Which UCA is Best for YOU? Toyota Aftermarket UCA Part 2 

The xAxis joint is completely insulated from the steel by rubber. This gives it better NVH than a rod end. I know this because I had to replace one, the process involved drilling out the rubber yo remove the metal portion of the joint.

As an engineer I really appreciate your bringing up both positives and negatives of the various options and also giving the reasons for your opinions. Keep up the good work! I'm learning a lot about my Tacoma and hope to learn more from you in the future

Bro! Please keep up the fantastic content. No BS click bate just mic dropping facts over and over! Shame I don't have a ISF vehicle would be awesome for you to do some live axel content in the future!

I appreciate the amount of time and research put into these videos to deliver clear and accurate information, great work

I love that the two most popular brands for UCAs ( Icons/ total chaos) are not even mentioned, such piles... if you want rubber ducky noises everywhere you go, get total chaos. if you want never ending servicing ( and failures) get Icon. these videos are worth a LOT More subs and likes, amazing work, thank you!

Great video! High quality content! So much knowledge packed into this short video.Love it!

Excellent video! Thank you for making all of these videos! They are very in-depth and informative! Much appreciated! :)

My guy, your videos are on point. Thank you for taking the time to document and share your expertise.

Another excellent video. Really great unbiased work 👍

Your videos are great! Love the attention to detail. You have answered so many question that most just skim on. Please keep them coming.

Wow.. all explained and very clear on all the details.. well done Sir ! Thank you.

Great info as usual. Glad to see some sponsorship support behind you 👍

I wish these videos were around when I first got my FJ. Thanks for all the hard work filming these videos, I'm learning so much!

As always, excellent content. This quality of content sets the bar for content publishers, its relevant, well presented, informative and succinct. This is the sort of experience and advice we wish we could get and that costs a packet. Thanks for the education......

Love your videos. Straight to the point and just makes sense.

Teach us more stuff Kai! Seriously though, thank you for all the hard work, information, and excellent presentation.

Another hit.. out of the ballpark! Great video Tinker

Mate, you're a champion at this RU-vid! Thanks for clearing things up on the last UCA video. 🇦🇺

Always cool to watch your videos!

This video breakdown was so incredibly insightful. Really amazing content. Also helped me (new to suspension), have a much better understanding of the suspension components all-together.

Your the type of guy id love to go wheeling with and off-road with. Knowledgeable and well thought thru on everything on your rig. I know I could learn a ton from you outside your videos. Great work

I enjoy your full explanations! Very interesting and intelligent!

TA, I love your videos! I am shopping for UCA form yo 2020 Tundra Pro right now, and I was going to buy the JBA brand ...but now after listening to you break down the other UCA's [ which are similar to the JBA build - powder coat, tubular greaseable, urethane ] I am sold on the Ironman! … I too live in the NE rustbelt! Keep up the great comparison and demonstration vids! 👍

As always another banger!!! Keep up the good work dude 🤙🏻

Amazing content as always.

Again, killed it man. Can wait to be educated on the next video!

Great commentator, I learned allot just from this video.

Love the way you break down your analysis. You touched on sway bars in a previous video, but hearing your pragmatic take on real world use (or removal) would be very informative!

Another outstanding video. Thank you.

Nice video! Keep them coming!!

Damn dude! You sure lay down a bunch of good information what an awesome video! Cheers!🤘🇨🇦👌

Great video. Would’ve loved to have seen a Dobinsons UCA as well. OE ball joint and OE frame pivot bushings.

PLEASE! Do a 1st gen sequoia build. I love your channel

Kai, you killed it again!

Another awesome video, keep up the great work!

Just subscribed! Good videos. Planning to lift my 2010 fj. Love your fj front end. Will be contacting you for everything you have on yours

Zero issues so far with my Camburg Balljoint UCA's, just keep'em lubed

I would love to see a video on Tacoma lean, or the driver side droop on the sr5 platform. I'm interested to see your analysis/solution. Awesome video once again.

Excellent info!

A video on do you need longer brake lines and diff drop at what lift amount would be great too

another great video!

That fj in the backround looks sick af!

Excellent!!!

I can't wait for you to get your hands on a new tacoma trd Pro or Trailhunter to analyze its components.

awesome, thank you for the video

the comment about clearance and reservoir hose addresses exactly what I've been dying to know. I ran the old man emu BP51 on the 4runner front, but kept the stock UCA, as I set the preload to be very low. However, somehow it still gave me a 3" lift!! The lift aside, I am really concerned that the hose is tightly tuck between the shock body/collar and the UCA, I feel the down travel of the UCA will soon destroy the hose.

