Replacing UCA's & Looking for Opinions/Experience

[340W]

Hi all,

A week or so ago, I was changing the front brakes on my '08 and checking the various suspension pieces along the way. Everything looked good except for both upper ball joints, which were leaking grease and the boots on both were totally destroyed. Since then, I have noticed a mild clank when I go over large bumps, train tracks, etc. that I'm thinking is caused by the UBJ's being shot. The truck only has 94k on the clock and is bone stock with the exception of 5100's at 1.75 on the front. I'm finding it suspicious that both ball joints would fail in the same fashion with a fairly modest modification. I'm actually wondering if the shop who put the shocks on didn't mess them up when they installed. Seems very suspicious...

At any rate, I need to replace the UBJ's for sure, but figured it would be easier and more thorough to just replace the entire UCA assembly (new bushings and all). I'm looking at replacements and Rock Auto has a few that are attractively priced and come as a unit. I have no plans/desire to modify the truck any further, and I don't do any wheeling. That said, I believe my setup is still within the allowances of the stock UCA's with regards to alignment and clearances. Two questions:

• Does anyone have a recommendation on which UCA to use? The choices are Beck/Arnley, Mevotech, Dorman, and Moog in ascending price.
• Given my current setup and desired behavior, does it make any sense for me to upgrade to aftermarket UCA's? I just wanna drive the thing back and forth to work without it falling apart. I'm also not necessarily interested in spending more money unless it will do something for reliability or correct setup.

Thanks to the wealth of information on this site, I'm feeling fairly at ease with replacing these. I just need a bit of direction on the parts. Thanks in advance.

 

[Jeremy556]

Not sure how you could mess up the UBJ installing coilovers, but I guess anything's possible.

If you are at a lower preload setting, OEM UCAs should be fine. At higher lift settings, it will be difficult/impossible to get decent caster settings, and I would use an aftermarket lift oriented UCA (Total Chaos, Icon, Camburg, AllPro, etc). I wouldn't bother with aftermarket OEM-style UCAs as quality and fitment vary widely. They may be cheaper than OEM, but what is the time/hassle of removal/installation and alignment worth?

 

[340W]

Not sure how you could mess up the UBJ installing coilovers, but I guess anything's possible.

I'm guessing they probably separated the UCA from the spindle to get the old assembly out and were a little too happy with the pickle fork or something. Thanks for your advice on the aftermarket OEM UCA's, too. I'd wager they're fine for what I'm doing with the truck, but OEM certainly sounds nice. When I replace these, I will have paid for THREE alignments this year alone, so you're right when you ask what my time is worth!

 

[gfluff]

No pickle fork required to pop the upper BJ out of the spindle on 3/3 trucks I've worked on so far (CA non rust cars...). Pull the pin, loosen the nut, use a hammer and whack the flat spot on the spindle up top around the BJ hole. Pops out, EZPeaZy. Again, non-rusty Ca trucks. If your shop didn't know that, no doubt they pickle fork'd you up...

 

[Oneluv13T4R]

Just rebuild your oem uca's, I just did mine with new bushings and ball joints and it only took a couple hours very straight forward and simple good as new and you have oem ride and feel for your commute again.

 

[340W]

No pickle fork required to pop the upper BJ out of the spindle on 3/3 trucks I've worked on so far (CA non rust cars...). Pull the pin, loosen the nut, use a hammer and whack the flat spot on the spindle up top around the BJ hole. Pops out, EZPeaZy. Again, non-rusty Ca trucks. If your shop didn't know that, no doubt they pickle fork'd you up...

Ha-ha! You CA guys with your no rust... I live just outside Philadelphia, and every nut and bolt on my truck is rusted stuff. I'll soak in penetrating oil for a good week prior to doing the work. Hopefully, that allows a struggle free swap.

Just rebuild your oem uca's, I just did mine with new bushings and ball joints and it only took a couple hours very straight forward and simple good as new and you have oem ride and feel for your commute again.

That was my original idea but I wasn't sure about pressing out/in the UBJ's. Does the tool you rent from auto parts stores handle this or do you need a big shop press? Would certainly be a helluva lot cheaper!

