Total Chaos or Icon Tubular UCAs?

[Crapgoose]

I currently have Icon's billet UCAs installed and have not been too happy with them (Uniballs corroded requiring replacement, loud squeaking which I believe is coming from the heim joints). At this point I'm looking to get rid of them for something with bushings and that are a little bit quieter.

It looks like Metaltech4x4 is having a sale on both the Total Chaos and Icon Tubular UCAs this Cyber Monday. Does anyone have any recommendations on either? If so:

How are the bushings holding up? Any squeaks or creaks?
Any issues getting alignment within specs?
How do you like the zerk fittings?
Anything else I should know?

 

[G.I.G.]

I would recommend the Light Racing UCA's. They do everything that the other aftermarket UCA's promise (plenty of clearance, ability to get alignment within factory specs, etc.) but they are less expensive and you don't have to deal with a squeaky uni-ball. The Light Racing UCA's are built very tough as well. I have had mine installed almost 3 years and they have been great. No issues and the alignment is perfect with my 3" OME lift and 33" Goodyear Silent Armors.

Light Racing Upper Control Arms for FJ & 03-09 4Run - Toytec Lifts: Toyota Lift Kits: FJ Cruiser Lift Kits, Tacoma Lift Kits, Tundra Lift Kits, 4 Runner Lift Kits, Sequoia Lift Kits, Toyota Truck Lift Kits

G

EDIT: Toytec has the Light Racing UCA's listed under the '03-'09 4Runner but I'm 95% certain they will fit the 5th gens as well. Perhaps someone with a 5th gen can confirm.

 

[jangoforhire]

Two forum regulars to checkout:

Harper7: Has the TC UCA's and has been running them for a long time.

Adio3x: Has the Icon tubular UCA's and had been running them for a few months (pretty much since they have been released).

Hopefully they can give you some personalized feedback.

 

[adio3x]

I love my Icons! I haven't ran into the problem of them squeaking yet, I've got a couple thousand miles on them. Extra room for travel is awesome and my alignment tech said it was super super easy to adjust it. I think I paid like $650 for mine from Toytec w/forum discount. The other UCA you should check out is the camburgs.

 

[Mchang]

I love my Icons! I haven't ran into the problem of them squeaking yet, I've got a couple thousand miles on them. Extra room for travel is awesome and my alignment tech said it was super super easy to adjust it. I think I paid like $650 for mine from Toytec w/forum discount. The other UCA you should check out is the camburgs.

I was gonna say...is anyone running camburg equipment?

 

[Bourbonator]

When I've saved enough for tires, wheels, and suspension, I will be working with camburg. I had their LT on my Tundra quite a few years back, and I have nothing but good things to say about them. I've also heard good things about total chaos and I've liked the quality of their products as well. I have no experience with icon, but there seem to be many satisfied customers here, on t4r.

 

[KCcarguy]

I was gonna say...is anyone running camburg equipment?

I've got a friend running them on his FJ. He's had a lot of trouble with squeaking....he's tried a ton of different tube regimens with no luck. He's planning to change to LR.

 

[ATL4R]

I would recommend the Light Racing UCA's. They do everything that the other aftermarket UCA's promise (plenty of clearance, ability to get alignment within factory specs, etc.) but they are less expensive and you don't have to deal with a squeaky uni-ball. The Light Racing UCA's are built very tough as well. I have had mine installed almost 3 years and they have been great. No issues and the alignment is perfect with my 3" OME lift and 33" Goodyear Silent Armors.

Light Racing Upper Control Arms for FJ & 03-09 4Run - Toytec Lifts: Toyota Lift Kits: FJ Cruiser Lift Kits, Tacoma Lift Kits, Tundra Lift Kits, 4 Runner Lift Kits, Sequoia Lift Kits, Toyota Truck Lift Kits

G

EDIT: Toytec has the Light Racing UCA's listed under the '03-'09 4Runner but I'm 95% certain they will fit the 5th gens as well. Perhaps someone with a 5th gen can confirm.

I second the Light Racing - I don't have them, but have installed a set before. Very nice. They can be had any day of the week for less than $390 with Free shipping here - Light Racing UCA - Link

 

[K O]

For what it's worth, my Light Racing with the new style bushings squeak. I have dismantled them and re-lubed them with Super Lube and while it's greatly reduced, I can still hear it. It's highly annoying.

Also, the boots on both my LR UCA have torn a hole in them. At some level of compression, the boot is wide enough to make contact with the coilovers which has apparently cut a hole on both sides. I have a feeling I'm going to be forced to replace them someday soon, but not sure what would be an improvement.

