballs are super tight from the manufacturer sometimes. I am a bit skeptical as this sound wasn't there when I first installed the UCAs about a month ago.

We shall see what happens. They are willing to replace the uniball if it's still making this noise 500 miles from now. Ill try to get a video of it later this week.

 

[honda250xtitan]

I just got off the phone with Brian@Icon support. They are saying this grinding is normal and part of the break in process. Apparently, the uniballs are super tight from the manufacturer sometimes. I am a bit skeptical as this sound wasn't there when I first installed the UCAs about a month ago.

We shall see what happens. They are willing to replace the uniball if it's still making this noise 500 miles from now. Ill try to get a video of it later this week.

lol grinding is normal...:wtf: yeah they are super tight, thats the difference from a quality uniball to a cheap 15$ chinese one. Good luck!

 

[TE!]

I just got off the phone with Brian@Icon support. They are saying this grinding is normal and part of the break in process. Apparently, the uniballs are super tight from the manufacturer sometimes. I am a bit skeptical as this sound wasn't there when I first installed the UCAs about a month ago.

We shall see what happens. They are willing to replace the uniball if it's still making this noise 500 miles from now. Ill try to get a video of it later this week.

Swapping my ICON's out for TC UCA's due to this same issue. I had to completely rebuild them at 8k miles and now at 20k they are doing the same thing again (for the record, I do know how to properly maintain the UCA's). I had TC UCA's on my 2011 and got 80k miles with proper maint. before I had to replace the bushings and uniball.

 

[Xtremluck]

Swapping my ICON's out for TC UCA's due to this same issue. I had to completely rebuild them at 8k miles and now at 20k they are doing the same thing again (for the record, I do know how to properly maintain the UCA's). I had TC UCA's on my 2011 and got 80k miles with proper maint. before I had to replace the bushings and uniball.

@TE! did you ever use PTFE compatible lubricant to see if that helped? I know they specifically mention that this may shorten the life of the uniball but just curious to see if it was something you tried.

 

[surfbm]

Been running my Icon tubular UCAs for just about two months now. About a couple of weeks ago I started hearing a grinding noise whenever I turned the steering wheel. Had a friend sit in my truck today while turning the wheel and I narrowed it down to the driver side uniball.

Has anyone run into this? I'm thinking dirt has gotten into the PTFE coating.

I had this issue as well. i ended up calling icon, sending them a video of the issue so they could see how bad it was and they offered to warranty out the uniballs. I asked what it would take to get the new Delta Joints instead as those are greasible and dont loose any articulation or strength. Was able to get the Deltas for a reduced price instead of new Uniballs. I have had the deltas on for about a month or so now, and no issues yet. Happy with the change so far.

 

[mwray8909]

Been running my Icon tubular UCAs for just about two months now. About a couple of weeks ago I started hearing a grinding noise whenever I turned the steering wheel. Had a friend sit in my truck today while turning the wheel and I narrowed it down to the driver side uniball.

Has anyone run into this? I'm thinking dirt has gotten into the PTFE coating.

I've installed a few of these. There's it most certainly a scraping noise at first but I guess I wouldn't call it grinding. These uniballs are way to tight from the factory but they will relax after a bit.

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

 

[TE!]

@TE! did you ever use PTFE compatible lubricant to see if that helped? I know they specifically mention that this may shorten the life of the uniball but just curious to see if it was something you tried.

I did use the lubricant on the uniball but it is only a VERY temporary fix. It would come back in a matter of days and seemed to be worse when it did come back. Mine is so loud that it is almost embarrassing when driving by people.

 

[Xtremluck]

I did use the lubricant on the uniball but it is only a VERY temporary fix. It would come back in a matter of days and seemed to be worse when it did come back. Mine is so loud that it is almost embarrassing when driving by people.

Thanks, super helpful. I'll let her ride as is and see if it gets any better. Totally empathetic about the point of being embarrassed while driving around. Already had two passengers comment about the noise.

To be honest I'm starting to regret getting these things. To add to the pain I also had the driver side UCA's ABS cable mounting bolt sheer off when I put about 10 lbs of torque on it. :redbrick:

 

[TE!]

Thanks, super helpful. I'll let her ride as is and see if it gets any better. Totally empathetic about the point of being embarrassed while driving around. Already had two passengers comment about the noise.

To be honest I'm starting to regret getting these things. To add to the pain I also had the driver side UCA's ABS cable mounting bolt sheer off when I put about 10 lbs of torque on it. :redbrick:

As much as it sucks, I am biting the bullet and going back to the Total Chaos UCA's. Never had a single issue with them on my 2011. Went with the ICONS this time because my vendor could not get the TC's.

 

[honda250xtitan]

ya'll should take a look at DirtKing Fabrication uppers.

 

[wfo9]

I thought they all used the same basic uniballs... guess not. No noise from TC. I went when them because they are so proven, but I would expect the ICONs to be the same thing.

 

[Jono.ful]

I thought they all used the same basic uniballs... guess not. No noise from TC. I went when them because they are so proven, but I would expect the ICONs to be the same thing.

Icon used to use COM spherical bearings which are carbon steel, whereas Total Chaos has always used full stainless steel. I have heard rumors that Icon has since changed. Easy enough to swap a wssx-t stainless bearing in though. I know the TC's use a size 16, and IIRC the icon ones are COMH16 which is a similar size, though they may not be the wide series.

I've always used F&K Rod Ends sphericals in mine, which is TC OEM. Summit Racing has the best price I've managed to find, and swapping the bearings is super easy

 

[Nightglow]

Check out JBA

As much as it sucks, I am biting the bullet and going back to the Total Chaos UCA's. Never had a single issue with them on my 2011. Went with the ICONS this time because my vendor could not get the TC's.

You should a least look at the JBA UCA's. They have as good or better articulation than a uniball, easy to lube via zerks, easy and inexpensive to replace ball if needed and come in two styles with an HD version if you rock crawl your rig. Oh, and did I mention they are only $450. I have had mine now for 10,000 miles and not a sound, shake or shimmy. Just a happy customer and not affiliated with JBA.