TOTAL CHAOS UCA Maintenance

Friendly reminder to PREP YOUR SH*T!

https://www.chaosfab.com/lifestyle/tech-tips/how-to-grease-upper-control-arm-bushings/

 

I would like to see a whole line of maintenance videos for my suspension stuff. I feel like I should be doing more to keep them as long as possible.

 

Stay tuned!

 

This as my whole front end is torn apart for maintenance. New lower bushings, new UCA/LCA uni-balls, CV grease refresh, shock rebuilds with new coil over valving....anything else I come across and hopefully UCA heims are still good (seem good) 'cause I didn't order replacements

 

Hey TC,

Is there a way to tell the bushings need to be replaced?

 

If it's coming apart or sloppy it's bad.
Otherwise it just needs lubed

 

As long as you take care of the uniball these arms are so forgiving. I over lubricate the uniball and I’ve had zero issues over 3 years and probably 60k miles. Keep the lubricant in the door and it makes it easy to remember!

 

Just did this maintenance today. I had been using the wrong grease for the uniball for about a year and tried out the CRC dry grease today and it went pretty well. It is somewhat hard to get the bottom of the uniball sprayed due to the positioning. In general spray on is way easier than applying by hand though.

First time greasing the bushings, which is way over due. It was very hard to loosen the UCA bolts. Possibly they were over tightened during install or lack of maintenance. If you're leaving the tires on you have to remove the two rubber engine flaps to get enough space. I used 7/8" sockets and a closed end spanner. I ended up making a 5ft breaker bar to break the nuts loose and another spanner wrench to extend the close end spanner (other side of the bolt). Then used a large torque wrench set to 100ftlbs to tighten.

Finding a good grease gun was hard as well. Ended up with the more expensive "lock n lube" which did help hold the zerk fittings in the tight space, would recommend.

Like the videos show the bushings push out and pushes out old dirty grease. Overall great videos! I think this is like 15-20min job as long as the UCA bolts are reasonable.

 

I treat lube as a cleaning, meaning I do it a lot. For TC UCAs, slack the nut to relieve pressure, grease it until you see some new grease, drive it with loose bolts around the block and re-tighten. I have Tower gussets so I don't tighten them to 80 or whatever it is, just tight. It's not going anywhere. I greased 10 different poly bushings today on my truck in 30 minutes. easy maintenance.