Upper control arm - ICON vs Baja Kits (or anything)

I've been doing research on suspension lifts off and on for 3 years on the 5th gen 4Runner. I have been told through a variety of sources the ICON shocks are the s*** for the 4Runner however I just noticed the price difference for the upper arms from ICON vs Baja Kits or any other company for that matter.

Is having the adjustable rod ends that valuable on a "street" vehicle?

I did some quick research online and here and I couldn't find a similar discussion already, sorry if there is already a thread talking about this.

https://www.iconvehicledynamics.com/accessory/14699/icon-accessories-08-up-lc-200-billet-uca-dj-kit/

https://www.bajakits.com/i-26932197...d-upper-control-arm.html?ref=category:1339895

 

Hey Cory,

From San Diego too! What type of suspension set up are you looking at? Definitely cannot go wrong with Icons or Baja Kits UCAs.

I decided to go with Total Chaos UCAs and they are awesome. Go to Anza Borrego and Ocotillo quite often with my buddy who also runs Total Chaos UCAs on his Tacoma.

It is a tough decision on which brand to go with, but doing your research with help with your decision definitely. I am leaning towards Icons over BK in my opinion. Have heard great things about both. Let us know what you decide in the end!

My set up:
Radflo Stage 3 Lift Kit- 2.5 Extended Front & Rear RR Adjustable Coilovers
Total Chaos Upper Arms
ARB rear medium springs 3”

 

Nice! I live in Bay Park. I go to Johnson Valley quite often and once in a while out east. Baja a couple times a year too. I'm lucky to be apart of an off-road race team, so my time in the desert is usually reserved around the "race schedule". KOH is likely up next.

I have also looked at total chaos UCAs. They are either $835 or $1100 which is also significantly cheaper than ICON. I'm really curious to find out if anyone believes the ICONs are that much better than everything else out there.

 

Oh heck yea that is awesome! There are lots of people on here that run the Icons and say that they are amazing. I too would like to see some responses on what makes them top notch UCAs.

 

I went with greaseable SPC UCA's
$675 at Amazon

$696 SPC Specialty Products 4RUNNER & FJ UCA (PAIR) 25480

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001DBTTSO/

 

https://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/pts/d/fallbrook-icon-billet-ucas-toyota/7417749666.html

The reason why I asked this question is I found this guy selling lightly used ICON UCAs and went to compare the price to new and others and I was shocked they were so high.

I think when I decide to pull the trigger on my upgraded suspension, I'll go with Dobinson's UCAs and coils and ICON shocks.

 

I don't have concrete evidence that they come from the same factory and by just comparing them via images, the dobinsons UCA looks very similar to freedom offroad UCA but a bit more expensive. Just food for though.

May I recommend you look at JBA UCA? No affiliation with them, but I have no complaints with my set. No need for non-sense tools, a press and having to remove them off the truck to replace ball joints. Best of all, they use standard chevy (if I'm not mistaken) ball joints that can be picked up from any autoparts store when you need them on a sat evening for a off road trip the next day.

 

I also agree that JBA is the way to go. You’ll never see any vendor actually recommend them because they sell direct to the customer. They have zero authorized middleman retailers and nobody will recommend a product they can’t sell to you for a profit. There’s no holiday sales, no Black Friday deals, no group buys, it’s just a great product at a fair everyday price. They are stout, proven reliable, high quality arms with caster built in. They have a cerakoted high articulation ball joint with 90 degree range of motion - more than a uniball and without the noise and constant maintenance. They are low maintenance, they don’t make noise, easily greased, and the ball joints BOLT in. I had no problem getting 4.5+ degrees of caster on both sides with the rest of the alignment angles exactly where they should be. I’ve never actually heard of one of their ball joints failing, but IF something did happen to go wrong and you break a ball joint on a trail it’s nice to not need a press and a specialty part to get it going again, in a pinch you can replace it with an off the shelf readily available AC/Delco #45D0062, Raybestos #500-1062, and Moog #K6292 (used on GM trucks from 1988 to 1996) from any parts store while you order the proper JBA replacement. I don’t think there’s an easier more convenient setup for if things go wrong, and you won’t find better customer service.


It’s also worth mentioning the recently updated the ball joints include improved ball joint boots and the new style bushings don’t need the upper control arm mounting bolt to be loosened to properly grease the bushings without deforming them.

 

Best sales line ever =)! I'm going save this. Are you sure you don't work for JBA? When I was in the market for UCA, after my research all these that you mentioned was why I purchased JBA. They were also the cheapest out of every other manufacturer and no complaints to date. Plus I love the red!

 

I really like my Ironman UCA,

 

They look good and I'm sure they work but how easy will it be to change the ball joint say if you break on a trail ride? It looks like you'll need a press to uninstall/install them.

 

+100 they are nice and beefy. Had some steering wobble at about 55mph on 295s, soon as I got my Ironman's on it went away. Steers nice and tight and gets the right amount of caster. I hear the Dobinson dust covers fit these?

 

With the constant damn squeaking from my ICON UCAs I'm going to have to advise anyone from getting them.

New bushings, properly greased & properly torqued before anyone asks.

 

I’ve had SPCs on my FJCs and 5th gen.

 

X1000

This is exactly why nobody except customers and JBA themselves will ever recommend their products here.

If I ever end up getting UCA's for the 4Runner, they will be JBA's

 

I definitely don’t work for JBA, I just get annoyed when I see people that just recommend whatever they have as what you should have. I like to back my opinions up with the logic of how I formed it.

I’m also very anti-Icon in general, I can’t get behind a company with the history they have.

 

History...? Please educate me.

 

Donahoe Racing was a suspension manufacturer from California. The owner, William Donahoe, got sentenced to 8 years in Federal Prison for distributing child porn. That’s when Donahoe Racing was rebranded as Icon.

Now to be fair, it was just the original owner involved, and when he went to prison the employees bought the existing company and changed the name. Maybe it’s just me, but I just can’t get past that stigma.

https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/losangeles/press-releases/2009/la022509ausa.htm

 

Thanks! I went down a little rabbit hole there. Not sure if that changes my feelings towards the company though, assuming they are no longer associated with him, which seems to be the case, but I guess we would never truly know either way.

 

Here’s another discussion of the sale of the company.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/699040-re-donahoe-racing-aka-icon-vehicle-dynamics-4.html

 

JBA all the way.

 

Ditto.