Aftermarket UCA opinions please

[bwell]

As a last ditch effort chasing down a front end wobble that only occurs periodically with no pattern at highway speeds I am going to replace lower ball joints again and upper control arms. Would like your opinions and experiences relating to Nitro/Just Differential, SPC and Light Racing UCA's. Any thoughts, opinions experiences welcome.

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

Bump for some input

 

[BlueWeim]

I have SPC uppers on my 2000 and was extremely pleased with them when they arrived. They are extremely well built. They came with great instructions for adjusting them as well. I cant speak for the others as these are the only ones I have used or worked with.

Main reason for buying them was that cruiser outfitters had them and their customer service was outstanding, they were sitting on my front porch 3 days after placing my order.

 

[devildogcruiser25]

I have SPC's on mine and they came with it. I have no issues with mine.

 

[KINGER]

Also looking at SPC uppers, so that's nice to hear. I think they will allow for proper caster adjustment vs. stock UCAs in the future when (if) AHC gets replaced with mild lift.

 

[abuck99]

What are you trying to achieve with new UCA's? What are the stats on your truck: lifted? With what product and how high?

If your trying to get caster back to factory specs + then I think SPC is the most viable choice- it's the only one that's adjustable. The ball joint is easily serviceable/replaceable, and they have pretty stout urathane bushings. I've had mine for about 5 months, nothing negative to report yet.(hopefully there won't be)

 

[BlueWeim]

I told the guy that the instructions were in the passenger seat if he needed them when i took it to get it aligned. I had them set to the recommended spot for a 2" lift (cant remember what setting it was). When i went to get it it was perfect. He said he didnt have to adjust them, was able to just use the bolts as usual. They corrected caster and camber issues I had, worth the money IMO.

 

[devildogcruiser25]

Also looking at SPC uppers, so that's nice to hear. I think they will allow for proper caster adjustment vs. stock UCAs in the future when (if) AHC gets replaced with mild lift.

This is a true statement

 

[KINGER]

BlueWeim: thanks for answering my alignment shop question, I deleted it so as not to highjack this thread.

devildog: thanks for confirming!

 

[jLB]

I've had the SPC/Slee/Light Racing UCAs on my son's 100 series for almost 2 years. They did fix his caster issues and we have had no issues so far.

It is my understanding that there are basically 3 options for aftermarket UCAs

1) SPC/Slee/Light Racing
2) Total Chaos
3) Nitro/Just Differentials​

The SPC/Slee/Light Racing UCAs are adjustable, but there have been a number of reports on "mud" of ball joint failures with the SPC/Slee/Light Racing UCAs.

The Total Chaos have a fixed caster correction, and use a "uniball" ball joint. Some have complained of squeaks and additional maintenance required for the uniball style joint.

The Nitro/Just Differentials have a fixed caster correction. Older models used a uniball, but current models use a readily available "tundra" ball joint.

Again, I've had no issues with the SPC/Slee/Light Racing UCAs, but if I were buying UCAs again, I'd probably lean towards the Nitro/Just Differentials. The reasons being:

1) I don't think the "adjustability" of the SPC is really needed (and it probably makes the unit more fragile)
2) A readily available replacement ball joint is appealing.​

 

[bwell]

Thank you for all the input everyone. After much research on here I went with a stock style replacement. I'm at about 19.5"-19.75" hub to fender up front, and don't plan on going any higher. With varying issues depending on the aftermarket options I decided to go with a set of Napa "premium" replacements. I'm hard on stuff, they were half as much as Toyota and have a lifetime warranty. I primarily wanted the ball joint replacement option available on the SPC/Nitro's, but ultimately settled on the others ones. Time will tell, but they seem really high quality for a stock replacement.

Combined with a new set of 555 lower ball joints should be nice, now if my back up camber plates and bolts would show up already I can throw this stuff on.

 

[abuck99]

If you're not lifting your truck then your plan to use aftermarket replacements seems fine. I don't know the durability the Napa premiums but the warranty sounds good. Anyway it's petty quick & easy to replace UCAs.

Good luck

 

[bwell]

Here's a side by side shot of the original factory UCA's next to the napa "premium" replacements. So I decided to replace a few things in sequence as opposed to all at once. My lower ball joints are only about a year and a half old, so I put off on replacing those for now.
As you can see in the pictures, the UCA bushings were shot. They were original to the truck as near as I could tell, and with a 180k on the clock now, they were definitely past their service life IMO. Wish I would have have done this sooner since it takes about an hour tops but I don't normally travel above 45-55 tops for my daily commute so it didn't really bother me or cause problems.

This has completely remedied my sporadic road feedback/steering wheel shimmy at highway speeds.

Everything on the replacement arms seem high quality. Only thing I didn't like was the drivers side castle nut was not the same 19mm size as the factory and other replacement arm on passenger side, but I used it any way.

 

[Jackson Sanders]

How are the NAPA premium arms holding up after two years of use?

 

[bwell]

They have been good in my experience. The only noticable thing with them is the nut assembly on the ball joint flash rusted decently but still comes on and off easily to service other front end items.

I have put about 25k miles on them, I live in the Mark Twain national forest, so the truck sees regular, marginally maintained forest service roads to trails, to not maintained highway's.

I have a fairly heavy front end setup with winch and bumper, and my center hub to fender measurement is 20.75". I run sway away torsion bars and tough dog Ralph shocks up front, no sway bar and set up like that I have almost 23.75" of droop from center of hub to fender.

I also kept the originals to rebuild when the time comes if I dont go another route.

 

[Jackson Sanders]

That’s encouraging! I’m on the fence between aftermarket and OEM replacements, but I might give these a shot as well with that review!

 

[bwell]

They're nothing special, but for the money and what I needed at the time they've served me well.