JBA UCA ball joint spindle Nut torque spec

So I’ve got a dilemma… I have JBA UCA’s and JBA says to set the upper ball joint to spindle nut torque to 60ftlbs, I found another thread on here that says 60 (not sure if he has aftermarket UCA’s?) but then there’s a different thread on here with blueprint schematics and pictures showing 81ftlbs?? So what is it? Thanks everyone! - Steven

 

My install instructions for ver. 7&7.5 say 60ft. lbs. @wonderbread

 

Thanks Richard, that’s what my JBA install instructions say too but I’m pretty sure stock is 81? Why so much lower?

 

Not really sure. Possibly the fact that factory is non-greasable and the JBAs are?

 

You’re overthinking it. The UCAs could be made of different material, different thickness, whatever. They have different specifications, including the ball joint, than OEM. So follow the manufacturer’s torque spec.

 

Well Hook I wouldn’t be too worried about it if 1) the Moog K772 Ball Joints JBA used in my 2019 version UCA’s had a castle nut and carter pin. And 2) it wasn’t my wife’s truck. You can only fit a tapered stud so far into a tapered hole and as far as different material metal.?. it better be as strong or stronger than stock! I’m just gonna go w 75ftlbs and some locktite as half the plastic in the lock nut came off on clean thread removal to replace the faulty bushings that came w them too. And I might as well go ahead and mention the faulty short boot and stupid spacer that came w my version too. Got less than two years and 15-20,000 miles outa the bushings w easy saltless driving greased every 5k. I sure hope these updated bushings last longer because holding a greasy UCA while trying to keep 4 washers in place while sliding a long ass bolt that try’s to hang up on the body in the engine bay is not a fun job. Got over 100,000 outa the stock UCA’s on both my 2nd Gen tacos.

 

Why not call the manufacturer. There must be a reason for the torque value.

That spot is easy access if you were to torque it to 60 and then recheck over the following days/weeks/months.

I do find it odd that there’s no castle nut/cotter pin.

Maybe use a different UCA then if you have so many concerns about this one?

 

Note to self: Don't use JBA arms!

No castle nut, No thanks!

 

As long as you mark with a paint pen, permanent marker or white out it's super easy to check from time to time. They don't come loose when torqued correctly (60 ft lbs for JBA).

SPC has a cotter pin, but only gets 45 ft lb torque.

 

Let me reiterate… I think I was still just a bit “torqued” about having to pretty much redo an install of these JBA’s so soon lol. This was due to faulty bushings that came w the 2019 version of my JBA UCA’s. The old bushings didn’t have any weep grooves for the grease to move throughout the bushings while greasing or due to heat and pressure changes inside the bushing cups. There are large washers on either side of the rubbers of the bushings so this furthered the problem by completely sealing the grease inside them. With routine manufacturer recommended greasing every 5k this causes the pressure to build eventually blowing the rubbers out. The New bushings I just reinstalled are updated with grooves in all the right places to allow the grease to flow slowly throughout the bushings to prevent premature over greasing by allowing the fresh grease to push through and all the way out by the washers. Should be problem solved on that end of the UCA? I emailed JBA stating the premature problem (which they were obviously aware of due to the updated bushings and stated reasonings for the update on their site) and I asked for a coupon code to get a discount for their mess up… no response so I just ordered the new ones and installed them yesterday PIA. I understand that there are quarks that need to be weeded out of new products and as consumers we are the ultimate test subjects for these small companies. JBA has also started machining their own upper ball joints and have updated the “short boots” that so many have had problems with in salty climates to longer ones with better coverage. With all that being said my ball joints are still in good shape so I guess I get the new “good boots” with updated joints when these eventually wear out. JBA is a great company and their upper control Arms are very strong, fully greasable, and fully serviceable. I’m very glad they’ve finally weeded out the quarks now for us Taco owners and because of this I will continue to recommend them even though I was one of the unlucky ones. Superdave1.0, excellent idea with marking the nut and stud with a paint pen! I’m gonna do that today and just keep an eye on them . Thank You all!

 

Tight plus 1/8th turn.

Lol

 

How did you press out the old bushings?

 

@YE2KA sorry so late been a while since I been on here. If I remember correctly you can push the new bushings in by hand. Old ones came out crushed. They slide in like plugs on either side leaving a void in the center as a grease chamber.

 

Yeah i got my JBA i had the same dilemma of the ball joint torque spec i just torqued it to a satisfied point because I was unable to use a torque wrench the spindle doesn't have much room. But as far as the bushings I hope these new version last because I came from SPC and those bushings only lasted 7k miles. Just planning for the future when I do eventually replace my JBA bushings I want to make sure they don't need to be pressed out

 

@YE2KA - the upper ball joints are lasting good so far on my wife’s ‘06 which is good. I torqued them to 75lbs. I hope your JBA’s came with the updated bushings with the weep grooves etched into them? Easy way to know is when you grease them the grease will push through the weep grooves all the way to the washers and pish out and you’ll visibly see the grease come out. The old ones didn’t have the grooves so the grease was trapped in the cavity and wasn’t able to lube the bushings properly. Along with the built up pressure in there from unneeded general maintenance (because you couldn’t tell how much grease was in there) they blew out. If you got grease flowing all the way to the washers then I’d bet you got the updates bushings and are golden? It’s a little dirtier with the grease overflow but we would definitely rather deal with that than them blowing out. Happy trails!

 

Yes I definitely have the new version and they have been great. They stay greased longer