UCA comparison
- Thread starter MadeInMaine
- Start date
Jhalko
New member
Happy with mine, have held up to a heavy mag chloride winter just fine. Can't say the same for my liftgate! Doh.
Seattle206
Senior Member
Where did you order yours? I don't see an option for the 5th gen 4runner.
CruzadoBlanco
New member
any UCAs listed to fit the FJ cruiser, 2003+ 4runner, or 2005+ tacoma will fit since they are all the same chassis
Where did you order yours? I don't see an option for the 5th gen 4runner.
I ordered the JBA's directly from JBA Offroad. I liked these because they use OEM bushings and the balljoints can be replaced while the UCA is still in the truck. Additionally, they claim to have more room for fine tuning alignment. At least thats what I read and after talking to the owner, I figured I'd give them a shot. There was not much info on this site, but on the Tacoma site they seem to be pretty well received. Most of JBA's products in the Jeep world are equally well liked. So I ordered the Heavy Duty UCA's. Perhaps a bit of overkill, but I liked the extra gussets on them. Now just to find the time to install everything.
I ordered the JBA's directly from JBA Offroad. I liked these because they use OEM bushings and the balljoints can be replaced while the UCA is still in the truck. Additionally, they claim to have more room for fine tuning alignment. At least thats what I read and after talking to the owner, I figured I'd give them a shot. There was not much info on this site, but on the Tacoma site they seem to be pretty well received. Most of JBA's products in the Jeep world are equally well liked. So I ordered the Heavy Duty UCA's. Perhaps a bit of overkill, but I liked the extra gussets on them. Now just to find the time to install everything.
wfo9
New member
Look decent, but I doubt they can beat uniballs in terms of strength.... More articulation is a lie... Your limit with articulation will be the shock length (and if that was somehow overcome (really can't be).. it would be the CVs. Bottom line, the only way to get more articulation compared to what extended travel shocks give, is to go with a full long travel setup (which requires unique LCA, UCAs, CVs.....)
Nothing wrong with the JBA design that I know of.. Just don't buy them in hopes of getting more articulation over a uniball design. The uni balls are just proven to work period.
Last edited:
Articulation...
I didn't mean to imply more articulation as a magical benefit. They DO provide more articulation over a stock UCA, which (I believe) can hit the coil if using extended travel shocks. And, some people don't care for the perception of extra maintenance with uniballs. The alignment also comes in nicely, getting caster where it needs to be.
I didn't mean to imply more articulation as a magical benefit. They DO provide more articulation over a stock UCA, which (I believe) can hit the coil if using extended travel shocks. And, some people don't care for the perception of extra maintenance with uniballs. The alignment also comes in nicely, getting caster where it needs to be.
CruzadoBlanco
New member
you could do it the poor mans way like i did, which granted is a good amount of work. but it was cheap and i get stupid down travel for the stock geometry. it did require me messing with the CV cups and cages a little, still yet to break one of my modified ones however. my limiting factor now is the UCA hitting the spring quickly followed by the tierod ends
Light racing will give you lots more caster than these plus more range of camber adjustment and it also has a replaceable on the truck ball joint. I don't like the gm ball joint and that spacer. But I think they are better than a uni ball for street use. Also they should have had the ball joint below the arm not on top. It would help the angle and be stronger as the small bolts would no longer be supporting all the weight .
Last edited:
wfo9
New member
Curious.
Please explain how you are getting "stupid" down travel with stock geometry. You mean another fraction of an inch LOL. What shocks are you running? What length? How much total travel?
The last thing I'm going to mess with is the CV joints. It is the weakest point on these trucks.
CruzadoBlanco
New member
I ended up taking my toytec BOSS coilovers, which are stock travel, and lowered them to ~1.5" of lift. Then put a 2" lift spacer on top. Ive measured my front travel from full bump to full droop (uniball hitting the coil) to be at 9.78". I had to open up my passenger side CV and take some machining burs off the inner cup (reman) it would bind at one specific spot at full droop. the driver side is also a reman but im assuming it still has all of its stock internals. Ive been running this set up for over a year now with no issues. Gonna do new lower control arms and my other inner and outer tierod on the driver side since those are all still oem. I have no bind at droop + full lock in either direction, so to me its been a successful experiment.
wfo9
New member
Props for trying something different... I can't even see how a 2" top hat spacer could be installed on top of a std length shock. I would like to see how much droop you are getting and if it will hold up to 35s... Everything I have read about LT setups.. says the CVs are the limiting factor. Personally I don't care much about up travel, but more droop would be a huge benefit out on the trails.
I'm still having trouble visualizing an additional two inches of shock down travel, but maybe I will see it and then believe it....
So...instead of just typing a response, I figured I'd show some "data". Please see the photos showing the installed upper control arms and the alignment specs achieved with the shown setup. A few things to note:
1. Setup of vehicle
2008 4Runner, 4.0 V6
Rear setup:
FJ coils, Icon 2.0 remote reservoir shocks
Front setup:
Icon Extended Travel 2.5 coilovers, installed at shipped height from Icon
Camburg Upper control arms, 1.25 inch uniball
2. You sharp-eyed folks will notice that the camburg labels for Driver and Passenger UCA's are ON THE WRONG UPPER CONTROL ARM. Pretty disappointed by the lack of attention on that one. Also, the instructions are absolute garbage. Download Icon's upper control arm instructions, then watch the Total Chaos Youtube video if you're looking to install these on a 4Runner. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO CUT ANYTHING ON YOUR RIG, AS CAMBURG ASSERTS. You also don't have to bend a damn things out of the way as the other guys assert either. Undo a few bolts and you're good. Be creative. Also, you'll get Standard and Metric hardware with Camburg's Upper Control Arms. Cuss and swear at them like I did, then move on...
1. Setup of vehicle
2008 4Runner, 4.0 V6
Rear setup:
FJ coils, Icon 2.0 remote reservoir shocks
Front setup:
Icon Extended Travel 2.5 coilovers, installed at shipped height from Icon
Camburg Upper control arms, 1.25 inch uniball
2. You sharp-eyed folks will notice that the camburg labels for Driver and Passenger UCA's are ON THE WRONG UPPER CONTROL ARM. Pretty disappointed by the lack of attention on that one. Also, the instructions are absolute garbage. Download Icon's upper control arm instructions, then watch the Total Chaos Youtube video if you're looking to install these on a 4Runner. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO CUT ANYTHING ON YOUR RIG, AS CAMBURG ASSERTS. You also don't have to bend a damn things out of the way as the other guys assert either. Undo a few bolts and you're good. Be creative. Also, you'll get Standard and Metric hardware with Camburg's Upper Control Arms. Cuss and swear at them like I did, then move on...
Attachments
Skippy8771
New member
I have tried searching the forums for this info. I was looking at the LR UCA and found the 4Runner PN is 25480. During my search I saw LR UCA PN 25470 (i believe for tacos) which are $50 less. They look like the same UCAs, can anyone verify this?
