Ironman Forged UCA’s (2 Viewers)

[scott johnson]

If you have the Forged UCA’s and haven’t replaced them or at least replaced the Upper Ball Joints yet. I’d get on it. I’ve never seen a ball joint come apart like that. I was in LE for 26 years and worked a lot of collisions. I’ve seen them shear off in collisions and I’ve seen them shear off on the trail but never just come apart going down the road.

To get back on the road required, new upper ball joint (moog), lower ball joint, new CV axle, new brake hard and soft lines, and new abs sensor wire.

I also have to order a new headlight and a new bumper. Probably going to end up getting both headlights so they match and may end up replacing the lower control arm on that side since everything got tweaked. I also have a new set of UCA’s ordered that will be going on as soon as they get here.

 

[Willie G]

That joint has been out of grease for a while!

How many miles on your 2008?

 

[scott johnson]

174k. I put the UCA’s on a couple years ago. The ball joints came pre installed and they don’t have a zerk fitting like the Moog’s do

 

[NikP]

@scott johnson There is a recall on the upper control arm. They covered the cost of replacement and installation for me. You might check want to investigate.

https://www.ironman4x4.com/recall/

 

[scott johnson]

@scott johnson There is a recall on the upper control arm. They covered the cost of replacement and installation for me. You might check want to investigate.

https://www.ironman4x4.com/recall/

Thanks. I have already been in touch. They are sending me a new set of UCA’s and will be covering installation labor and an alignment.

 

[bloc]

Are they doing anything for the other casualties of their poor design?

 

[Rednexus]

Daymn! I ebay'd the replacement set the sent me and bought a set of 555 UBJ's to put in my old Ironman UCAs. I may knock that out this weekend. Had put it on the back burner as everything seemed OK....

 

[scott johnson]

Daymn! I ebay'd the replacement set the sent me and bought a set of 555 UBJ's to put in my old Ironman UCAs. I may knock that out this weekend. Had put it on the back burner as everything seemed OK....

We replaced the upper with a Moog to get back on the road. New set of UCA’s are supposed to be in the way. If they aren’t here soon I may go ahead and replace the other side with the Moog. Going to relic run in a few weeks and not wanting to drive 4 hrs pulling a rig on a trailer with the Ironman upper ball.

I had emailed them with my order number to see if my set was part of the recall and never got a response. Like you, put it on the back burner because I figured they’d get back in touch. Nope. Just driving down the road and the joint popped apart. When I contacted them they said my email went to the Australia recall office.


On the bright side. If there is one. The bull bar took the hit like a champ. 30 mph hit and other than the bumper cover, headlight washer and the headlight it was minimal damage to the truck

 

[Rednexus]

I called a few local shops to try to get the UBJs replaced - looks like no one is interested in installing parts provided by customers. Ironman gave me 555 UBJ number SB-3881 as the part, which was very difficult to find (got them from Partsouq). I think it's not the same part as the normal 120 Pardo UBJ.

Looks like I'll just DIY this as honestly I've DIY'd everything else on the rig and don't feel like trusting my GX to a shop I haven't used before. I did go and probe around my UBJs...zero rips in the rubber boot and I could feel grease on the inside (stud felt nice and smooth). So I'll keep an eye on it and knock this out later this summer.

 

[AnyMal]

Are they doing anything for the other casualties of their poor design?

$450 at a certified shop only, LOL.

no one wanted to do mine, since everyone is too apprehensive to touch anything not stock.

I will be suing them personally.

**** Ironman

 

[AnyMal]

I called a few local shops to try to get the UBJs replaced - looks like no one is interested in installing parts provided by customers. Ironman gave me 555 UBJ number SB-3881 as the part, which was very difficult to find (got them from Partsouq). I think it's not the same part as the normal 120 Pardo UBJ.

Looks like I'll just DIY this as honestly I've DIY'd everything else on the rig and don't feel like trusting my GX to a shop I haven't used before. I did go and probe around my UBJs...zero rips in the rubber boot and I could feel grease on the inside (stud felt nice and smooth). So I'll keep an eye on it and knock this out later this summer.

**** all that, do what you want and sue for damages.

My boot was torn and yes, nobody wants to **** with janky bull**** like Ironman products.

I have about $2k of things i bought that are all bullsh’t. I’m going to sue for $5-$10k.

$450 in 2024 lol. I can maybe get my shoes shined for that.
An alignment is $800 at Lexus if you actually do radar. But even then this may cover an alignment and one hour of labor somewhere that isn’t a real “shop” just a local place even.

Whole thing has been a joke.

 

[Rednexus]

**** all that, do what you want and sue for damages.

My boot was torn and yes, nobody wants to **** with janky bull**** like Ironman products.

I have about $2k of things i bought that are all bullsh’t. I’m going to sue for $5-$10k.

$450 in 2024 lol. I can maybe get my shoes shined for that.
An alignment is $800 at Lexus if you actually do radar. But even then this may cover an alignment and one hour of labor somewhere that isn’t a real “shop” just a local place even.

Whole thing has been a joke.

No thanks. I've had the misfortune of being involved in personal litigation before (as a plaintiff) and have zero interest in suing someone over a few hundred dollars. I already came out ahead as I eBay'd the recall replacement UCAs for $600 and bought new UBJs for $68.