 

[Crapgoose]

For what it's worth, my Light Racing with the new style bushings squeak. I have dismantled them and re-lubed them with Super Lube and while it's greatly reduced, I can still hear it. It's highly annoying.

This is one of the reasons I'm looking for something with a zerk fitting. I really hate the idea of having to take them all apart just to regrease them.

 

[K O]

I am certainly not an expert on these things, but it seems to me that the torque spec on the long UCA bolt is very high and would contraindicate the use of poly bushings.

My bushings are highly compressed, and I think the torque spec on the long UCA bolt is 85 ft/lbs - or enough to squeeze out all the lubrication between the nearly flattened bushings and the washers and possibly shorten the life of the bushings. I wouldn't dream of running those bolts under-spec, as having your control arm come apart while driving sounds as dangerous as it is.

 

[joneseyyy]

I was gonna say...is anyone running camburg equipment?

I am. No problems in 20K+ miles. They will squeak if you don't wipe them out occasionally and spray some Teflon spray on, but I think all uni-balls are like that.

 

[Mchang]

I am. No problems in 20K+ miles. They will squeak if you don't wipe them out occasionally and spray some Teflon spray on, but I think all uni-balls are like that.

What kind of setup are you running with your camburg UCA?

 

[MT4X4]

Total Chaos is actually the very first company to come out with the OE replacement UCA with the uniball design and have been producing them for years. The Icon UCA's are built almost exactly the same as the TC arms. The main difference between the two is the TC UCA now has a stainless steel uniball which is much better against corrosion, while the Icon uniball is chrome plated like everyone else.

 

[joneseyyy]

What kind of setup are you running with your camburg UCA?

Icon extended travel remote reservoir coilovers.

 

[mgrande]

If you want quiet UCA's then go with light racing. Any uniball uca is gonna make noise, on top of that the bushings on my tc uca's are loud as hell. I would pick TC over icon though. They've been around longer and are race proven.

 

[harper7]

I put used Total Chaos UCA's on my truck that I bought on the Taco forum when it had only a couple of thousand miles and they started to squeak pretty bad unless I lubed them once a week.However, my bad as they were worn out when I got them although the previous owner said "like new" and I should have returned them as there was noticeablle play in the uniballs.I got tired of the noise and bought new LR UCA's after a couple of months and saved the TC's so I could rebuild them with new uniballs and urethane bushings.

This past summer with about 45k miles I started to get squeaks and felt play from the LR's so I finally bought new FK brand WSSX-16T hardened Stainless uniballs for the TC's and just changed them out along with new red urethane bushings a couple of weeks ago at 53k miles and loving them and a very noticeable firmness over the worn LR's.The old TC's had Aurora chromed uniballs instead of the updated SS ones that are said to last longer and run quiet if maintained with triflow. So far so good!

The bushings on both were coming apart and loose and one of the ball joints was shot on the LR's at about 50k miles. The bushings were so loose they were about break free in the middle.These were a couple of years old and SPC (LR)supposedly has new updated bushings for them.I'm going to call them for new bushings to press in and ball joints to rebuild them.

LR worn bushings at about 2 1/2+ years/50k miles

I am certainly not an expert on these things, but it seems to me that the torque spec on the long UCA bolt is very high and would contraindicate the use of poly bushings.

My bushings are highly compressed, and I think the torque spec on the long UCA bolt is 85 ft/lbs - or enough to squeeze out all the lubrication between the nearly flattened bushings and the washers and possibly shorten the life of the bushings. I wouldn't dream of running those bolts under-spec, as having your control arm come apart while driving sounds as dangerous as it is.

I highly recommend the Total Chaos' but the LR's are cheaper and serve the same purpose when the bushings are good.I actually compared travel between them when I swapped them out this time(yes,i have pics.lol) and the TC's have only a little less then 1/8" more down travel( measured hub to floor) then the LR's.

The Total Chaos urethane bushings have slots to hold the grease.I was told by Pat at TC to back the nut off a little about once a year and grease through the zerk fittings and it will squeeze out the slots and then torque the nut back to the stock 85 ft/lbs and wipe off the excess.Nice design!
Slots in TC urethane bushings....

 

[Crapgoose]

Thanks everyone and great pics Harper. I have to say I really like the design of the Total Chaos UCAs. Although I might have a bit of a Frankenrunner mixing and matching with my current Icon setup. It's going to be a tough decision to make Monday.