Aftermarket UCAs .. opinions, experiences, pros/cons any brand over another and why? what are the differences?

[DRANGED]

RE: UCAs

What are the advertised vs. real, practical, and functional differences between aftermarket UCAs available for GXs?

When LOOKING at most tubular steels UCAs, they pretty much all look the same, so are there real differences?
They all seem to spec a '3 degrees of fixed Caster correction', needed when 2.5+ lift is applied; most (if not all of the tubular steel UCAs) spec for OE ball joints; most (if not all) spec rubber bushings.

I've read ball joint binding against the cup of the ball joint housing...
I've read one or some trim that housing for increased ball joint movement...
I've read that trimming weakens the housing so a bad idea...
I've read OE ball joints are limiting factor (even when in castor-corrected housings) for full articulation, even on properly lifted suspensions...
I've read shorter ball joint housing and a ball joint with greater movement than OE...

So what are the REAL differences among these products?
Here's the compiled list I've found so far...

Dobinson's @ $645ish also via various sources :
GXOR (I can't find where these are sold...

Ironman @ $550 (at the time of this posting, during black friday sale.. but things are always on some sort of sale ;p (forged Al)

total chaos (with euthethane bushings @ $883, or heim joints for $1093)

ARB OME @$588 (available via various sources)

Bilstein B8 @ $655 (available via various sources)

Dirt King available via various sources (eurethane bushings? @ $599 or heims @ $899, boxed plate steel and FK uniballs)

freedom Off Road @ $390 (available via various sources)

Rocky road @ $449 (OE ball joint for Cadilac escalade)

Blackhawk @$695 (available via various sources)
PolyPerformance @450

SPCs @715 available via various sources. (proprietary ball joint).

 

[URJ150L]

Dobinsons can be found on dobinsons direct website

 

[Arailt]

The last ones look like JBAs. You can get the non-hd version for $469.

GX470 2003-2009 - Lexus - Upper Control Arms

Unleash your vehicle's off-road potential with JBA Offroad's high-quality upper control arms. Designed for superior performance, durability, and easy maintenance, our patented EZ Lube bushings fit a wide range of vehicles: from Jeep Liberty to Ford Bronco, Toyota Tacoma, and more. Explore our...

jbaoffroad.com

 

[Tanaman]

I’m posting because I’m also curious what the real life differences are and want to hear from some first hand experience. I understand you generally get what you pay for but I feel like one of these mid priced arms is plenty for most people’s use. I could be wrong but that’s what I’m here to find out

 

[Toyoland66]

Different people will have different priorities and pick different options for UCAs

Performance vs maintenance vs longevity vs cost for examples. Choices between rubber and poly bushings. Uniball vs ball joints. Pressed in vs bolt in ball joints.

Personally I would prefer a sealed ball joint and OEM style rubber bushings but in an improved geometry. The poly performance UCA look interesting to me. I am running Icon delta joint which I didn’t see on your list but I am not sure they are the ideal option for me personally based on my criteria.

I believe the bolt in ball joint arms (jba) don’t fit stock backspacing wheels.

 

[Rednexus]

I'm running Ironman UCA's. They are totally fine, no issues. They use the OE ball joints and bushings and a pretty light (being forged aluminum), in addition to having lots of wheel/tire clearance. The joints and bushings are all sealed and don't need to be greased. They are a good deal if you are also getting an Ironman lift and can get everything bundled together, so I go them along with my Foam Cell Pro lift kit.

If you are just buying UCA's and no other components, and your wheels will fit, I'd probably go with JBA's. They us a Chevy truck ball joint, have a lot of adjustability, are not expensive, and are made in the USA. However they say that some wheels/tires might rub, so check their website.

Toyota Suspension Lift Parts | JBA Offroad

Trusted for nearly 30 years, JBA created the original aftermarket upper control arm. Lift your Toyota with the highest quality, most reliable, and best fitting lift kit parts in the industry. Protect your Toyota and investment with JBA Offroad.

jbaoffroad.com

No matter what you get, check that the replacement bushings and ball joints are off-the-shelf parts. I think the Freedom Off Road UCA's use a unique bushing, for example. You want a UCA where you can find replacement parts at any auto parts store and not have to wait for something to be shipped, or have to junk the UCA if the manufacturer goes defunct and you need new bushings 5-6 years from now.

