JBA upper control arms hitting Spring

[daytonaviolet]

I also asked another question :


Marlin,

I have the 2018 Bilstein TRD Pro suspension. I’ve added the Cornfed 2/1.5 spacers. The total lift I now have in the front is 2.75” (0.75 stock and 2” from the spacer).

Do you think my suspension will rub on the JBA std high caster UCA ?

Thanks,
Fernando



JBA response :

Yes, all stock springs will hit the UCAs at full droop of the suspension.

The only time your suspension goes to full droop is when you are articulating it offroad at slow speeds, or jump over a railroad crossing, the arms touch for a split second and back to ride height.

How many time have your arms you have now touched the spring?
JBAs UCAs will touch the springs even less!


Thanks
Marlin Gehman
K.M. Gehman Inc.
DBA: JBA Offroad
704 Forman Road
Souderton Pa 18964
Ph: 855-533-7437
Fax: 215-822-7735

 

[TRDshadow]

It sucks, but it makes sense. The limiting factor before was the UCA, now you have more down travel. The control arm doesnt have the travel of the aftermarket strut. A shorter travel strut or a limiting strap would be the only option in this case. But when you want to articulate you want some travel.. I'll still end up with JBAs due to the fact that i wont wheel mine hard enough to chip or weaken the spring if it hit. should we have to worry about it? NO! Will there always be a trade off of some short.. yes..

 

[Crikeymike]

I just had someone else in another thread talking about these. I think the clearance problem is that the JBA ball joint area is very close to the same size as stock (shown with the yellow lines), from these side by side photos from an earlier post. There doesn't appear to much additional clearance there from the back of the ball joint where it can contact the spring (1/4" maybe?), which is the same thing that happens with stock arms.

You can see where they gained clearance on the left curve of the arm, shown in the yellow circle.

 

[Mudballz]

If anyone wants to sell their used JBA UCAs I’m in lmk
Mike :loco:

 

[Jetboy]

I just had someone else in another thread talking about these. I think the clearance problem is that the JBA ball joint area is very close to the same size as stock (shown with the yellow lines), from these side by side photos from an earlier post. There doesn't appear to much additional clearance there from the back of the ball joint where it can contact the spring (1/4" maybe?), which is the same thing that happens with stock arms.

You can see where they gained clearance on the left curve of the arm, shown in the yellow circle.

That's a good pic. The problem I see is that the bend where they gain some clearance isn't where the clearance is needed. It might useful for clearing remote reservoir hose, but that generally isn't a problem that I've come across.

I have JBA arms and have never had an issue - but I also have Fox suspension. I was not aware that the coils were enough narrower to make a difference.

The JBA ball joint is a GM OEM product design that has a lot of good features, but it also has some drawbacks - namely that the bolt flange is pretty big and hard to fit into the space that works on the Toyota setup. The GM that they come from is a torsion bar design IIRC. So clearance was never a design issue.

 

[Crikeymike]

I just had someone else report to me today their JBA's are making coil spring contact. I guess they haven't added any clearance to them yet. I guess they really can't unless they change to a different ball joint.

 

[rdruss]

It sucks, but it makes sense. The limiting factor before was the UCA, now you have more down travel. The control arm doesnt have the travel of the aftermarket strut. A shorter travel strut or a limiting strap would be the only option in this case. But when you want to articulate you want some travel.. I'll still end up with JBAs due to the fact that i wont wheel mine hard enough to chip or weaken the spring if it hit. should we have to worry about it? NO! Will there always be a trade off of some short.. yes..

If it bugs you and you have JBA's I would jack up the 4runner as JBA says, find out exactly where the arm/spring make contact, take a short section of rubber hose that will fit diameter of coil, slit it, fit it over coil and secure with a couple of zip ties, or goop some RTV inside the slit hose as you fit it over coil and at least you have some coil protection if that is a concern.

 

[Ultarnr75]

I'm surprised you got a response from Marlin because I never did. My experience with JBA wasn't a good one. I purchased the standard high caster set of UCA, NOT the OEM ones.

I had contacted them the 1st time when my ball joints started to rust. They allowed me to purchase their new and improved "Cerakote H Series Oven Cure coating" ball joints. I had to remove my old rusted one and ship them in order to receive a refund.

Shortly after that exchange I contacted Marlin about my issue with contact at full drop. I emailed the specs and photos of my setup and never got a response after 3 emails. I never noticed an issue until i started to rotate my tires and witnessed that contact with the spring. After my issues and no response, I decided to let it go. I have run the UCA for about 2 years and thought maybe that is why i was getting the 3rd degree.
My plan is to remove the JBA UCA and put them on my 4th gen runner that i care less about spring contact and purchase some ICONs for the 5th gen.

I would not have purchased these UCA if I had seeN a response from Marlin stating contact at full drop like daytonaviolet email.

 

[Hi-desertT4R]

Curious as to which groove you have the circlip set. I have a similar set-up in my 4th gen. My 5100’s were in the 3’rd groove. The only time I ever saw contact with the spring at full droop was after my passenger side 5100 came apart. The shaft separated from the internal valve. When I first lifted my T4R in 2015 I had stock UCA’s and 5100’s on the bottom groove with Toytec coils and the uca rubbed the coil. I replaced the uca’s with the JBA High caster units a year or so ago. I was able to correct my alignment and run a larger tire without rubbing.

 

[randy88fj62]

I found this 5th gen thread very helpful and it addresses the same issue I have currently. I wanted to post and add my info so others may be able to compare later.

I have a 2008 4th gen 4Runner with the following:

JBA UCAs w/ Moog ball joints
1.5” wheel spacers
1.25” strut spacer lift
Splindle gussets
Cam tab gussets
33” BFG ATs
Body mount chop
Tacoma coils that have more lift than stock 4th gen coils.

Just got it aligned and the JBA UCA ball joint contacts coil at full droop when I jack the tire off the ground.

I am waiting on King Suspension and hope their coil solves this issue.

 

[Crikeymike]

I found this 5th gen thread very helpful and it addresses the same issue I have currently. I wanted to post and add my info so others may be able to compare later.

I have a 2008 4th gen 4Runner with the following:

JBA UCAs w/ Moog ball joints
1.5” wheel spacers
1.25” strut spacer lift
Splindle gussets
Cam tab gussets
33” BFG ATs
Body mount chop
Tacoma coils that have more lift than stock 4th gen coils.

Just got it aligned and the JBA UCA ball joint contacts coil at full droop when I jack the tire off the ground.

I am waiting on King Suspension and hope their coil solves this issue.

Tacoma coils, but on stock struts, or what struts are you using?

 

[randy88fj62]

Tacoma Strut/coil. Take offs.

 

[4runherpow]

Reviving this old thread. Wish I had seen this earlier!

I bought JBAs to replace my Freedom Off-Road UCAs which ball joints rusted so badly I couldn't replace them.

The UCAs make contact on my Freedom Off-Road coilovers at full droop.

If I rotate the spring would it even help? I tried rotating the coils but it's seated in the strut hat so don't think I can. I guess I could remove the shock and rotate it with it out, but that's a ton of work.

Does it matter if it makes contact?

 

[Hi-desertT4R]

My JBA upper control arms hit my springs when I had my old Toytec coilover setup. Bilstein 5100’s Toytec spacers and 700# springs. I did end up rotating the springs to lessen how much contact there was but never really had an issue otherwise. I currently run Bilstein 6112’s with their 650# springs and don’t have any contact with the spring.

Picture attached is the passenger side. The shock was blown here. I adjusted the spring after replacing the blown up shock. This was 2021.