Guidance: UCAs for DT

[RedApe]

Hi,
Ok, might be a bit of a newb Q: bare with me. I have COMBED the internet forums, Youtube etc on the replacement/upgrade of upper control arms to the point of becoming "frozen" with indecision. This is killing me, as I have 5100's sitting in the garage, waiting to go in.

Vehicle:
2023 Ram 1500 Sport.

Usage:
- 90% on the road, 10% very mild back country exploring.
- Light towing
- no baja, nor rock crawling at 2 ends of the spectrum.

Intent:
Just the level kit.


Questions:
1) There is everything from mild to wild (eBay's $120, rubber bushing, acommodating a 2-4" angle change for level to lift), to Icon/Carli at $1200+. What is "good enough"?
2) I see MANY advertise 2-4", Ram 2009-2022 AND Ram Classic 2019-2022. Can one infer then that the geometry of the DT and DS are the same for UCAs?
I emailed/asked at KSP, Rough Country, and JBA of which KSP/JBA said fits both and RC said no.
3) Rough Country's UCAs acommodate either OE replacement or 3-3.5"...yet I emailed them asking about 2" level WITH the 3"+ to which they said yes. Has anyone done this?
4) Poly vs rubber bushings? I've had both in various applications of which I prefer rubber...but welcome comments from others.
5) The ball joint. I'm ALMOST inclined to do an eBay buy, but immediately replace the ball joints that come with to something a bit more HD. Thoughts on this?

If this has been answered 1000X here, please send me the URL...I've done my due diligence in reading/searching, but could have "missed" a discussion in something like "What did you do to your RAM today?"

 

[boogielander]

you're overthinking this.
DT and DS (4th gen) are similar geometry that's why the people who are experts in performance suspension (ie: Carli and Don Thuren of Thuren Fabrication, the bossman) use the same UCA for 09 and up.

what is good enough? for me and the builds i do for my customers, the golden rule applies: "if it's good for going down the desert doing highway speed, it's more than good enough to handle whatever else you throw at it" Personally I'd go with a BOXED design over tubular. Definitely stay away from ICON BILLET though because I've had customers getting towed back with sheered Icon Billet UCA... within 6 months of install.
i will not run KSP, RC, and JBA on my own truck and I will not sell any of those to my customers despite RC gave us massive discounts for profit margin. but people have good experiences with those so it's up to you.

all i can say is, buy quality parts and don't worry about it for years to come vs trying to save a few bucks here and there and then overthinking the whole problem with bushings and balljoints. i mean, even as a professional building customized trucks I don't do that at all because time is money and im not spending time on buying an ebay motor UCA and then change bushing and balljoint. complete waste of time. i rather just buy the tested to extreme ones knowing the R&D have been figured out already and it will last long time handling whatever i throw at it.

 

[CHeYeNNe71]

Look at Zone Offroad UCAs. I've ran them previously with no issues and not on the cheap end and not giving all your money away.