Great comparison and rundown! I went with Ironman UCAs because I valued them being basically maintenance free and closer to OEM. I can swap ball joints out and get new bushings without having to go with expensive alternatives. Additionally, I’ve found a lot of the spherical joints to be noisier, even when greased up regularly. Obviously going to depend on use case, but for me a more OEM spec worked great.

I have the Icon Tubular with delta joint. Super happy with them after 4 years of abuse. Recommended them to my friend and he’s happy with them as well.

Hello, thanks for the videos. I would like to see you add the JBA and/or JBA HD High Caster UCA's to this or your next comparison review of UAC's. I'm currently running with JBA HD UAC's on a 2009 Toyota FJ Cruiser and they are holding up very well and allow my alignment to be adjusted to +4 degrees caster to move my front wheels forward.

Thank you! Very informative. Which shock would you recommend for a 2 inch lift? Primarily for ride quality on the bumps

I went with the Poly Performance UCAs because they use OEM style ball joints and bushings, but with upgraded rubber. And they're only $450!

Excellent video as always! Any info on extended sway bar links? Do I really need them, if so how much longer than stock? Do you get any benefit from buying those super thick and beefy ones over something of a stock thickness?

Great video and this channel is awesome it’s basically like a tacomaworld forum Tedtalk😂🤙

Love your videos Kai! Would you recommend freedom off-road uca?

Great content. Please consider expanding into other makes for channel growth like Ford Raptor.

I'm running stock uca on my 19 4runner OR with fox 2.0 coilovers front with 1 in lift coils in rear with fox 2.0 shocks on stock size wheels and tires was going to get aftermarket uca but so far alls well on the stock ones

Hey great videos. What UCA would you recomend for a 3 inch lifted tacoma? Any other recomendations?

Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Really appreciate your in depth analysis and education. I also have an FJ. Upgrading to 295/70R17s with bilstein 6112 heavy load coils. Expecting about a 2.2” lift. Which UCA would you recommend? I was planning on JBA, but now based on your video, i am leaning to the Iron mans.

Great videos both 1&2. I will say I just sent my SPC arms back for warranty. Those X Axis bushings failed after 25,000 miles of highway driving just a heads up to some considering them, and finding a competent technician to touch them is tough.

I really like your videos. Lots of information to digest so we can make the best choice to modify our suspension. Could you please include JBA Uca in your video comparison. The company says it has a 99 degree of articulation at the ball join due to their design and channel for grease on the bushings. I am having a hard time de siding which UCA to get and now I am trying to figure out what is the better lift high. I used to think the a 3" lift was better for clearance but I am not sure that is the way to go unless you are getting a long travel set up like the Marlin Crawler which very expensive giving everything it needs to be modified. For me budget is very important since I cannot afford to expend a lot of money on the suspension but I want something that is reliable and does not break the bank. Thanks again for your videos.

Thank you for excellant educational video's. Could you discuss 1st gen tundra ifs ? And you opinion on best non- long travel hard ware options currently available? Lots of confusion on forums. Looking at ifs set up. Only 1" additional droop looks attainable due to design. Do you agree?

When is the next😫 i want more! Now that you made me go dirtking, i wanna see more videos from you😢

Thank you for the huge effort you put into your VLOGS. Perhaps...slow it down? I am having to jot down your facts and observations as I am planning a 2" lift on my own LC150 Prado V6 VX with KDSS. This is jokingly, but it feels like I am attending my final year psychology master class again 😆 Except, I REALLY want to be here!

Please make a video on the marlin crawler long travel kit.

Dobinsons and JBA UCAs are also top notch as well. For older Toyotas my preference is JBA, can run a larger tire/wheel and not have a bunch of maintenance.

Accutune UCA's are great. After blowing through several sets of SPC's due to X-axis failures, I wanted to try something else. So far so good, no noises yet several months in.

Hey you should review Jdf fabrication uca’s they use oem Toyota inner pivot bushings and come with sealed Greasable uniballs for the best of bolth worlds.

When are the Accutune units going to be available ? Great vid bro,.. killer info.

Subscribed

I have a 2018 4runner TRD off road. I’ve got a Bilstein 5100 shocks already installed and Dobinson springs that are going to be installed next month. I’m located in Canada, where salt and stuff affects the car. I want to get the best UCA for my set up and my environment. I’ve been hearing a lot of failures lately with the SPC control arms. In fact, one place didn’t want to sell them to me For that reason. It appears that likely the Iron Man control arm would be best but what is your opinion? Any help would be really appreciated!!!

Have you looked into the marlin crawler RCLT-HD arms? Big Mike is able to run either 37s or 40s without spacers or a body mount chop and has a CTI score of 820!

