Upper Control Arm Selection

[rtd16]

Hello All,
I just ordered the Eibach Pro Truck Coil Over kit. (FYI I ordered it from RedLine 360 which had them marked down to $1357 compared to everywhere else at ~$1750. Hopefully they're actually in stock.)
I had a question on swapping control arms. Most everywhere I have read recommends changing control arms when lifting to support the increased travel. The Eibach kit said it supports use of factory control arms. I am planning for ~3" of lift. Most of the replacement control arms I've found are pretty pricey except Zone who sells a Pro Series kit for about $380. Anyone have any experience with these? I can't find much on the dimensions, are they really much different in size (and really necessary) than factory? Their video says they are "reindexed" to allow for factory geometry...I'm assuming that's dealing with the ball joint and arm mounting angles. Any insight out there?

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[Oldhippie]

I am also interested in this...Zone says cast steel and reuses stock ball joints...most others are cast/billet aluminum or welded tube and use non-stock ball joint. Not sure what real difference any of that makes to alinement, clearance, travel, ride or handling?

 

[Silver-Bolt]

You are swapping the suspension on a BRaptor?

 

[rtd16]

I don’t think anyone mentioned a Raptor. Just a Big Bend.

 

[Evolkidbell]

IMHO, $400 for a set of UCA seems way too low. Likely made overseas.

I've had good luck with Camburg, and Total Chaos over the last 20 years.
If you want to keep the balljoints, vs sphericals, Camburg may be making those, as well as SPC and 4WP. Think the 4WP are made south of the border.

But yes, the important thing is to relocate the arm geometry to get closer to factory settings.

 

[rtd16]

Thanks Evolkidbell. I appreciate the perspective. It makes me question if they are really any better (or potentially worse) quality than the OEM control arms.

 

[IwannaGOfast]

I wanted to stick to a ball joint with my upper arms for range of motion and maintenance reasons.

I almost pulled the trigger on a pair of the Icon arms, which seem nice. But I have been waiting for SPC to release their arms. I have heard nothing but good things about them, and love the adjustability. I spoke with them a few months ago and they confirmed the bronco was under development. Pretty sure they just recently released these. If you search the part number there are vendors selling for much cheaper than the MSRP listed on their website.

https://www.spcalignment.com/compon...Bronco&year=2021 - 2021&from=USAFrom&to=USATo

 

[Rkgzx9leftcoast]

Just a few FYI things...Plenty of people on here are running the Zone lift if you look through the build threads you can ask how they like the arms. The one thing I have seen is that if you are going to run stock offset wheels and 37s, the Zone upper arm is thicker and people have had rubbing issues when turning. if you look up birddogoverland on here, or he has a good youtube video showing this. He wound up putting 3/4 inch wheel spacers on, now I think he has aftermarket wheels with more offset.

 

[BigMeatsBronco]

In my opinion the icons with the delta pro joint has the most available angle available, period. They offer tube steel or aluminum versions. For now, these are the best available and superior to a ball joint many setups use.

 

[Dmorty217]

Tube UCA are fine depending on your application. I purchased the eibach too and some zone UCA and fabtech lower rear links, they get installed the 16th. Sure the billet UCA are nice and better than the tube option, but $1400 for UCA and $1400 for lower rear links seems awfully expensive. If I was hauling ass through the desert, jumping hills I would of went that route with Fox or king instead. Make sure you get the hardware box with the eibachs, they had to overnight one to me since they sent the coilovers without it.

 

[rtd16]

Thanks, I’m not getting mine installed until I can get the UCAs and a track bar. Id like to hear how it rides and handles when you’re done. Did you do a rear track bar?

 

[BigMeatsBronco]

Tube UCA are fine depending on your application. I purchased the eibach too and some zone UCA and fabtech lower rear links, they get installed the 16th. Sure the billet UCA are nice and better than the tube option, but $1400 for UCA and $1400 for lower rear links seems awfully expensive. If I was hauling ass through the desert, jumping hills I would of went that route with Fox or king instead. Make sure you get the hardware box with the eibachs, they had to overnight one to me since they sent the coilovers without it.

Yeah, on the rear I have the fabtec rear lowers installed and there very good. I also just received my roc-joc rear upper links and will install them this week. I think the roc-jocs Johnny joints are a little better made than the fabtec.

 

[Dmorty217]

Thanks, I’m not getting mine installed until I can get the UCAs and a track bar. Id like to hear how it rides and handles when you’re done. Did you do a rear track bar?

I will post again once they’re installed. I don’t have the track bar, going to see how everything handles/works before I make that purchase.

 

[SROC3]

Anything more than 1.5 inches, you should technically be changing the UCAs. Anything lower and assuming you are using 35s and NOT 37s, then the stock UCAs are just fine and are actually designed very, very well on the Bronco. As most have specified here, IF you have to add the UCAs, seeing as you are above 3 inches on lift - ICONs are the best for price point and joint quality.

Personally, I have gotten the Eibach Pro Lift kit (springs ONLY). This is about a 1-inch lift. I'm retaining my stock UCAs and then adding - Rear Trailing links (https://www.rockjock4x4.com/RJ-182400-101) and an Icon Track Bar (https://www.polyperformance.com/icon-21-ford-bronco-rear-adjustable-track-bar-kit).

Sometime next year, if I decide to go full Coilover setup, then I will upgrade my UCAs as well.

 

[ScumbagTakumi]

I am running the Icon Tubular arms and they are great, and would definitely recommend with the Eibachs. At full droop even the Icon 1.25" delta joint is almost maxed out so you are definitely limiting droop travel with the stock arm. It probably will not hurt anything but you probably are leaving an appreciable amount of travel and articulation on the table when using the stock arms. Another one I would definitely recommend considering are SPCs. They have separate camber and caster adjustment and have almost as much range of motion at the joint as the Icon, which is substantially more than just about any ball joint or uniball arm. I was really interested in trying the SPCs to max out negative camber on the upper and try to correct for it on the lower to shorten the effective distance between the diff output and the hub and try and fix the issue of the stock CV axle being a touch short.

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