Everything you need to know about Upper Control Arms (UCA)

Icon tubular deltajoint don’t?

 

No, and stay away from those arms, they suck and you'll likely never get proper alignment #s.

 

What's up with the base Icon arms?

 

@joonbug and I both had 'em, neither of us could get decent caster (down in the low 3s which isn't enough for a lifted truck IMO) and neither of us could get 0* caster. The solution from Icon, cut your inner tie rods. WTF??? NO other manufacturer has a lame solution like that. I bought MCM arms and put them on top of the Icon arms and sure enough they were 3/8" shorter than the MCM arms. The delta joint is cool but the arms are wrong and their solution is stupid, just make the arms the right length!
I've run stock, Camburg, Icon and MCM on a MT setup and MCM were by far the best.

 

Were you running the standard uniball tube Camburgs? Deltajoint is supposed to drop into a standard 1" uniball cup, so in theory they can go in anything with a 1" uniball cup.
I'm considering BajaKits due to their delrin bushings, LSK because... well... LSK, MCM because Matt and I share the same name and he's a cool dude, and True Travel because they have boxed arms with SRE mounts.

 

So are these JBA UCA’s worth a dang? I have JBA long tube headers, and I know it’s not the same company.

These just intrigued me because I have red sway bars, red TRD inlay on my skid plate, and I’ll have red springs, so I thought these would tie in nicely...

 

There's a lifetime warranty on them. They are probably pretty good. I may have been wrong about camber adjustability of them. I don't see any way to adjust the camber.

 

I just installed them on mine so far so good.

 

Awesome, good info!

Those look great, I hope they match the color of the sway bars and TRD inlay on my skid plate. I'll also have red springs, so I think they would fit nicely.

 

I like a lot of the arms you mentioned but they're all over the place with what their geometry will allow. I mean BajaKits? Those look awesome and it's a frickin subsidiary of Brenthal...... the Trophy Truck master builders...... Regardless those arms aren't gonna work well IMO. Why, with no personal experience with those arms, would I say this? Look at the arm, the part that comes off of the rear bushing. You'll see it has an angle/bend forward. Now compare that to MCM (which I do have experience with). MCM is straight and close to 90* to the bushing. Compare again Camburg. That part coming off the the rear bushing is almost 90* again but the angle is the opposite of the MCM.
So, from my personal experience, MCM yielded 4-4.5* of caster and 0* camber with my eccentrics more or less neutral. Camburg produced more like 7* of caster and 0* camber. I'm lead to believe from observation that the Bajakit won't allow much beyond 3-3.5* of caster and I've no idea what kind of camber #s.
Having been through a frustrating and expensive process of finding what is IMO the proper geometry for a lifted Tundra I would highly recommend MCM. BTW, I've got a TC LT kit now and am back where I started, can't get proper alignment #s so had to purchase heim UCAs. Since they're not "on truck" adjustable, and because it's VERY difficult to find a qualified align tech, I'll be doing my own alignments from now on.

 

I've read positive reviews from 1 or 2 people but ACE sells red rattle cans too.

 

Well yeah... but I choose the path of least resistance. Haha

 

Smart, apparently I choose the hard route......every time.

 

I'm not sure how much caster I need right now. I've heard the get-all-you-can argument and the there's-a-limit argument as well. For now, I'm looking at maximizing a mid travel setup. It's not looking like we'll be moving to the desert, but somewhere the trails are more narrow. For now, the offroading I do is restricted to what I can find in FL. Yes, judging by the pictures of the BajaKits, they will not give a bunch of caster. The MCM will probably net the highest amount of caster. Out of the 3, only the True Travel has camber adjust. I'm not doing what I want to do with the truck yet, so I'm not sure what numbers I will need.

 

Yes, there's a limit and a "too much" caster argument, like hitting the cab mount after a CMC. I personally thought the 7* from Camburg was too much. I'm in NorCal and we don't have a desert though we head south frequently to enjoy high speed stuff. Our wheeling here is narrow and sometimes rocky. But, I don't think the type of wheeling really makes much too much difference in terms of alignment #s. There's a bit of personal preference involved but for me the 4.5* range is ideal no matter what I'm driving on, dirt, asphalt or rocks. You can buy once or be like me and buy a bunch of different ones 'til you find what suits you best. Heims are a great way to go to but a lot more expensive.

