does anyone have any good recommendations for upper and lower control arms? had my annual alignment done today at my friend's shop and found out my left lower ball joint is starting to fail, now with some excessive play. I can get OE GM stuff, but ive wanted to replace these with some good performance stuff when the old ones wore out.. well its time for it, at 89,531mi now that i have some issues. I run a 2-2.5" lift but I run the stock 17" z71 trailboss rims or what others on these trucks know them as the midnight edition rim. I know some aftermarket ones extend out for more offroad use, but they dont work with the oe rim and I dont want to run wheel spacers to make the offset work. I know of a few brands, like camburg and baja designs, but i dont know what works with my stock rim. any suggestions?
aftermarket control arms
Raptor22
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2,107 Posts
does anyone have any good recommendations for upper and lower control arms? had my annual alignment done today at my friend's shop and found out my left lower ball joint is starting to fail, now with some excessive play. I can get OE GM stuff, but ive wanted to replace these with some good performance stuff when the old ones wore out.. well its time for it, at 89,531mi now that i have some issues. I run a 2-2.5" lift but I run the stock 17" z71 trailboss rims or what others on these trucks know them as the midnight edition rim. I know some aftermarket ones extend out for more offroad use, but they dont work with the oe rim and I dont want to run wheel spacers to make the offset work. I know of a few brands, like camburg and baja designs, but i dont know what works with my stock rim. any suggestions?
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5,785 Posts
Aftermarket Lower Control arms aren't real available on these trucks, so can't speak to those.
SPC upper control arms are cast, booted, the joint is greasable and replaceable, plus they're adjustable. I ran them with 2.5" of lift with my stock wheels before moving to the AEV Saltas. Zero complaints.
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2,107 Posts
how good is the quality of those arms? is it hard to adjust or replace the ball joint in that setup? its interesting the ball joint can be moved around... is that style better than heim joint style like some other arm designs?
should i stick with OE GM lowers then? why are the lowers rarer in design and availability?
should i stick with OE GM lowers then? why are the lowers rarer in design and availability?
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5,785 Posts
SPC is a very large suspension component manufacturing company, and SPC arms are very reliable/common on Tacoma's. I'm not particularly attached to the brand, but I will say they've been rock solid and haven't moved a mm over the last 15,000mi... and those haven't been easy miles. They're controlling a 35" tire now, offroad.
Ball joint is as easy to replace as it is to install on the arm in the first place (choose your orientation per the amount of caster you want/need, and tighten to the spec. Which I believe is around 120ft-lb). That orange goop is Torque Tamper Detection/Torque Check goop, since I was unsure about it moving around on me... but have had zero movement. I try and put that on most of my suspension components so I can visually check if they've moved (doesn't help with bending or stretching though !).
I can't say if it's better or worse than a heim, but I can say that I have no UCA squeaks like I always had with uniballs before.
If I got 89k out of the lowers... that would be good enough for me to replace them with the same. I consider doing the ZR2 swap for cast lower arms but... would need new axles, shocks, UCA, etc... and might as well swap in a ZR2 diff at that point for the e-locker. My recommendation is to go with OEM ones; they're fairly cheap.
15,000mi/3yrs, including a lot of this on my SPC arms:
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2,107 Posts
ive bad luck with napa-autozone-oreillys parts so ill take the risk or problems with OEM or upgraded parts over the dubious quality control of those brands. to me thge local parts stores are cheap quality. my toyota is fine for that stuff. but my colorado only gets the best stuff i can afford. its weird i know....
zr2 versions stick out a little farther right? i did want to swap in a zr2 diff, or at least mod mine to add that locker. would i be able to run my fox shocks i have now or will i have to swap them for the new ZR2 UCA/LCAs?
zr2 versions stick out a little farther right? i did want to swap in a zr2 diff, or at least mod mine to add that locker. would i be able to run my fox shocks i have now or will i have to swap them for the new ZR2 UCA/LCAs?
There are plenty of non-OEM/universal boot options for under $10. You are rarely ever out of options, just out of motivation to find solutions.
@Raptor22 having had my share of aftermarket arms, sealed balljoints last WAY longer than uniballs, especially if you offroad in dust/mud. I'll say it, most uniball arms are overrated and way overpriced for the features. Those SPC arms are a great option since you get the adjustability that uniball arms dont offer. The only real downside is they don't look particularly sexy.
Got any links for boots?
Cuz I have yet to find anything in the very limited options there are that will fit. And I'd like to put my car back together.
The SPC's are a step up from OEM. I've been running Peak UCA's with Delta Joints the past three years, no noise and they did clear OEM rims...just.
Unless you are going to pay me upfront for my time, I'm not going to research a new solution for your problem. I showed you the door. Walk through and figure it out. You are going to have to take measurements and do your catalog surfing to find something that works. Remember, rubber is flexible. You may not find exactly the measurements you want, but often times there is something close. It is NOT a quick process, but time/effort is the tradeoff you make instead of dishing out money.
so you instruct me to do the very thing I've already done. And tell me I'm lazy.
I just told you the vague process that I would use to find compatible parts, and that I will not be doing the work for you. Take it as an insult if you want. Also, laziness and giving up are two different things.
You told.me the very thing I already knew and done
Mevotech makes a good set of upper & lower replacement arms, their TTX series has a lifetime warranty.
Control Arms - Mevotech
Control Arms - Mevotech
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17,581 Posts
I would trust parts from Auto-Zone over any other store front parts store.
Yes AZ used to sell crap parts, but management changed and istened to the corner shops. Now they make and have make quailty oem spec parts with full warranty and will back them up, unlike before.
Yes AZ used to sell crap parts, but management changed and istened to the corner shops. Now they make and have make quailty oem spec parts with full warranty and will back them up, unlike before.
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