UCA replacement?

Question….if you replace front and rear shocks Bilstein 6112- front and 5100-rear along with new rear springs, do you have to replace the front upper control arms? I achieved a 2.5” overall lift. I’ve been told conflicting information.

Thanks.

 

I only went about 2" with my 6112's and put in Old Man Emu UCA's. Probably could get by without them, but they were 100 bucks off at the time. Happy with my decision to get them. No noise and greaseable ball joint.

 

Thanks for the response. Did you have “noise” before you replaced the factory UCA’s? I’m not an off roader, just wanted some lift.

What’s the overall benefit to do this? Is it more for serious off-roading? I might go off-road 10%

Appreciate your help.

 

What I’ve heard is that due to the angle of the UCA mount, you lose caster (self-centering/stability) angle as ride height increases. Everything I’ve read says that stock UCAs are good at about 2” of lift and less, above 2” you need the additional caster built into aftermarket UCAs to get good alignment numbers.

How’s your ride and handling?

 

Hi and thanks for the response. Right now, the ride and handling are really good. I’m just wondering that I may create suspension component damage if I don’t change out the stock UCA’s.

What do you think?

 

One of the "benefits" is that upgrading to new UCA's allows you to adjust caster and other things as you try to fit 33s or bigger tires. You can still run the OEM uca's and be fine no issue, but if you start getting out there, and going to bigger/heavier tires, then the UCA's come into play. Particularly, when you try to get alignments and all that stuff. I would get some basic ones and just be done.

 

OK, thanks for the advice, I appreciate it very much. Holy cow, I see what you all mean with these mods/upgrades….it never stops!

 

4Runners are the most modifiable thing I’ve ever owned!

I’d say that if you’re happy with how it rides and drives, then nothing else is needed. If you want to add UCAs, it should be an improvement in handling when the alignment is closer to perfect, but it probably won’t be a huge difference, I think?

I’m planning a similar project on mine, (6112/5100, UCAs and rear springs) but it’ll be all at once so I won’t know the difference step by step. If you decide to add UCAs it’ll be interesting to hear what you think.

I just got a set of tubular Dobinson UCAs for a great price on Amazon, they’re out right now but if you’re looking I’d watch there. Otherwise I was planning on a set of Freedom Off Road UCAs, they’re visually identical to the Dobs, but less than half the normal retail price.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huMztKaHsUE

 

I had SPC UCAs on my TRD ORP, the suspension was ELKA 2.5 dual adjusters. I don't know if its the UCA or shocks, I can hear squeak kinda sound when I drive over a bump. Since I don't do my own oil change the toyota dealer does not re-grease the UCA. it was a pain for me to re-grease every oil change.

I'm so glad my Limited & TRD Pro have Toyota OEM UCA that is quiet and no maintenance needed.

 

Kmeeg, that’s why I bought UCAs that use OEM type ball joints and OEM type frame bushings. Poly bushings and uniballs work great with regular maintenance, but stock style works great with virtually no maintenance..

 

I came from an FJ with Icons and TC UCA's with uni-balls. They can get noisy in a hurry if you don't keep them clean. Also, poly bushings in the UCA's can get squeaky. Lot of maintenance involved in my opinion. That's why I went with the OME UCA's.

 

I’ve got this exact setup on my 23’ SR5. Love the setup but will need to adjust the cerclip settings to 5/7 from 4/6 as I only got 1.5” lift up front (instead of 1.9”) on account of the C4 low profile bumper.
I like the Dobinson tubular UCAs as the bearings r rubber (quiet) and similar to OEM. I do wish there was a zerk fitting on UCAs to allow for greasing onoccasion. Overall very pleased with the 6112/5100 Dobinson setup.

 

youre on the edge at 2.5”, but imo no you dont need to replace. Only replace if you cant get alignment to spec. My oem uca aligns fine at 2” with your set up and I have 285/70/17 on stock rims

 

Thanks for your input, I appreciate it!

 

At 2.5 inches, you might not be able to get caster numbers in spec with the stock UCA, at least not with mine, but only by around 0.1 degrees. What will that mean? Your steering might feel a little lighter and it may not return to center quite as sharply…not that it ever returned to center sharply on my bone stock 4runner.

This is something I got used to, pretty quickly. If you can’t get used to it, that would be a good reason to get aftermarket UCAs. But, like a few here have already mentioned, make sure you get ones that come with factory style ball joints and rubber (not poly) bushings. Unless you don’t mind more maintanance, more frequently.

I kept my factory UCAs on the assumption that they are better than good aftermarket UCAs, in terms of ease of maintanance and durability for daily-driver use.

I’ve got about 75k miles on my stock UCAs since I lifted my 4runner about 2.5 in. So far, so good. I even got an extra set of nearly new factory takeoffs ready to go for when I wear out my ball joint (which I assume will be the thing that wears out).

 

my stock uca are still on my 2011 with a 2” lift and 285/70/17. Just hit 176k.

 

how many miles on UCA’s?
thanks

 

SPC for the win!

 

Right around 70-75K.