 

Honestly, I'm probably just over thinking this. I tend to do that when "priorities" get in the way of car/truck mods.

I wish I could go back to CA, but the cost of living turned me off. Free states are nice though. Can't beat the fact that the mountains, beach and, desert are all within a couple hours drive though.

 

https://performancelifts.com/prg-toyota-tundra-2007-upper-control-arm-kit.html
i run these, i like them. got them directly from greg at PRGproducts. they're out of stock on this website which happens to be the only other site that carried them besides the main PRG website, but i haven't seen them listed on his website since he updated it.

had posted pics back on page 7(https://www.tundras.com/threads/eve...pper-control-arms-uca.4497/page-7#post-674810)

 

I saw your post and thought, "Oh, here we go...". Glad I was wrong. Those are a really affordable heim option, bout the same price as MCM non-heimed. I'd look for reviews first but just glancing quickly I'd say those have a lot of potential. Thanks, never seen 'em before.

 

Yeah, those looks pretty decent. .120 wall dom, so they're strong.

 

I just put the freedom offroad ucas on my truck. Install went easy. Didnt have to do any grinding as others seem to have needed. They are solidly built and use stock type bushings and ball joint. I didnt want uniballs for the maintenance aspect. I dont wheel the truck. I'm on a 3/1 and I no longer have UCA to coil contact at full droop. I'll post alignment results later this week.

 

Everything went smooth with the alignment. Actual is the after adjustment.

 

Any suggestions for good adjustable Upper Control Arms, that don't require much maintenance. Not going to be taking my truck off-road ever. I tow I have a 100-200 pound payload rarely once a month. Just want the ride to be as smooth as possible. Do you think BDS UCA's will do it for me heard they don't help the caster too much? Just want to get good alignment. Ordered a BDS 7" lift, going to set Coilover to 6" lift only might or might not have forgotten about the UCA's. It's a 2019

 

SPC/light racing, JBA.

 

A question for the pros.. I have a 3/1 level on mine, 34in nitto ridge grapplers, not impressed with the ride quality or handling . My shop is recommending TC uca’s with some BDS coilovers. Anyone have this set up, I’m guessing it should handle like a Cadillac with all that but it’s like $2600. Will get the rear shocks later...Love reading all this, great info!!!

 

Solid recommendation on the UCAs. Shocks, not so much.

 

What are you thinking for a shock set up, my buddy was liking the kings, but I want some thing quality... not crazy off-roading but might get a little Baja action every now and then, only 2wd, might tow a boat occasionally....

 

Elkas.

 

Since you're 2wd you have a few more options, like lift spindles, that I'm not familiar with. King's are a good recommendation in that they're rebuildable and you can change the valving to dial in the ride. However, King's are expensive and re-valving can get really expensive if you're not doing it yourself. But, buy once, cry once. Fox and ADS are also great, rebuildable, shocks. Bilsteins are very popular for a more budget oriented build as are OME. But neither of these are adjustable or rebuildable. So, if for some reason you're not happy with the ride, you're buying a second time. TRD pro shocks are somewhere in the middle. Older versions are Bilstein (2" lift) and must be sent back to be rebuilt but generally sell for a premium w/o premium advantages (rebuild, re-valve). Newer version is Fox and I don't know about rebuilding those.
Whatever you do it's generally considered best to avoid the urinal cake spacer on top of the coil over. And, once lifted throw out the "spec" alignment # for caster. Especially with the TC UCAs you should expect (demand) caster around 4* with roughly .5* more caster on the right, passenger side.

 

Really appreciate the response, always had trucks but never lifted one until I got the tundy and got hooked on all the upgrades on this page!!! Common theme I am reading and totally makes since is buy 1x cry 1x!! Thanks again!!

 

I also had the Nitto ridge grapplers and did not like the ride so i went back to the Michellin LTX AT2 and love the ride now i also added 6112 and 5160 with coachbuilder shackels in the rear the +2 version the ride is much nicer than the 5100s i had for about 1 yr