Replacement Upper Control Arms

[rackxp Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close rackxp]

Hey Guys,

Looking to replace my UCA's to get a bit more lift out of my Dobinsons MRR gear. What are you guys using? I've been looking at the Roadsafe Blackhawk UCA's but open to ideas.

[Guest Close Guest]

How are you achieving more lift? The open length of the strut remains the same. The shocks limits the down travel, so changing the UCAs won't give you more down travel needed to coincide with more lift.

[rackxp Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close rackxp]

I had the wrong springs installed two weeks ago. So they are putting in the correct springs to account for the weight of the bull bar and winch. They had concerns around getting the adjustment right as they were going to run out of adjustment with the recommend springs. Which is why I'm looking at replacing the UCA's.

[Whitey Shockie Maker of the Month Award Find all posts View Profile Close Whitey]

Hey,

I'm guessing you are referring to running out of caster adjustment at too high a lift on the replacement coils you're planning on using?

At a standard 2" lift on the front end, you can still milk 2deg caster out of the OEM arms on a 150 Prado, and they still drive ok with that amount of caster.

Regarding the Blackhawks, I'd hold off until they release their extended ball joint, which is still in production.

Best

Mark

[rackxp Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close rackxp]

Thanks mate.

I have until Thursday. Is there something else that you would recommend? How about the SPC arms?

[Phs Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Phs]

http://4xoverland.com.au/suspension/...-control-arms/

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

I recommend the Fulcrum UCA. Well made and strong.

[Mike-B Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mike-B]

Is hard to replace the upper control arms? I done the replacement on my fj myself but my 2018 prado looks like it has very limited room.

[rascal Member Find all posts View Profile Close rascal]

Is hard to replace the upper control arms? I done the replacement on my fj myself but my 2018 prado looks like it has very limited room.

About 2hrs according to superior, depending on what’s in the way in the engine bay, so not a big job.

[rascal Member Find all posts View Profile Close rascal]

Think I’ll take a punt on the Blackhawk UCAs.
I prefer the one piece design with geometry change built in, rather than relying on a sliding ball joint which can slip, or a screw in bush, which just doesn’t seem as strong to me.
also they use rubber bushes rather than poly, which may sacrifice some performance but gain massively in noise reduction, and maintenance. And possibly longevity too.

and an extra $250 in my pocket isn’t to be sneezed at either..

[rascal Member Find all posts View Profile Close rascal]

Ordered the Blackhawk arms tonight..
Will report back when I've received and fitted them..

[rascal Member Find all posts View Profile Close rascal]

UCAs are here.




Hopefully get time on the weekend to fit them...

[Voyager77 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Voyager77]

So, what the verdict - are you happy with the Blackhawk UCA?
Is the twitchy steering sorted?

Cheers
Frank

[rascal Member Find all posts View Profile Close rascal]

Unfortunately haven’t fitted them yet. Have some new front springs coming (to sort out my 830mm ride height) and so waiting for them to arrive to do them at the same time.

[rascal Member Find all posts View Profile Close rascal]

So had some time yesterday so fitted the UCAs up.

Plenty of clearance for bigger tyres (though I'll be using lower(wider) offset rims anyway

You can see here the extra length in the balljoint


Only just fitted them yesterday, so havent had it aligned yet, but even from the quick 2min test drive, its much less ponderous at 100kmh.

I hope to get an alignment done this week,and can then take for a longer drive which should give a much better comparison..