Upper Control Arms

My lower control arms need replaced. So, I am planning on upper and lower ball joints and control arms.
I have read many times to use OEM for the lower ball joints. What about the upper ball joints?

I will probably use parts store lower control arms.
I am undecided on upper control arms. I have 6112/5160 on setting 4/6 for a prescribed 1.3" of lift. I got more than that going from the old shocks, but maybe its only 1.3" above original/stock.
So, factory UCAs cause I'm at less than 2" of lift? Or aftermarket? Looks like freedom is substantially less expensive than the other aftermarkets.

I read the so you wanna.... thread about UCAs.

My truck is a daily driver, but I don't drive daily. I only commute a couple days a week, 15 miles round trip, and often use 2 wheeled conveyances in the nice months. So, a big portion of its job is getting out of Denver. Blast up a highway, drive too far on washboards, and maybe some rougher forest service roads.

So freedom UCAs cause they aren't much more money and maybe they'll help an alignment?

 

if alignment is impossible to get into spec you should get UCA's. If you are able to properly align your vehicle they're not necessary and are just expensive pieces of jewelry for inside your wheelwells.

 

OEM upper ball joints are pretty inexpensive. I used Moog LCA and UCA and the UCA hits the coil. I'm only lifted 3/4 of an inch.

 

I mean, here's the thing from my view.

Quality aftermarket UCA are only going to give you more flexibility to get into proper alignment, assuming the shop understands how to adjust the product which, from what I've seen on here, with the SPC products specifically, a lot of shops don't have a f'n clue.

Before you even think about aftermarket UCA and UBJs, you'd need to sit down and think about maintenance. Maintenance is huge. That means which style of balljoint your new UCA use are huge. Using anything unbooted, like delta/universal/etc. type of joint, you're adding maintenance, and noise, and other crap. Not ideal for a daily.

Going with a non-delta/non-universal joint aftermarket UCA leaves you very few options. For popular offerings, you're pretty limited, JBA and SPC, maybe? If you may, down the road, plan to lift a little more, like at 2" or above, I'd consider it. But ... based on what I'm reading and my gut, I'm thinking you should stick with OEM.

 

I went with the 6112's at 5/3 on my DC and I ultimately decided to plop down on the aftermarket set. I ended up going with SPC (packaged differently I saved about $90?) to give the easy alignment/future lift @ 2". I also bought extended end links to match among other junk. I think booted and greased is the way to go personally.

Are you currently running that suspension setup and have a good alignment at the moment? Or did you go in for an alignment after the install and the shop couldn't or wouldn't do it due to the lower control arms?

 

I have the freedoms with toytecs at about 2". They don't offer any more adjustability than stock. They alignment techs couldn't get me to the specs I wanted, but I think that was them just being lazy.

 

BMF, that removes freedom from the running.

I’ve had the 6112s on for about 25k. The alignment is fine but not great. It is a little wandery. It’s in spec. The cams are frozen, so until now I haven’t worried or done anything about it.

New cams with the other parts. Which lead to this post. I don’t know how much I could benefit from the increased range of a different UCA.

If the freedoms don’t get me anything, I am leaning heavily towards stock and saving ~$500.

 

Whatever you do, don't buy aftermarket cam bolts. I know this "only buy OEM" shit gets old, but this is one case where you'll want to learn from other people's unfortunate experience.

 

10-4. OEM cam bolts and ball joints.

 

Wandering could be other things than alignment. Do you have the alignment specs? I had very loose steering until I changed the LCA, UCA, steering rack bushings, cam bolts and shocks, then it was great!

I used the SPC cam bolts and regretted it, eventually bought OEM and replaced them again. So I was one of the unfortunate experiences

 

Thanks Brother. I am going to do stock/part store on the control arms and factory/oem parts on the ball joints and cams.

I appreciate all the feedback dudes!

 

Just no moog on the UCA. Won't work with any kind of lift.

I just noticed you're in Denver, Stevinson Toyota has a great online parts discount, but you can pick them up so it saves on shipping costs.

 

I really like the Camburg UCA's I installed a couple months ago. They are an open style, so maybe it's not best for your situation. But they have a spray film/grease for the joint that's relatively cheap, as is the replacement joint if/when it needs done down the road. Camburg is also, allegedly, one of the best when it comes to getting the alignment in spec. Also, they don't squeak and look cool .

Hardest part of the job, for me, was getting the ball joint out with the knuckle still in the truck. Just take the steering knuckle off and save yourself some time.