how many miles on circle your track A-arms

[Hy82e]

I've done my research on the why's and what parts to use to run the tall ball joints. The problem I'm having is that my car will be a daily driver in all weather conditions. I believe the best option for the long run would be to use a kit. SPC, UMI, DSE, etc., etc, since those options use more street friendly bushings. Unfortunately those options are not within the budget.

I'd like to hear some real world input on running the circle track arms in a daily driven car. Like UB Machine, gbodyparts, speedway's and so on. Especially you guys putting some real world miles on a them with the bumps and pot holes that our sometimes beautiful cities provide us. Throw in some ball joint info too.

I have been leaning on UB Machine cause of the customization options they offer, but the only long term use info I've found is a guy that has run them for five years and are showing needs for replacement. Which would be great I'd take that, but he only estimates 15k miles and that's with greaseing them every 1000 miles.

I'd appreciate some info guys I'm at a cross roads whether to continue with the "cheaper" set up, or move on and hope that them other upgrades to the car will give satisfactory results.

 

[charlief1]

They won't ride harder and as long as you grease them you shouldn't have any problems. They're also stronger than the stock arms so that's a big plus in their favor.

 

[Hy82e]

They won't ride harder and as long as you grease them you shouldn't have any problems. They're also stronger than the stock arms so that's a big plus in their favor.

thanks for checking in. I don't worry to much about ride quality my understanding is that the uppers are non load bearing and road noise and vibration is minimal. I'm mostly concerned about life span of steel bushings. As for strength the ball joints are more of a concern there. Being "tall" and farther out of the taper has to increase stress.

I have seen many of your post while researching different combinations that may work for this upgrade. I know you like to reserve some details for yourself but can you share some details of what set up you're using now, and more importantly how many miles you have on that set up. I had considered the UBM set for the C10 ball joints, but I have pretty much abandoned that ball joint option cause it limits me to those arms. If I ever want to make a change I may end up having to chunk a good set of ball joints.

 

[charlief1]

The issue with the C-10 ball joints is that you've got to get a reamer to open the holes in the knuckle up so they'll fit. As far as what I'm running it's the same thing that was posted in the how to section about rebuilding your suspension. There are a few other tricks that have been done to the car and a few suprises came up when I started on it. Turned out the frame was rotten so I had to find another one. Because of this I've done some serious mods to the frame that most on here would never understand or even try to do.

As far as the upper arms go, we've been using them on dirt track cars as well as taller ball joints for some time and they do bend once in a while but it takes one heck of a hit to bend them.

 

[Hy82e]

I know all about surprises. When i pulled out the old motor i found that my cross member was bent and after some work with the wire brush found that the frame had its own ruff past. My new frame will also receive some needed improvement, but I'm just a small pawn in this game so just some basic stuff. This has already snowballed WAAAY out of control from the original plan for my little grocery getter.

Thanks for bringing up the taper issue with the C10 ball joint. I kept getting mixed advise about that set up. So i took a short field trip to the parts store and confirmed that they are NOT the same. I'll have to look back to remember what your set up was.

 

[usetaboost]

Have no experience with this stuff but my friend runs circle track with the stock lowers and uppers with taller ball joint and he woops ass every time he goes out. Nothing special on his car, just different springs, that's it.

 

[usetaboost]

...and I rarely hear of him having to change any parts out.

 

[Hy82e]

That's interesting. I've always heard that it is a huge NO NO to use the stock uppers with tall ball joints. I know it all bolts together, but supposedly limits and/or stresses going through the full range of motion. But you have evidence that it works and can take abuse. Still I don't think I would personally push that scenario on a daily car that is not set up to crash on any given day, but it it is good to know what abuse they can take. Do you know what ball joints he uses?

 

[usetaboost]

They're the same ones everyone else uses on this site. Can't remember the name though.

 

[Hy82e]

Howe, or Proforged are the most common brands I see mentioned here. There are many other options.
Different opinions on who's the best. I here some guys say that the Howe pieces are too soft, and others say don't trust a part that puts your life on the line to a china made product.
I think that when I comes down to it half the cars on the road today are rolling with Chinese parts in them. And as for the Howe parts, I have very little real knowledge of steel but I know the hardest is not always the strongest. Some applications are better off with steel that has some give. Maybe ball joints fall in that category, plus it makes you feel all warm and tingly inside "Made in the USA"

Anybody else have some experience with high milage on those harsh roads to the mall and Tee ball practice?

 

[usetaboost]

My buddy actually prefers to find arms with original ball joints still in them, he says they don't break as often when he gets rammed into the wall.

 

[Hy82e]

I called UB Machine today and learned that they have a Teflon lined bushing option for the a-arms. Still grease able, still non-rebuild able. Anybody have any experience with these?