I'll swap our the UBJs in an hour or two of my time and then send Ironman the $80 reciept for front end alignment reimbursement. Otherwise my FCP kit has been great and has around 30K on it now.

 

[AnyMal]

No thanks. I've had the misfortune of being involved in personal litigation before (as a plaintiff) and have zero interest in suing someone over a few hundred dollars. I already came out ahead as I eBay'd the recall replacement UCAs for $600 and bought new UBJs for $68.

I'll swap our the UBJs in an hour or two of my time and then send Ironman the $80 reciept for front end alignment reimbursement. Otherwise my FCP kit has been great and has around 30K on it now.

Not worth it for a few hundred of course.

For me its like at least $2k in parts so far from them, and most importantly a LOT of my time.
Downtime for the truck, which I use for my business etc etc.

So yeah, it depends if you are just going to call it at the ball joint sure.
I value my time and money more than that though.
There's a zillion claims I haven't made over the years but this will not be one of them.

I have the UCAs, but my panhard is also toast after like 1 year. And I had to dump all my oem parts during my move.
They also sold me upper trailing arm links in the rear that aren't even compatible and wouldn't accept responsibility. Told me to weld them to make it work lol. no. So yeah, for me it's in the thousands to remediate all this and months of my time.

 

[AnyMal]

Also, I understand you're trying to be the good guy and take the high road or whatever it is that I won't ever do but, this company sold people life threatening parts and then made them wait months for a replacement without offering any type of compensation outside of the bare minimum.

OP could have died so he definitely should sue. I had very limited use of my truck during this time and rented vehicles for my interstate TX trips.

None of this is acceptable.

 

[Rednexus]

I get it, I recently got in a dispute with PowerStop when they jerked me around for 6 months and then denied a claim for a warranty replacement brake hose that let loose (see here). Ironman was 10X easier to deal with than PowerStop, but it sucks getting burned by a crappy vendor. Honestly if PowerStop would have caused an accident I probably would have considered litigation. Luckily in my case they didn't.

 

[AnyMal]

I get it, I recently got in a dispute with PowerStop when they jerked me around for 6 months and then denied a claim for a warranty replacement brake hose that let loose (see here). Ironman was 10X easier to deal with than PowerStop, but it sucks getting burned by a crappy vendor. Honestly if PowerStop would have caused an accident I probably would have considered litigation. Luckily in my case they didn't.

I have similar complaint with the quality of one of my lines but the crown performance custom length stainless set is going in soon along with brake job upcoming!!! yay. They are well priced too and im just copying what dr kdss did since id not heard of the company before.

I actually think the power stops are bad for the platform because they look too skinny to me. The stock lines are fatter, AND flexible.
I have improvement to make to my braking system for sure now that I have 20s on the discs can finally breathe again.

Im almoooost enjoying owning this LX again.

 

[Rednexus]

I have similar complaint with the quality of one of my lines but the crown performance custom length stainless set is going in soon along with brake job upcoming!!! yay. They are well priced too and im just copying what dr kdss did since id not heard of the company before.

I actually think the power stops are bad for the platform because they look too skinny to me. The stock lines are fatter, AND flexible.
I have improvement to make to my braking system for sure now that I have 20s on the discs can finally breathe again.

Im almoooost enjoying owning this LX again.

I'm replacing the Power Stop junk with OEM lines from Partsouq, except for the rear body-to-axle, with will be Metal Tech extended SS lines. The rest of my PS lines seem OK but I'd rather not chance one springing a leak randomly.

Not happy with having to spend more money and time to swap lines but it is what it is. FWIW, Power Stop initially claimed they had "no mechanism for giving refunds", until I filed a BBB complaint. Then they sent me a refund from what must be an automated system they use all the time. They are a real POS of a company.

 

[Trollhole]

I just wouldn't trust a cheap set of upper control arms. I think ironman makes some good suspension products for the price. I used to sell the heck out of it for a long time. But after going through disaster after disaster with two wholesale suppliers we switched to Dobinson, Icon and Camburg have been very happy about the products and service. We use Icon and Camburg for uppers control arms.

I think there was a similar issue with Black Dog UCA failing as well.

 

[AnyMal]

I just wouldn't trust a cheap set of upper control arms. I think ironman makes some good suspension products for the price. I used to sell the heck out of it for a long time. But after going through disaster after disaster with two wholesale suppliers we switched to Dobinson, Icon and Camburg have been very happy about the products and service. We use Icon and Camburg for uppers control arms.

I think there was a similar issue with Black Dog UCA failing as well.

Honestly, these are temporary at this point and do nothing but look nice poking silver from the fender well.
I am just biding time to get rid of them at this point but I got other stuff going on the truck and need it running right now.

Im going through some OCD stuff with spacers / fitment but I really do think I will be doing something like a tundra conversion on OEM wheels.
I can't find a damn thing on the market that actually works perfectly and def not enjoying being a continual guinea pig.

Im just worried it's not all fleshed out but yeah. IDK if I can trust anything anymore so posts like yours from folks who do this day in and out are worth their gold on mud.

 

[scott johnson]

I’m about to swap out the other ball joint with a Moog K500018 to match what we fixed on the side that failed. From everything I’ve seen the upper arm is fine they just used an inferior ball joint. Once I get the other upper ball joint done I should be good. Then I’m sending Ironman a bill for labor and for an alignment.