Not all UCA’s are the Same

Since Exit Offroad offers several different brands and designs of Upper Control Arms (UCA’s) for Toyota, Lexus, Ford and other IFS vehicles, we get questions all the time about which option to choose. There are a few different types, so I’ll break those down real quick and then go into an option that really doesn’t work out so well for many people, down at the end.

Tubular Arms – These are just as they sound, tubular arms made from bent tube steel as their main structure. Dobinsons, Icon, SPC, Dirt King, and many other brands use this design as they’re strong, offer better clearance than stock, look good, and are also affordable. Dobinsons use a high quality OEM size replacement ball joint made by 555 in Japan, while some others like Dirt King use Moog, Icon use their own design, and some use a Uniball (like a heim joint). These are not adjustable, but they do have fixed added caster. SPC allows adjustment of caster and camber with their unique ball joint.

Photo example: Dobinsons Tubular UCA’s for a 5th Gen 4Runner – UCA59-002K

Boxed Plate Construction – These use several pieces of steel to create a boxed-in design as opposed to using tubular steel. They can be considerably stronger with greater surface area, and can use ball joints or heim/uniball joints. Some use regular poly bushings at the frame end, and some use heim joints there. The heim and uniball design is most commonly seen in racing setups, as it allows for free movement of the arm up and down without hardly any resistance, unlike rubber bushings that twist and rotate to allow for movement. Rubber and poly bushings allow for NVH (noise, vibration and harshness) to be absorbed before that is transferred to the frame, whilst uniball and heim joints do not, so you can definitely feel more of the ground through those joints, which isn’t as comfortable as a properly isolated bushing would give. That said, they’re easy to rebuild or replace the joints, and are still fairly long-lasting, depending on the climate you’re in and the conditions you drive in. Some of these are adjustable at the frame end, but most have fixed bushings and have fixed added caster, but the uniball allows for greater caster since it has higher degrees of flex than a ball joint.

Photo Example: Dirt King Boxed UCA’s for a 2nd Gen Tundra and Sequoia – DK-815902

Billet Arms – These are manufactured from a piece of solid aluminum and machined down to create the correct size and profile as necessary. Then they’re drilled out and setup for whatever frame mounts and ball joints or uniballs they will use. We offer these from both Dobinsons and Icon. Dobinsons use OEM size rubber bushings on the frame end for proper NVH dampening, and 555 ball joints on the wheel end for long life and zero maintenance. Icon use heim joints on the frame end, and their own Delta Joint, which is also a type of ball joint, on the wheel end. Both are fully adjustable for caster and camber, allowing the best possible wheel alignment, which also adds some considerable price when compared to the other options.

Photo Example: Dobinsons Billet UCA’s for a 5th Gen 4Runner – UCA59-202K

And Icon Billet arms for a 200 Series Land Cruiser below – 58570DJ

Finally, on to one design that doesn’t work out so well for everyone, but it can for most. JBA is a direct-to-consumer company (they only sell direct to the public) that makes some really nice UCA’s for many different vehicles. These were designed for stock length struts most often, and so people that have upgraded to extended travel struts, or struts with larger diameter coils can run into clearance problems at full droop. These arms don’t always have the added clearance that all of the other brands we sell do, they actually appear to have less clearance than stock at the ball joint, but more out where it doesn’t really matter, and the issue is the spacing of their ball joint and the surface area around it. Here is a side by side photo to show that the arms really don’t gain any ball joint clearance on the inside of the arm by the ball joint, allowing the possibility of the JBA UCA hitting the coil spring at full droop, just like factory UCA’s. So what’s wrong with that? Well, the noise is the most annoying part, as it can “clang” or make the spring “boing” when it hits it, depending how much of the coil it grabs as it goes up and down it.

The tape measure wasn’t held in exactly the same place, but you can see how close the center of the ball joint is in both of them.

The Dobinsons ball joint area has a 5mm thick area (the ball joint cup) around the ball joint, giving maximum clearance on the inside and outside of that part of the arm, which gives more tire clearance and more coil spring clearance.

These photos below show the rubbed coil spring and how the JBA UCA hitting the coil spring at full droop. Keep in mind, this is with longer struts than stock with Toytec coilovers that also may have a spacer at the top, allowing for additional droop.

And here’s a different vehicle, a 3rd Gen Toyota Tacoma with the same contact issue of the JBA UCA hitting the coil spring at full droop, running extended travel struts and no strut spacer.

The purpose of this post is not to bash anyone, but it’s to make sure you’re aware of what you’re buying before you buy it. The photos used in this post were from a thread that we participated in on T4R.org back in 2019, link here, (I recommend you go check that out) and now we’re 5 years later and the JBA website still says this: “The JBA UCAs will give you 1″ extra down travel on the front suspension with more ball joint travel and more a-arm to strut spring clearance.” They definitely give more travel, but I’m not convinced of the clearance, as we have seen problems with the 4th/5th Gen 4Runner arms and 2nd/3rd Gen Tacoma arms. None of the UCA’s we offer on this site have any known clearance issues either with the coil springs or with tires (unless the tires are way too wide and on stock offset rims, which is not recommended).

All JBA photos shared in this post are from the thread linked above from T4R.org via user daytonaviolet and some have been compiled by us to make it easier to see.

Thanks for reading and doing your research!! -Crikeymike, aka Mike T.