UCA frustrations

[mavrick1903]

I put on Icon UCAs when I did a lift. Lifted about 100k ago. Bushings are worn out for the second time and need to be replaced. I was informed at last alignment that they couldnt align it due to bushing wear. FF some months and the inside edge of the front tires are worn hard due to the alignment.

I've got another set of bushing coming for a short term solution.

Long term...

Icon's Delta joint (UCAs are on second ball joint since install as well) are $250ish for the pair. Thinking of going to these instead of another round of Icon parts.

Looking for feedback from the community here.

 

[Shiftless Joe]

Really like my JBA's on my Tundra; just make sure the person doing the alignment knows to increase the caster.

 

[JONBOY345]

Get SPC, and sell the Icons for whatever little money someone will pay for them.

 

[Hi-desertT4R]

I’ve had JBA for about a year. No complaints, none whatsoever. I’ve heard good things about Dobinsons and a lot of guys run the SPC.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

I put on Icon UCAs when I did a lift. Lifted about 100k ago. Bushings are worn out for the second time and need to be replaced. I was informed at last alignment that they couldnt align it due to bushing wear. FF some months and the inside edge of the front tires are worn hard due to the alignment.

I've got another set of bushing coming for a short term solution.

Long term...

Icon's Delta joint (UCAs are on second ball joint since install as well) are $250ish for the pair. Thinking of going to these instead of another round of Icon parts.

Looking for feedback from the community here.

I just want to make sure I'm reading what you're saying right, you've had to replace the UCA Bushings on your Icons twice in the last 100k? Are we talking about a billet UCA with the heim joints or are you talking about their more traditional ones?

How often are you cleaning them out and greasing them?

I think Wisconsin uses salt on their roads right? I had SPC UCAs when I had 33's and for a little while when I installed my 35's; they worked well up until I went to the 35's. I noticed I had to bump them back out and retorque them if I dropped the 4Runner on a wheel too hard every now and then (to be fair, I don't think those UCAs were designed for that much unsprung weight being slammed around and they were earlier designs of the SPCs; they've improved a bit since then). I currently have a set of Camburg billet Kinects installed and have been very pleased with them so far. But I do end up having to clean them out at least once a month and spray them with some Tri-Flow (I usually partially tear down the UCA just before winter hits and after to clean them and lube them thoroughly, the crushed up lava rock they use in place of salt out here just loves getting everywhere in them).

 

[mavrick1903]

I just want to make sure I'm reading what you're saying right, you've had to replace the UCA Bushings on your Icons twice in the last 100k? Are we talking about a billet UCA with the heim joints or are you talking about their more traditional ones?

How often are you cleaning them out and greasing them?

I think Wisconsin uses salt on their roads right? ....

Wisconsin used a fair amount of salt, as well as brine. Leaving our roads corrosive and replete with potholes and such. I dont grease as often as I should, I'll admit.

Standard poly bushings. Not the heim joints. I've used the links sold here with heim joints and Wisco is not tolerant of that style of joint. Not in winter anyway.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

I don't know how the salt affects polyurethane, but I have seen some of the polyurethane bushings get worn out when they start collecting dirt and grime, most of our dirt up here is from lava rock including what they use in place of salt. It could just be the nature of the game unfortunately. But perhaps greasing them a little more frequently and trying to wash out any dirt/ crusting between the bushings and side washers might help?

 

[aemravan]

I mean to me... 50k miles out of an aftermarket UCA with a lift and larger tires isn't half bad really.. I just feel like thats the name of the game once you start lifting and going with larger, heavier tires.. especially if you aren't too stringent on the added maintenance needed.

I mean hell.. looks at just about any NON OEM factory replacement control arm.. I would be hard pressed to see a lot of those go 50k miles on a non-lifted application lol.

 

[MAST4R]

I will throw in an unpopular opinion: how about going used stock UCAs and a lift of 2" or less?

 

[ktom3001]

I will throw in an unpopular opinion: how about going used stock UCAs and a lift of 2" or less?

There's a lot to be said for this even though it doesn't look cool.
Factory geometry will last a lot longer. High lift, zero droop, high negative offset heavy wheels all wear stuff out. The platform simply wasn't designed for it.
That said I've got 30K on JBA's with around 2.75" of lift and I've greased them once. Zero issues. I also run P rated 255/75/17 tires to keep weight down

 

[Flesh Eater]

IMO, adjustable UCA’s are a terrible idea for so many reasons, UNLESS on a dedicated trail rig.

You need a competent alignment tech, parts can come out of adjustment and you not know until tires are trashed, just too many possibilities.

I bought Camburg. Caster is perfect and my front is lifted almost 3”. They definitely fine tuned the non-adjustable UCA’s. Any non-adjustable UCA would be my pick, personally.

 

[importman]

I don't have anything to offer here but I just wanted to see what people were saying about the JBA's. They're what I'm going with when I upgrade my suspension, hopefully in the next couple of months. Glad to see a few people happy with them. And from all I've read the owner of the company is supposed to be really great and stands behind his product.

 

[aemravan]

It's all a part of the game.. and like I said, 50k miles is a pretty significant amount of use before having to rebuild/replace on a lifted rig..

I also second the non-adjustable route for the UCA.. that is why I liked the fixed "high-caster" option from JBA.. relatively cheap compared to all other parts/comparable UCAs, gives a decent amount of caster, and doesn't have the possibility of something getting knocked out of alignment.. Using the same reasoning I'm actually not looking into doing the alignment bolt delete along with cam tab reinforcement I'm doing. I'll give up the fine-tune ability of the alignment for the piece of mind that every time I go out on the trail something doesn't move out of alignment and I either don't catch it and tear through tires, or have to hassle with going back to get it aligned again.

Gotta pay to play and for a street/trail combo rig it's all about finding a happy medium and making sacrifices in the right places.

 

[mavrick1903]

Not so much that the salt is a direct factor, (likely is, but not what my point was) rather that roads in the salt belt are fecking terrible. seriously bad.