 

[Jstawgn]

I run SPC because I need the adjustability. This can cause headaches for people that does not need adjustability.

Also lives in midwest where they salts the road. Sealed ball joint are a must.

Bought mine for $384 ($480 plus 20% eBay promotion) about 3 years ago before they mandate Minimum Advertised Price Policy. At $700 I might choose cheaper options. I thought I seen some advertised for $560. Aftermarket UCA are definitely ridiculous in price. If a complete suspension system for whole vehicle can be had for less than $900, UCA should not cost more than $400.

 

[CGIB]

Haven't people bought these from Rockauto.com and found that they are the exact same as the adjustable SPC Upper Control arms? The total cost for these before shipping and tax comes out to $422.

Rockauto.com

MEVOTECH CMS861198

MEVOTECH CMS861199

 

[gaberelli]

This is the route I went. Still need to install but for $400, they look GREAT!

 

[helocat]

I have been installing, selling and using UCAs since 2006.

History:
The whole idea of a performance aftermarket UCA was the brainchild of Matt, one of the two husband and wife owners of Total Chaos. They displaide them at one of the offroad expos in SoCall and had the owner of Camburg, laughing at them that "no one would ever buy those". Of course Camburg and now everyone under the sun have knocked off Matts idea since they work, and work very well.

In the past 5yrs there has been an explosion of knock offs that have hit the market all racing to the bottom with the lowest price. Just look on the Made in China sales sites from China and you will find most of the new "brands" supply origins. However in the past 10yrs there have been some legit actual improvements to the original design.

OG UCA's:
TC will always be the OG and do it right, and made in house by them in the US. Now days with custom US made stainless steel uni-balls. The $$ is always in the bearings. (Cheeper arms = cheeper bearings, TC uses the best bearings they can get! One reason the arms are not low cost)

Best performance for price:
SPC or previously know as "Light racing" was the first to change the bodys to foraged steel and use a real ball joint but one ment for hard use. Over the years they have evolved their product that is designed in Colorado but made in China. This is the ONLY UCA company I have ever seen not only stand by their products if any issues but also issue $50 alignment certificate when doing so in some situations. The SPC style has been copied by JBA, and more recently by Ironman 4x4. The made in asia product from IM4x4 has an aluminum body, cool for lower sprung weight if we were F1 cars, but really worthless since we stick 75-80lbs tires on our trucks. IM4x4 ball joint is made to be the same as what your truck has now as per IM4x4. However it does not have a servicable grease zerk on it like the SPC arms do. The SPC ball joints are 100% stocked and replaceable when the time comes. Low cost but SPC is a US based company that OWNs any issues and by far has the best support of any "low cost brand". Value is not only at the time of buying a product, its also when you have an issue with it. (NOTE UPDATED as per @Rednexus post #11)

Best performance w/updated design:
ICON - Tubular UCAS with the Delta joint. ICON released these almost 5yrs ago. The Delta joint is the key thing, as you get US made strength with the arm much like the OG TCs but you also get ICONs 5yr warranty on the delta joint! No uni balls. To date we have sold close to 1k of these arms and know of no joint failures. Thats a good track record. But higher in cost, however you get what you pay for.


On my personal GX470 I run Total Chaos UCAs and LCAs, with OME BP-51 shocks. The TCs have been on my GX470 for over 5yrs, with only grease service for the bushings. Love the ride everyday I am driving the truck.

 

[Rednexus]

Best performance for price:
The SPC style has been copied by JBA, and more recently by Ironman 4x4. The made in asia product from IM4x4 has an aluminum body, cool for lower sprung weight if we were F1 cars, but really worthless since we stick 75-80lbs tires on our trucks. Their ball joint is not a stocked replaceable items, nore does it have a servicable grease zirk on it like the original SPC arms do, so when the ball joint fails you toss the arms.

The Ironman UCA's actually use OEM-style ball joints and bushings, so they are indeed standard replacement parts available (same part number as a stock GX). I would not have bought them if they had one-off ball joints and bushings, as I plan on keeping my GX for a very long time.

