To upper arm or not

[willwwright]

I have eibach springs up front, is it necessary to get an aftermarket upper arm? Mild off-roading a few times a year, mostly just chasing around baja and local socal deserts.

 

[Nex]

Upper control arm is weak from the factory. If you are out often it would be worth the swap.

 

[NateMob]

Upper control arm is weak from the factory. If you are out often it would be worth the swap.

Are there any broken stock uppers out there? I've never heard or seen of one. I've even been told by one of the larger Raptor shops in the country to save my money and keep the OEM UCA unless I lock out the lower slots requiring an adjustable upper.

 

[Nex]

Going off what I have been told. If you plan of ripping across the desert hitting whoops and jumps, I would want that extra assurance. But that is just me.

 

[Granelli]

I'm in the same boat. I have a mild lift w/ Fox Factory coilovers. I drive hard enough between mountains, off road, and street miles to burn up a set of oem tires per year. It seems harder to get a good alignment as the miles add up etc. Never seen a set of broken ones in all my browsing online and talking to owners in person.

 

[BoostCreep]

My friend works for Alphaequipt, and he got stuck out in Johnson Valley in their shop Raptor when the stock UCA ball joint completely sheared off. Stock truck with wheels, tires, and eibachs. That’s the only one I’ve ever heard of personally. I think it really depends how hard you run off road.

 

[willwwright]

My friend works for Alphaequipt, and he got stuck out in Johnson Valley in their shop Raptor when the stock UCA ball joint completely sheared off. Stock truck with wheels, tires, and eibachs. That’s the only one I’ve ever heard of personally. I think it really depends how hard you run off road.

Oh damn!
Other then the bling factor do you guys see billet any better then a tube or steel boxes arm?

 

[BWorkman]

I have Eibachs and did Camburg UCA’s because of wanting more angle from the ball joints. Just so I don’t have the same issue boostcreep mentioned. Only thing is you have a little bit more maintenance with aftermarket UCA’s, but it’s not hard to do and worth it in my opinion.

 

[The Car Stereo Company]

just keep in mind when you upgrade parts, the next weakest part breaks. ford designed the parts to fail at a certain point to save the rest of the truck. a sheared ball joint usually only happens when theres play in the joint already and the force combined with the gap can make it fail. but whats the next weakest part? frame mounts?

 

[nikhsub1]

I did the UCA's when I put the Fox factory 3.0's on. Why? Because I knew that in order to install UCAs the shocks need to come out - not a particularly fun or quick job so I decided to do it while I had the chance.