Upper Control Arms??

I recently got a 2014 sr5 premium 4runner and am planning on lifting it. I made another post about what lift kit I should purchase and I think I am going to buy this Bilstein B8 6112/5160 3 inch lift kit from Mudify. The kit gives me the option to purchase upper control arms with it. The options they give are:

Old Man Emu ($606)
SPC Adjustable ($695.95)
Camburg Uniball ($749.99)
Tuff Country Uniball ($408.95)

I don't know if these are the best options, but I want to know if anyone has experience or thoughts on these. Or if anyone knows of any better choices that I could just buy separately. I would really appreciate your thoughts.

 

I went with SPC. Holding up good so far. Tinkerer's Adventure has done a couple videos on UCA's if you're curious.

When my SPC's go out I'll likely upgrade to something a little more beefy.

The SPC allows A LOT of adjustment. If you're going over 2.5-3" in the front, you may need that caster adjustment. This is why I went with SPC originally.
I wanted 4 degrees of caster and a 3" lift.

Edit from the future: Avoid SPC like the plague. Ball joints failed in less than a year and they would not warranty them. Go with Dobinsons tubular for the same price. If you really need the extra adjustment get Dobinsons billet.

 

I have the Old Man Emu UCA's, had them for over a year, with a 2 1/2" lift and haven't had any issues with them. I would definitely recommend them, as for the other choices I have no experience with them

 

JBA

 

3" of lift is a little high, it will leave you with very little downtravel and isn't necessary to fit bigger tires. 2 inches of lift is actually the ideal on these.

JBA arms are really highly regarded, there's been a few videos and mentions of people having issues with the SPC arms, so be careful.

Unless you're going for a max articulation long travel setup, I wouldn't go with anything with any type of uniball, because it's going to require a ton of maintenance. You want a conventional, greasable style ball joint.

 

In the past I used SPC. Since I go to dealership for oil changes it was little inconvenient to stop by at my local 4x4 shop to re-grease the UCAs.

For my new 4R when I list I'm trying to see if I can lift to max where I can keep the maintenance free factory UCA. I don't want un-even tire wear either. Not sure. Just a little thought.

 

3" is fine anything more causes issues.

I had Icon UCA's and I'd recommend against them. Unless you like bushing squealing like a dying pig.

 

my vote is for Camburg then OME

 

Thanks for yalls ideas, I have looked at the JBAs that a few people mentioned and they look good and the price is pretty appealing. But I will look into the OME ones a little more as well.

 

I 2nd that.

If you can handle greasing them every oil change. Go with jba. Had mine for 2 years, and love them. Id had a couple different shock/lift set ups. And was always able to achieve a great alignment.

 

Stay away from any uniball UCA's unless you monitor their condition frequently, they are not as maintenance free as others. JBA offers 'greasable' UCA's as do some others. Greasing things is no big deal. It also gives you the opportunity to look over parts of the 4Runner.

 

Very pleased with my Old Man Emu arms. Grease ball joint every other oil change and no noise. Got mine for $100 less at Wheelers when they had a big sale.

 

This ^

Did you achieve a full 4⁰ castor?
My last alignment got my SPC's to 3.4⁰ driver side, 3.7⁰ passenger. I believe I heard passenger often gets higher castor applied to offset road angle.
Yesterday I just swapped my grease zerk SPC balljoints (2.5 yrs old) for new and improved sealed joints. Huge difference, very happy.

 

My last setup was at 3.9 degrees on both sides. Struggled to get them to match until I added lean corrections from OME. Now I can achieve a symmetrical alignment.

I did bend my cam alignment tabs while wheeling in New Mexico recently. Replaced with Total Chaos gussets. I need to have my alignment checked again.
Judging by my tire wear I have excessive camber now...

 

I have about a 3" lift with SPC UCA and have 3.6 degrees caster out of them. Probably could have gotten more but my father dropped the truck off for me to get alignment since I was working and he forget to tell them to get as close to 4 as possible. So that was what they set on their own. I have no issues so far with them but only 5k miles on them.

 

Big thanks boys
@1SilverRunner
@Chillmatic

Helpful to be mindful of my slight lift lean regarding this.
And ima book for alignment, and actually talk to a bro there personally for the first time pushing for 4⁰.
*I heard from smart cookies on here that I actually need to adjust LCA castor to move my wheel any more forward (for future 35" clearance reasons )

 

my current alignment has the 32mm top nut virtually maxed out to the outer side of the slot. The hex retaining plate for castor is set same as before swapping joints, aligned in a straight line with the UCA main body edge. Believe it or not the truck feel almost perfectly aligned from my install cuz I marked everything first.