JBA UCA Install Issues (2.5" Lift)

[yax4]

Hi all, I have an interesting issue and JBA is closed until Monday and I'm trying to get the truck back rolling...

I have the Eibach Pro Truck Stage 2 and have removed my old KSP Upper Control Arms (not important, but after 10k mile both of these started ball joint sleeve leaks and the bushings are cracking... I don't recommend these)

My Driver Side JBA Arm went in great. They say in the instructions to "bend the sheet metal tabs of the mounting pockets open to accept the JBA bushings." Ok - makes sense! These arms are supposed to fit very snug. A little bend on the driver side inner tab of the rear mount and it slid right in with very little effort with just a sight push with my hands.

The passenger side, not som much. I bent the same tab, which is the only one really that you would need/can bend. This arm SEEMS to be 3/16" more narrow between between the front and rear inner bushings than the passenger side JBA, my OEMs, and the KSPs I just removed. That width is about the width of the black outer bushing itself.

I have bent the tab pretty far, and I can't beat these in with a heavy dead blow mallet for the life of me. To the point wear the inner bushing sliced a part off of itself trying to slide past the mounting bolt hole on the inner tab. Hopefully these pictures help visualize...

So, do i keep beating this tab to open up more? I've already opened it probably 1/4 an inch on the outer part to allow the arm to get in, but behind the mounting bolt hole the tab gets a little stronger closer to the weld and the back of the mounting pocket. I'm at a loss... I've done probably 5 or 6 sets of UCAs in my life across a couple of trucks. Never ran into this. Could this be a Quality control issue on this passenger side arm?

Just noting.... Out of the box - these arms look and feel great. I really like the construction, and would really like to use these arms because they fit my use case perfectly. They came very highly recommended from various parties including both my local off road shop and another friend running them on an F150. My alternative if I can't get these to work or for whatever reason JBA doesn't hep me out (unlikely) I'll use the Core4x4.

Here are some pictures! Any advice is appreciated.

Showing how far I've bent the pocket tab.


This is with the front seated in the pocket, you can see the rear doesn't come close.


This is with the front somewhat seated, the rear tab is about 3/16" off and doesn't make contact with the rear tab at all.


Showing how far I've bent the tab open and it coning in contact further into the pocket where the serious resistance starts.


Close up of the front bracket positions.



The bushing that began ripping itself....




Here is the Driver Side that went in just fine....

 

[msnyder1112]

Looks like you have RH and LH mixed up.

 

[yax4]

Looks like you have RH and LH mixed up.

They are stamped DS and PS so no, I've that correct. The BJ is supposed to be slightly behind the strut in this case with the built in caster in these arms. I know the pictures may be a bit difficult to tell, but the sway bar being in the rear should help orientate a little bit. Like I said, the Driver side went in with no issues.

 

[msnyder1112]

They are stamped DS and PS so no, I've that correct. The BJ is supposed to be slightly behind the strut in this case with the built in caster in these arms. I know the pictures may be a bit difficult to tell, but the sway bar being in the rear should help orientate a little bit. Like I said, the Driver side went in with no issues.

Oh I was looking at a customer photo attached and the rear part of the arm had the straight, then down bend vs the front having more of a curvature. If it’s stamped though, go by that. Sounds like maybe defect

 

[boogielander]

that is very interesting... i've done hundreds of UCAs across different platforms and never have I, nor the head mechanic at the shop, encounter an UCA that requires the installer to bend the tabs. Never. Not once.

 

[msnyder1112]

that is very interesting... i've done hundreds of UCAs across different platforms and never have I, nor the head mechanic at the shop, encounter an UCA that requires the installer to bend the tabs. Never. Not once.

Same! You’ll definitely get some clunking after bending those lol

 

[yax4]

Well after about 2 hrs of deep thought and a phone-a-friend card use yesterday afternoon...

With two ratchet straps over each bushing wrapped around the frame rail, LOTS of bushing grease, and a small pry bar through the bent tab's bolt hole, I was able to get this at an angle where I could lift the BJ side of the arm up while there was downward pressure on the bushings and tap the outer elbow downward with a 5lb dead blow mallet. It slowly seated in. Once the bolts got through and I tightened those down, the bent tab reverted back oddly well up to the bushing and you can't real tell it was every messed with. After greasing everything up, the bushings released the excess grease exactly how they instructions describe with no issue. Just a bizarre situation overall...

I have since driven about 60 miles and (to my surprise and I'm sure yours too) it is remarkably smooth. No clunks, no vibration, no anything. The tires were even rotated before getting on the road again, which I went a little long in between this interval, so they're slightly louder than normal at the moment. I think my last two 1,000+ mile road trips in February sped up some tire wear since my old UCAs were likely causing some issues.

I need to get an alignment done in 2 days which will be the final piece of the puzzle. I'll be using the provided JBA specs, which essentially just calls for 3.5 deg of caster, I was already at 3.7 deg so a pretty minimal change. I'm sure there will be minor adjustments other than that, more than likely with toe angle.