From the responses I'm seeing, my thought is I'm fine with the OEM control arms with my setup.

 

[NuclearN8]

Camburg Ball Joint Upper Control Arm Set with Moog Ball Joints Pre-installed

get the covers for $30 too... (to protect against corrosion from the top down)

it's a moog bj in these and greasable which is nice in my opinion for the northeast environment, it has built in caster to help make it easier to achieve alignment on lifted applications.

 

[brianhuntRVA]

Make sure your ball joints are actually bad. Mine were leaking a bit after lift. There was no play in the joint though. I replaced the boots with Toyota OEM boot kit which was still quite cheap. No issues since, about a month.

 

[340W]

Good advice. The boots are totally ruined and look to have been that way for some time. I get a faint "clank" when I go over big bumps that makes me think they're moving around and might need replacing.

 

[340W]

Make sure your ball joints are actually bad. Mine were leaking a bit after lift. There was no play in the joint though. I replaced the boots with Toyota OEM boot kit which was still quite cheap. No issues since, about a month.

Do you happen to have the part number for that boot repair kit?

 

[brianhuntRVA]

Do you happen to have the part number for that boot repair kit?

Sure do: 43324-69085

Got mine from toyotapartsdeal.com

I will say that wire fastener that comes with it is an absolute piece of garbage. By the time you stretch it out to get it to the top of the boot, it has no tension left in it to hold anything in place. Luckily the boot seems tight itself and no grease has leaked out.

 

[brianhuntRVA]

By the way, I can see how a shop could destroy those boots. If they used the wrong method to separate the ball joint it is very possible. Also if your ball joints are in fact bad or have play in them, rebooting won't help at all.

 

[340W]

That's what I'm thinking too. I have a set of lightly used OEM UCA's coming my way. I was going to reboot and re-bush them just to be on the safe side. Should work great. Thanks for the part number.

 

[Tooltime19]

Replace the upper bj's, and maybe the control arm bushings. With your lift and use, there is no reason to upgrade to the expensive, but very nice and dependable tubular upper arms. I have 100k on my OEM arms with the 5100's set pretty high and I drive aggressively off road. My upper bj's are now going bad. In my case, as soon as I can afford, I do need to upgrade to the tubular upper arms. I do alot of fast desert running. For stock around town, stick with the OEM arms and you will be fine.

 

[340W]

Great advice and thanks. That's pretty much what I was thinking. Those aftermarket UCA's are sweet, but I can't justify that much $$$ for something I don't really need.

 

[JpAdct]

I'm looking to do this in the future as well. Question, how hard is it to get the UCA bolts out? Because of direction they were installed and lack of space, a lot of us with 2nd Gen Tacomas would cut the bolts and instal new ones along with the new arms. Is that necessary with the 4th Gen 4Runners?

 

[robaroni]

I'm looking to do this in the future as well. Question, how hard is it to get the UCA bolts out? Because of direction they were installed and lack of space, a lot of us with 2nd Gen Tacomas would cut the bolts and instal new ones along with the new arms. Is that necessary with the 4th Gen 4Runners?

Removing the UCA bolt is not hard at all. It is a little cramped but easily do-able. All I had to do was loosen the battery and push it back a couple inches and the bolt pulled right out. Replaced both UCA's in 2 1/2 hours while drinking beer and watching football.

 

[DCGweez]

A lot of people here don't like them but i've run Light Racing's and alignment was never issue nor was any breakage or any other problem.

I've run through Moab, BBP, mud and road on them.

 

[JpAdct]

I had Light Racing UCA's on my Tacoma. They were great for my needs. I'll use them again, even Toytec speaks highly of them for most applications and they sell several higher end options.

 

[truckhigh]

i don't recommend light racing uca's at all. they are have been a waste of time and money so far. i have been waiting for a deal on some real uca's. both of my front ball joint are making a knock already. Spc knows they are faulty 3 different bushing styles, 2 different boots and 2 different ball joints. Plus every off road company sells these parts so you know people need them.