And this is why you replace your UCAs

[kg93]

I heard a little bumping sound the past few days of driving my truck, I did some looking and noticed this..right ball joint popping out. Not sure if that's what I was hearing but good thing I had mevotechs laying around.

I rushed it over to one of my shops since they said they could put my new ucas on by the end of the day.

Lesson learned, don't be lazy or cheap and just replace the ucas when you do bils, leveling kit, or lift kit.

Mine failed with a 6" lift and bills set to 2.8 and some moderate offroading with 37s

Funny thing is I could have done these when I was putting on my lift kit but I got lazy, now it's going to cost me a lot more then I wanted to spend since I don't have time to do it myself.

And it's going to delay my gear change now...[emoji19]

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[DIRTRIDER]

When I did my 2' level in my '14, I was aware of the problems other people were having with the balljoint lifting out of the arm. Looks like they are only pressed into the arm. I welded the joint into arm in four different areas around the joint. My truck was new when I did this and never experienced the joint coming out. I rotate my tires every 5000 miles and thoroughly inspect the upper arms and balljoints every time too make sure I don't have any problems. 30,000 on the truck and no issues or loose joints yet.

 

[kg93]

I didn't think to do anything like that, I always planned on replacing them eventually anyway. 22600 on my truck

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[kg93]

wellllll when you're having a bad day it just goes from bad to worse.

The guy from the shop calls me and says yeah itll probably be 460+tax with the alignment, im like ohh great just what i wanted to spend money on.

Then he throws this one on me.

"oh yeahhh..so we had this old lady that was here earlier"

I'm thinking wtf is he telling me this for

"she was backing out of our lot and kind of scrapped your truck"

at this point im like how the **** do you not see my giant truck..i didnt say that though, i kept my cool

"we contacted her insurance company but i think itll just buff out" Famous words right there

"she was so freaked out we had to drive her home"

anyway i said ok fine it is what it is just get it fixed.

im in such a bad mood now

 

[Drummin4jc]

At least you caught it! I'm glad I took the advice of many awesome members and have my UCA's ready to roll when I get my kit on.... which isn't going to be much longer now that I got my wheels/tires today!

Adam

 

[smoothee]

****** deal man, I HATE bringing my truck anywhere. At least she didn't just drive off and the shop try to tell you the damage must've been there when you dropped it off or something.

 

[PassivAggressor]

That sucks about the old lady damage. Dude install that yourself. It's so easy and will probably take 30 minutes. I'm sure you can find 30 minutes??

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[kg93]

Unfortunately I couldn't, all the snow on the ground so I couldn't do it in my yard, my driveway is angled and I don't trust that, and I need it on the parkway tomorrow so it can't wait

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[6.7CumminsDrvr]

EDIT: Umm yaaaaa, nevermind!

 

[kg93]

Well the damage is done. 474 total with alignment. Here's the damage that the old lady did. They are waiting for the insurance company to answer but they are going to either buff it out or repaint it.

I'm thinking it's going to be a paint job

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[Drummin4jc]

Man, I'm sorry.... one good thing though, at least she owned up to it and allowed her insurance company to be contacted. I played the game with an old lady from our fire dept bingo who backed into my Corolla I used to have.... then moved her car away thinking no one would notice. Mean while, I'm in the office and watched the whole thing on our surveillance system which I just happened to be looking at... and I had a witness. Long story short, she FINALLY game in when my insurance company told her's... "which do you want? Surveillance video, witness or both?" They paid up. LOL!

Adam

 

[6.7CumminsDrvr]

Well the damage is done. 474 total with alignment. Here's the damage that the old lady did. They are waiting for the insurance company to answer but they are going to either buff it out or repaint it.

I'm thinking it's going to be a paint job

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Hate it for ya bud, that really sux!

 

[xrsman]

"oh yeahhh..so we had this old lady that was here earlier"

I'm thinking wtf is he telling me this for

I'm sorry man, but at this point in the story I could help but laugh! Haha

Glad it's being fixed, at least they were honest about it!


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[lukedukem]

When I did my 2' level in my '14, I was aware of the problems other people were having with the balljoint lifting out of the arm. Looks like they are only pressed into the arm. I welded the joint into arm in four different areas around the joint. My truck was new when I did this and never experienced the joint coming out. I rotate my tires every 5000 miles and thoroughly inspect the upper arms and balljoints every time too make sure I don't have any problems. 30,000 on the truck and no issues or loose joints yet.

can you post a pic of this, curious to see what you did.

luke

 

[R.L.K.]

For anyone reading this , if you install the bils yourself or a shop , installing the Mevotecs UCAs is only two more bolts .
It takes 10 minutes to install since your upper ball joint is already disconnected.

So don't let a shop quote you extra for Installing the new UCAs if they are installing a level with bills or a lift kit with bills .

A set of Mevotecs from www.rockauto.com only cost $100.00 and I consider them the best peace of mind insurance I've ever installed on my 2014 Ram 4x4 QC .

Hope this helps someone ...

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[black14sport]

For anyone reading this , if you install the bils yourself or a shop , installing the Mevotecs UCAs is only two more bolts .
It takes 10 minutes to install since your upper ball joint is already disconnected.

So don't let a shop quote you extra for Installing the new UCAs if they are installing a level with bills or a lift kit with bills .

A set of Mevotecs from www.rockauto.com only cost $100.00 and I consider them the best peace of mind insurance I've ever installed on my 2014 Ram 4x4 QC .

Hope this helps someone ...

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All i hear about the bils, everyone says to get the mevotecs if you go with 2.8 setting... Out of curiosity, what makes the mevotecs different? Are they just stronger or do they have different specs made for a leveling kit? Thanks!

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[R.L.K.]

All i hear about the bils, everyone says to get the mevotecs if you go with 2.8 setting... Out of curiosity, what makes the mevotecs different? Are they just stronger or do they have different specs made for a leveling kit? Thanks!

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They are just stronger , they are solid unlike the welded hollow OEM UCA'S .
The Balljoint looks beefier and it's greasable unlike the ungreasable OEM UCA'S .
Fwiw the upper ball joint s doesn't just blow apart , they typically show you signs of premature failure by making a bumping or knocking sound . Unless of course you are wheeling HARD catching air over really rough ground .


So if you do install the bils you could just keep an eye on the upper ball joints . If you see signs of separation like the OP , then order a set of Mevotecs from www.rockauto.com.

This is a classic look at the UCA'S upper ball joint starting to separate.


Hope this helps !

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[Rustycowl69]

hey that sucks about the scrape, but every time I hear the words, "Oh, that'll buff out," I immediately think back to John Candy's words in Trains, Planes, and Automobiles. I must have seen that movie a half a dozen times and it's still funny.

 

[Drummin4jc]

hey that sucks about the scrape, but every time I hear the words, "Oh, that'll buff out," I immediately think back to John Candy's words in Trains, Planes, and Automobiles. I must have seen that movie a half a dozen times and it's still funny.

GREAT MOVIE!!

Adam

 

[gator_79]

I'm looking at a Rancho Ready Lift to bring the front up a little, I had those on my last truck and loved the ride quality. I've read quite a bit on replacing the UCA, my question is what aftermarket UCA are y'all using? Is there any brand to avoid?