Ive had SPCs on my tundra and now SPCs on my tacoma and they have both been flawless. I grease the UBJs every other oil change and they remain silent. Between the two trucks, I personally have 50k miles on SPC UCAs with no problems to report. If my GF's 4runner gets an aftermarket set of UCAs they will likely be SPCs

Bigger, Stronger balls XD Your channel is awesome, when are you adding more content?

Love the vids! What is your opinion on Icon's UCA Delta Joint? Thanks.

So what is your view on Ironman’s UCA now they had a recall for ball joint /cracking failures and now replacing with a mismatch of various ball joints?

JBA high angle uca best bang for the buck and maintenance is so simple and easy

How do you feel about the rough country UCA’s which are similar in design to the Ironman UCA

When doing a spring upgrade for bigger tires what would be the best route on UCAs? I have a 22 T4R pro and wanna put 285s on it. Thanks in advance 👍

I love your videos. Do you ever come down south to wheel? Would love to ride with you and pick your brain about my LX470 suspension

Have you noticed higher running coolant temperatures with the LP9s in front of your radiator grill?

damn my total chaos.... damnnnnn

Great video Thanks a lot Can someone please advise me if I need better bump stops ? I have eibach lift for my fj cruiser 2.5 front and 1 in the back

One question, why UCA's with an OEM ball joint? One thing to mention is, OEM joints = OEM like performance Camburg, Total Chaos, and many others use a uniball in their UCA's for a reason, and thus why the price is always higher. Otherwise, great vid! Would love to see you make a UCA uniball comparison, particularly a 1st gen Tacoma UCA!

What about JBA uca's? I have a 3 inch Eibach stage 1 kit on my 14 Tacoma.

Ironman UCA now having a recall, so concerned what is the long term quality of them? According to NTSB they are made in China and had faulty ball joints. I know Ironman has been replacing. But now found out made in China and with new ball joints, concerned about their claims of maintenance free. Be good if can hear your take on them now.

😮I'm interested in billet upper control arms for my Tacoma but can't find any info on how to perform an alignment with them only install videos

I currently have SPC UCAs and their bushings just wore out on my 4runner after just a year or 20K miles. It's making horrible sounds now and I wheel on an off road park every other weekend and use it on Colorado and Utah off road trails. My mechanic told me they're just factory replacement and not suitable for hard, off road use. The ball joint on the SPC is really fine as I grease it every 5k miles. Is my mechanic correct on saying it's not really meant for off-roading? I saw on SPCs limited warranty information that it's not covered if used off road. I am looking to replace it with accutune or the ironman now since the accutune has heim joints but I really like the set and forget thing that ironman is offering and it looks good and shiny and to top it off I got ironman FCPs after watching your videos. Loving their shocks so far!

why wasn't dobinson mentioned? uses factory Bjs literally rock solid

In another video you should explain as to why regearging doesn’t change MPGs in any significant amount. People keep repeating these myths without any understanding of the engineering behind it

My Spc x-axis bushings are failing with less than 20k, mostly highway miles. Just begun the warranty process so hopefully they will replace them.

Your knowledge is exceptional. Are you a Toyota robot?

Can i give you a call or email concerning my 2019 tundra? You seem very knowledgeable and i would like to get some clear direction about how to go about upgrading my truck properly.

Im having a cv axle problem on mine, i have a 3" lift in it and the cv is super tight on hub bearing and drive train, there is no play on cv axle at all please help me on that

I have SPC but it’s not flat like the one you have. I’m not sure if it’s an old version or not as I did buy them 2 years ago. It’s round, thick and heavy. It also doesn’t have joints like yours. It has thick bushings with a center metal sleeve.

I'm running ironman stage 2 nitro lift.. and both ball joints cracked open last month.. I've had them on the truck for about 11 months. I'm aware of the recall but CS is taking forever to reply.. from emails and call back... Should I just replace the ball joint myself? Thinking of Mevotech TTK ball joints.

What about the Icon UCA?

I think Ironman will be my next

I heard Accutune has UCAs now but cannot find them anywhere online

Although not as popular what are your opinions on the JBA Upper control arm? I'm running one on my GX470 because of the ease of being able to unbolt the ball joint (using a GM ball joint) the cheaper availability of said ball joints and the ability to adjust caster and camber from the top of the ball joint. The only downside I saw with these was the polyurethane bushings towards the shock mount but with religious greasing they should be fine as I have been doing. Thanks!

I hate my SPC uca's. In 18mos I've replaced the ball joints and the x-axis bushings. And the x-axis bushings are already bad again. I can grab my control arm and push/pull with a loud clunk. 250$ for Spc's upper ball joints and another 250$ for their x-axis bushings. I've got over 1250$ into these control arms and they have a ton of play and ride like shit. They've been nothing but a money pit and a headache.