 

[jiggletits]

Just chiming in on ball joints. Unless you are off-roading every weekend and taking your suspension apart frequently (like 1-2x per year), from what I understand, uniballs are dumb and I don't think they are even road legal.

The OEM Toyota ball joints are the only thing I would use. Not aftermarket, not "555", but genuine OE joints that you bought directly from Toyota. Not sure if any aftermarket UCA manufacturers are actually doing that, but it is what I would look for if I were in the market for UCAs. Genuine Toyota balljoint with an UCA that corrects geometry.

 

[helocat]

The Ironman UCA's actually use OEM ball joints and bushings, so they are indeed standard replacement parts available (same part number as a stock GX). I would not have bought them if they had one-off ball joints and bushings, as I plan on keeping my GX for a very long time.

If they "Actually use OEM ball Joints and Bushings", as in Genuine Toyota parts they would be pushing that in their marketing, not their current marketing words of "OEM style". So they are using an aftermarket ball joint and bushings that are like, but not actual OEM parts. Still great info thank you!

That was not part of the information we received end of 2018 when IM4x4 presented the protos to us. We were told "OEM like ball joints" and the one I held used a snap clip to retain the ball joint, similar but heavily recessed in the body. We discontinued selling the entire IM4x4 product line in 2019 so not abreast with their current info. That is good to know they are actually serviceable. I edited my post above to support your share, again thank you very helpful.

 

[Rednexus]

If they "Actually use OEM ball Joints and Bushings", as in Genuine Toyota parts they would be pushing that in their marketing, not their current marketing words of "OEM style". So they are using an aftermarket ball joint and bushings that are like, but not actual OEM parts. Still great info thank you!

That was not part of the information we received end of 2018 when IM4x4 presented the protos to us. We were told "OEM like ball joints" and the one I held used a snap clip to retain the ball joint, similar but heavily recessed in the body. We discontinued selling the entire IM4x4 product line in 2019 so not abreast with their current info. That is good to know they are actually serviceable. I edited my post above to support your share, again thank you very helpful.

You are correct, they are OEM-style, aftermarket joints and not an OEM joint actually manufactured by Toyota. I edited my post to reflect the clarification. Granted I haven't popped out the joints to compare them to my factory UCA's (which I still have), but they do appear to be the same visually.

 

[sampson]

RE: UCAs

What are the advertised vs. real, practical, and functional differences between aftermarket UCAs available for GXs?

When LOOKING at most tubular steels UCAs, they pretty much all look the same, so are there real differences?
They all seem to spec a '3 degrees of fixed Caster correction', needed when 2.5+ lift is applied; most (if not all of the tubular steel UCAs) spec for OE ball joints; most (if not all) spec rubber bushings.

I've read ball joint binding against the cup of the ball joint housing...
I've read one or some trim that housing for increased ball joint movement...
I've read that trimming weakens the housing so a bad idea...
I've read OE ball joints are limiting factor (even when in castor-corrected housings) for full articulation, even on properly lifted suspensions...
I've read shorter ball joint housing and a ball joint with greater movement than OE...

So what are the REAL differences among these products?
Here's the compiled list I've found so far...

Dobinson's @ $645ish also via various sources :
GXOR (I can't find where these are sold...

Ironman @ $550 (at the time of this posting, during black friday sale.. but things are always on some sort of sale ;p (forged Al)

total chaos (with euthethane bushings @ $883, or heim joints for $1093)

ARB OME @$588 (available via various sources)

Bilstein B8 @ $655 (available via various sources)

Dirt King available via various sources (eurethane bushings? @ $599 or heims @ $899, boxed plate steel and FK uniballs)

freedom Off Road @ $390 (available via various sources)

Rocky road @ $449 (OE ball joint for Cadilac escalade)

Blackhawk @$695 (available via various sources)
PolyPerformance @450

View attachment 2839506 SPCs @715 available via various sources. (proprietary ball joint).

I use the Blackhawk UCAS because they utilize the Toyota OEM ball joint. They’ve been great so far.

 

[re_guderian]

Not sure about the GX, but for the 100 series, Toyota never sold ball joints separate from the entire arm.

 

[thunderklees]

I had no issues with spc on my last GX. But I think I want to try Camburg on this one. Anyone use them? I want ball joints and probably going to be about 2-2.5” of lift.