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Over the weekend i installed the 1"uniball control arms found on ebay in combination with Dirt logic 2.5 coilover shocks on my 2005 SCREW 2WD.
The Control arms seem to be heavy duty and the welds seem to be good. The misalignment spacers are a bit rough. I bought new spacers for the top of the uniball and used the tapered spindle adapter & bottom misalignment spacer because i could not find one close enough to the same dimensions online. They include metric 8.8 grade bolts for the uniball so I drilled out the tapered adapter to 9/16" and bought all grade 8 hardware. I also replaced the uniballs with FK components and will keep the others as spares because they where a bit loose in my opinion. Installation was pretty easy for the control arms and shocks. I did end up replacing the lower balljoints because they felt worn out, so out with the old stockers with 118,000 miles on them and in with the new Mevo-Tech Terrain tough balljoints. Man those ball joints look to be way more beefy than the old joints and have Zirk fittings on them for grease. I left the shocks in the setting that they came in from Fabtech and my truck ended up about 1/2" high in front. I decided to leave it for the time being to see if any settling occurs. I went to get the truck aligned and they were able to align it within spec but just barely on the passenger side camber setting. The shocks are like night and day compared to the old stock struts. The truck feels much tighter and responsive in the front and the ride quality is much better (no more land yacht feel). I will be heading out to the California desert in less than two weeks for the MORE night race that my buddys are in so i will have chance to test the new setup out properly. I will let you all now how it handles after i put it through its paces.
Here is the link to the Control Arms (250 bux plus another 110 for uniballs)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/F150-FRONT-UPPER-CONTROL-ARM-FOR-LIFT-KIT-4X4-4WD-4X2-2WD-/141349218115?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Model%3AF-150&hash=item20e911e743&vxp=mtr
Link to the shocks (found on craigslist for 600 bux)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Fabtech-2-5-Coil-Over-Shocks-0-to-3-lift-FTS22019-Shock-Absorbers-F-150-/231324434298?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item35dc02bf7a&vxp=mtr
Shocks and control arms performed better than expected over the weekend in Johnson valley. Soaks up so much more than it did last year with the stock components. I was carful not to overdrive these components past their limits but was very pleased with the setup. This setup has me yearning for more suspension travel but it'll do for now.
I had looked at buying these same UCA's for a couple reasons first they are 250.00 and secondly because they are selling quite a few sets with not negative reviews .... but I wanted to hear a review from a buyer before I bought them... .... Whoever owns the store selling these won't answer any of my questions about them , so that was a red flag to me . Im glad you did this review , but how have they been long term ? .... I guess with that many miles on your rig they were in need of changing them anyway . In my case I want them just because they look cool and are more than likely stronger than the oem POS UCAs .....I did find out that the money men for those parts are none other than Dale Jr and Felix Sabatas from Nascar..... Probably just investors but still its kinda cool .....
Im really more worried about how Im going to change out the oem coils to the 700lb eibach like they run on the high end coil overs ...like your Fabtechs Im sure are 700 rate .... Suposedly the oem upper coil mount wont work with the flat end coils, Bottom will as they are the ProComp Pro Runners up front , once I find out who sells an upper coil mount cheap enough or fab one up Im doing that , the handling on these truck is like a bus with oem coils .... Thanks for the info
I had looked at buying these same UCA's for a couple reasons first they are 250.00 and secondly because they are selling quite a few sets with not negative reviews .... but I wanted to hear a review from a buyer before I bought them... .... Whoever owns the store selling these won't answer any of my questions about them , so that was a red flag to me . Im glad you did this review , but how have they been long term ? .... I guess with that many miles on your rig they were in need of changing them anyway . In my case I want them just because they look cool and are more than likely stronger than the oem POS UCAs .....I did find out that the money men for those parts are none other than Dale Jr and Felix Sabatas from Nascar..... Probably just investors but still its kinda cool .....
Im really more worried about how Im going to change out the oem coils to the 700lb eibach like they run on the high end coil overs ...like your Fabtechs Im sure are 700 rate .... Suposedly the oem upper coil mount wont work with the flat end coils, Bottom will as they are the ProComp Pro Runners up front , once I
find out who sells an upper coil mount cheap enough or fab one up Im doing that , the handling on these truck is like a bus with oem coils .... Thanks for the info
I had the same experience with the seller not answer questions. The only question he answered was if it was a 1" uniball or not. I did change the uniballs to a known good brand and saved the others as backups. They have performed beyond my expectations and have endured many trips out into the desert. They appear to be beefy units and are doing great in my situation.
Truck looks good man! I saw those coilovers for sale for a while and was wondering when someone was gunna pick them up. Just for clarification, the spring rate is probably around 600lbs. 700 is to high for the weight of our trucks, the heaviest spring offered for raptors is 675 and a lot of them want to drop it down to 650.
How have they held up for you? I bougt the same ones but used the original uniballs and have went through 2 sets in a yr. after 500 miles the fiber cloth that was in them came out.
Where did you get the better uniballs?
I had looked at buying these same UCA's for a couple reasons first they are 250.00 and secondly because they are selling quite a few sets with not negative reviews .... but I wanted to hear a review from a buyer before I bought them... .... Whoever owns the store selling these won't answer any of my questions about them , so that was a red flag to me . Im glad you did this review , but how have they been long term ? ....
And that's the rub. But they are playing the numbers game like any other aftermarket parts suppliers. They buy huge quantities from China and sell them for a really good price. How many people are going to keep their vehicle long enough for the things to go out? Percentage wise, not many - statistically.
I hope you get good service out of them. I wouldn't trust them though, as I don't be the one that breaks down on the trail because I cheaped out.
Buy the best and cry once...
-or-
The bitterness of poor quality lingers long after the sweetness of low cost is forgotten.
How have they held up for you? I bougt the same ones but used the original uniballs and have went through 2 sets in a yr. after 500 miles the fiber cloth that was in them came out.
Where did you get the better uniballs?
There was a piece of cloth that was in between the uniball and the outer casing and after about 250 miles it started coming out of the top side of the uniball then the next day it started coming out of the other side. if these would have had a dust cover they might have held up a little better
09-08-2014, 03:43 PM
Ebay Uniball arm Guinea Pig