Overall, this weekend I installed these JBA Arms, rebuilt the SuspensionMaxx sway bar links (totally unrelated story), replaced my OEM sway bar bushings with Poly bushings, and added the Core4x4 rear sway bar links for a +1" configuration. The truck is basically floating on the highway at this point but sturdy and more planted as you roll into a turn. Rumble strips make a little noise, but if you didn't hear it... You maybe would never know they were there! I love it when a plan comes together!

 

[yax4]

Oh I was looking at a customer photo attached and the rear part of the arm had the straight, then down bend vs the front having more of a curvature. If it’s stamped though, go by that. Sounds like maybe defect

That's an older model with the old style sway bar. The front of the truck is to the right, so I think that is a passenger side picture. But, I do see why you'd think that. Took me a minute of staring at that picture lol

 

[yax4]

that is very interesting... i've done hundreds of UCAs across different platforms and never have I, nor the head mechanic at the shop, encounter an UCA that requires the installer to bend the tabs. Never. Not once.

Yup... I had a very similar thought. When I ordered these, JBA emailed over the install PDF before the arms even shipped. I had a weird look on my face when I read that. But, my local off road shop uses these on a couple platforms and swears by them. They said they never had to bend anything very far, usually a persuasive little tap on the tab or just a press bend with a set of pliers. While I got these in on my rig safe and sound, I'm still a little dumfounded. JBA is super responsive during business hours and I'm sure happy to explain... I'll give them a call after the weekend.

 

[Scram1500]

Measure the gap on the control arm that fit vs the one that didn't

 

[jl13]

Had a similar experinece on grand cherokee. Passeger side. Had to do a little bending. Customer service was great and they were very responsive both by email and phone.
Uca's have been on for 3-4 years no issues

 

[boogielander]

Yup... I had a very similar thought. When I ordered these, JBA emailed over the install PDF before the arms even shipped. I had a weird look on my face when I read that. But, my local off road shop uses these on a couple platforms and swears by them. They said they never had to bend anything very far, usually a persuasive little tap on the tab or just a press bend with a set of pliers. While I got these in on my rig safe and sound, I'm still a little dumfounded. JBA is super responsive during business hours and I'm sure happy to explain... I'll give them a call after the weekend.

definitely good luck.

 

[yax4]

Measure the gap on the control arm that fit vs the one that didn't

It seems like it was about 2/16" - 3/16". Not quite the width of one side of the black bushing.

 

[yax4]

Had a similar experinece on grand cherokee. Passeger side. Had to do a little bending. Customer service was great and they were very responsive both by email and phone.
Uca's have been on for 3-4 years no issues

That's great to hear. Do you recall any sort of clarifications or explanation they had?

 

[yax4]

definitely good luck.

Thanks. I'll post in here what they say. I've followed your build here and on insta for some time. Always appreciate the details. I was definitely taking some notes! The Carli UCAs were on my shortlist with the JBAs and Cores. On my next truck I'll probably do their whole Commuter package. But those new Eibach 2.5s coming soon have my attention...

 

[boogielander]

Thanks. I'll post in here what they say. I've followed your build here and on insta for some time. Always appreciate the details. I was definitely taking some notes! The Carli UCAs were on my shortlist with the JBAs and Cores. On my next truck I'll probably do their whole Commuter package. But those new Eibach 2.5s coming soon have my attention...

Thuren also has UCAs. if you're looking at 2.5s and not in a rush, and actually drive aggressive on trail, Thuren is the go to.
Carli make their stuff for 80% of the people for 80% of their use case, but Thuren does it for the remaining 20% and personalize things for them.

if I wasn't in a rush to get my truck done in 1.5 months time between taking delivery and overland ready back in 2022, I'd went Thuren instead since I fall into the remaining 20% lol

 

[jl13]

That's great to hear. Do you recall any sort of clarifications or explanation they had?

their instructions were a little confusing since for the grand cherokee uca's came with some ring spacers.
the owner I think it was return my call right away and then email me hand sketches.
And just told me to not be afraid to use some force lol
later they updated their instructions

 

[yax4]

A final update after talking with Charles over at JBA this afternoon.

First, JBA has been nothing but responsive, personable, and full of insight! I got a deep dive into their manufacturing and QC process and learned quite a bit about chassis construction and even a couple of old stories that had a nice chuckle.

In regard to my issues... Ultimately, it is likely that the passenger side rear pocket, while technically in spec, is just pushed to the rear in terms of the acceptable tolerance range. It could even be possible the shock tower and attached front pocket are on the end of their respective tolerance range as well. Nothings perfect!

Given the truck has about 19k miles with some light off road and lots of rocky mountain and midwest winter highway miles as well as having a lift and aftermarket arms installed previously it is not atypical for things to simply not fit absolutely perfectly.

I've gone about 100 miles and change, checked all the torque, examined the grease around the bushings. All seems well and even before the alignment the truck is riding great.

I've started a paper trail with them on the slightly sheered bushing. They asked to see a couple of pictures just for the sake of info and so they can keep an eye on it.

Overall I'm pretty confident these are totally fine and I have nothing to worry about. They just needed some extra persuasion on the initial install and all is well.