I installed them August of last year.
I’ll try regressing them and see if that does anything.
Freedom Off-road UCA (1 Viewer)
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I’ll try regressing them and see if that does anything.
Eyedaho
SILVER Star
Here was the reply that I received from Freedom Offroad when I asked about the ball joints last year:
"Hello, our control arms use our proprietary design, no others will work."
i asked about the availability of replacements and they said:
"Yes, we do (have them), we just have not listed them yet. $35 each."
"Hello, our control arms use our proprietary design, no others will work."
i asked about the availability of replacements and they said:
"Yes, we do (have them), we just have not listed them yet. $35 each."
Well this sucks.
I just called them and they did confirm the balls are proprietary and are back ordered until the 24th which is the date I’m supposed to leave on a trip…
did you ever grease them over the year of ownership or get any sounds from them prior?
Zjohnsonua
SILVER Star
No way these joints are proprietary. As previously stated, these are coming from another vendor/factory and being assembled. Replacement joints are out there, you'll just have to identify and source them yourself. This is part of the deal you sign up for with discount parts.
I’ve greased them 3 times over the past year. Most recently it was 2 weeks ago.
I guess for the sake of double checking. Do the following symptoms not sound like it is the upper ball joint?
- Intermittent popping sound on acceleration from a stop
- Pop occurs on slow uneven ground level turns
I actually managed to park the rig in the driveway at an angle to where when the wheel fully locks to the right you can hear and feel the distinct pop in the control arm.
THOUGH… I did check other components in the area and nothing could be felt as strongly as from the ball joint area. I suppose it could be reverberating from somewhere else but where?
ill post up a video I took yesterday.
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So there is no advantage in using these aftermarket UCA's on a stock height LC with AHC?
Wouldn't it allow you to get a larger caster angle?
It seems to me that the low caster angle, along with body roll of AHC suspension, leads to excessive wear of the outside front tire shoulders as the tires go positive camber in a turn.
Wouldn't it allow you to get a larger caster angle?
It seems to me that the low caster angle, along with body roll of AHC suspension, leads to excessive wear of the outside front tire shoulders as the tires go positive camber in a turn.
Zjohnsonua
SILVER Star
A bunch of super smart chassis guys spent a bunch of time putting together that suspension, which does a good job for all that it's asked to do. As for the AHC, I've comfortably driven our 470 through some corners in "sport" mode that the truck had absolutely zero business doing so. If you're having issues, it may be time for some maintenance which AHC requires periodically.
Sure, you can increase caster angle. It'll also make the steering slightly heavier (I vote it to already on the heavy side thanks to the AWD), which will speed up steering component wear. Your call there.
I've not seen or known many 100s to chew up front tires, but the vast majority of worn tire shoulders I've seen have come from some combination of two things: improper tire pressure or lack of tire rotation.
JunkCrzr89
Competent Ignoramoose
JunkCrzr89
Competent Ignoramoose
I call bull$hit on that. Pop the cap off, take some measurements. I’d bet they’re run of the mill Chinese joints for 100s or Tundras.
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- #152
I think proprietary just means they won’t tell you where they source them…
Those do look nearly identical and those ball joints are readily available.
Eyedaho
SILVER Star
The shaft taper and length obviously have to match OEM to fit the knuckle, but I have no idea if they're using an oddball socket size. I was just passing along the responses that I had received from FOR. I ended up going with Nitros, partly because I didn't want to have to mess with finding a compatible quality bj when the FOR ones failed. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
You'll have to define "hardcore wheeling", as some people consider weekend trips down the forest service roads "hardcore".
I kid.I definitely push the limits of my rig regularly, if theres a trail, i'm going to get to the end of it regardless of the terrain. I'm regularly kicking rocks, activating ATRAC, and spinning wheels. Nothing like rock crawling, though. Not my cup of tea.
Anyways, sorry to thread jack this one... I can start another thread. But I did some more troubleshooting when I got home from work and popped the control arm boll joint free to inspect the ball joint. To my unprofessional ball joint inspecting eye, nothing seemed wrong. It was tight, it didn't have any play, rips, or looseness, nothing that would indicate it would pop or click or crack under load. I reinstalled it and everything looked A-OKAY.
Next, I decided for kicks to take apart the hub and inspect the bearings, the washer, and C-clip, everything in there also looked OKAY. No indication of any kind of failure or loose nuts. One thing I did notice. I grabbed the CV axle from behind the rotor and tugged on it in and out. I noticed there's a tiny bit of in and out play. Absolutely nothing on the opposite side...
Also... not sure if this is related at all.. or a weird coincidence. But while the front end was on a jack with the key in the ON setting, I turned the wheels left and right to see if I could replicate the popping sound... All of a sudden I heard a gurgling sound followed by liquid hitting the ground. Crap. I went over to the passenger side and noticed that there was power steering fluid pouring out of the engine bay reservoir. WTH? A good amount came out, a decent sized puddle anyways.
I cleaned the mess up, got the car back on the ground and took it for a test drive. No more popping sound... so far, but the power steering pump is definitely toast. It's making all sorts of groaning noises like it's mother just moved across the street.
Looks like all I have concluded today is that a power steering pump is in order.
Thanks in advance for everyones insight and thoughts.
So, as this story concludes, you now have an overall good opinion of the UCAs (after taking them apart and having put 1 years worth of use on them)?You'll have to define "hardcore wheeling", as some people consider weekend trips down the forest service roads "hardcore".
I definitely push the limits of my rig regularly, if theres a trail, i'm going to get to the end of it regardless of the terrain. I'm regularly kicking rocks, activating ATRAC, and spinning wheels. Nothing like rock crawling, though. Not my cup of tea.
Anyways, sorry to thread jack this one... I can start another thread. But I did some more troubleshooting when I got home from work and popped the control arm boll joint free to inspect the ball joint. To my unprofessional ball joint inspecting eye, nothing seemed wrong. It was tight, it didn't have any play, rips, or looseness, nothing that would indicate it would pop or click or crack under load. I reinstalled it and everything looked A-OKAY.
Next, I decided for kicks to take apart the hub and inspect the bearings, the washer, and C-clip, everything in there also looked OKAY. No indication of any kind of failure or loose nuts. One thing I did notice. I grabbed the CV axle from behind the rotor and tugged on it in and out. I noticed there's a tiny bit of in and out play. Absolutely nothing on the opposite side...
Also... not sure if this is related at all.. or a weird coincidence. But while the front end was on a jack with the key in the ON setting, I turned the wheels left and right to see if I could replicate the popping sound... All of a sudden I heard a gurgling sound followed by liquid hitting the ground. Crap. I went over to the passenger side and noticed that there was power steering fluid pouring out of the engine bay reservoir. WTH? A good amount came out, a decent sized puddle anyways.
I cleaned the mess up, got the car back on the ground and took it for a test drive. No more popping sound... so far, but the power steering pump is definitely toast. It's making all sorts of groaning noises like it's mother just moved across the street.
Looks like all I have concluded today is that a power steering pump is in order.
Thanks in advance for everyones insight and thoughts.
