[TWX]

Been browsing your forums occasionally for awhile now, but needed and account to ask questions on something.

Truck is a '15 Frontier CCLWB, so the 140" or so wheelbase. SV package 4x4, no value truck package. Done a bunch of mods to it including building a custom front 2" receiver concealed behind the front bumper cover, custom front recovery points, and most recently installing some new ADO add-a-leafs and timbrens from a wrecked Titan in the rear end. Front end work is next, need to boost up the front to match the rear and deal with UCA to coil-bucket contact, a forum member posted a picture of a extended length upper balljoint that looks promising and less expensive than aftermarket UCAs.

Truck as it sits now:

 

[rm975]

Nice!

 

[mtnbound]

nice looking Fronty!

got a link or any more info on the exrtended uca joints?

 

[TWX]

nice looking Fronty!

got a link or any more info on the exrtended uca joints?

Nothing concrete. This was the thread that attracted my attention:

Upper Control Arm Ball-joint Extension?

www.thenewx.org

In short, there were three factories that built Frontiers, if the move from one location to another in the United States counts as one factory. Trucks built in Thailand versus Spain, which were sold in markets where these extended balljoints are currently available, have different ways of installing the upper balljoint. One factory's balljoints press-in from above, the other's from below. I don't know which is which nor do I know which is more like the American-spec trucks. Unfortunately the user that had installed these doesn't have notes on their choice anymore so I'll need to go and do some more research.

Ultimately the principal advantage is that the stock stamped UCAs seem to be decently strong and reliable, they just have a design flaw for the coil bucket contact when the suspension needs to droop. The extended balljoint transaction price per each is inexpensive, $99 Australian dollars, or around $70 or so USD, but that doesn't account for shipping costs. SPC and other aftermarket control arms easily run more than $500. Stock droop according to a stickied post over on clubfrontier claims that the stock total travel is around 5.6". These extended balljoints, which push the UCA up higher in its resting state, are 35mm, or around 1.4". This might increase the total suspension travel to about 7" if there's nothing interfering with upward travel, so for the better part of $400 savings one might get the articulation of a tubular control arm without paying the costs of a tubular control arm, just of a balljoint.

The downside is I don't find testimonials as to how the extra length of the balljoint socket may affect the UCA socket that it is pressed into. It may be fine, but it's not impossible that it may torque on that UCA socket severely enough to wear it out.

The crux of it is shipping. If shipping isn't ridiculous then the risk to try it is low. Worst case they run for a year or two but wear out the UCA socket, then replace them with tubular UCAs, so one is only out the cost plus shipping. If shipping is ridiculous though, suddenly it may not be worthwhile if there are doubts. That said I have seen pictures of Titans with busted aftermarket tubular UCAs, so it's not like the tubular ones are 100% reliable either.

So we'll see what I find. Call it $500 for V8 Pathfinder springs, Bilstein 5100-series front and back. If these are available for less than $200 shipped then for someone that will only do light to moderate four wheeling that's around $700 to add around an inch and a half of lift plus better handling of the added weight of the front receiver and slotted-in winch, versus $1000-$1100 if going instead with aftermarket UCAs on that package. Suddenly it becomes a lot less expensive over the course of the build, money that could be applied to Pathy V8 brakes or perhaps tracking down an M205 and Pathy V8 CVs.

This is what I've done to the truck so far...

• Source junkyard OE hitch and wiring from an '06 and install
• Replace broken 7-pin towing electrical connector with an aftermarket 7/4 connector
• Wire-up the 3rd brake light on the LEER camper shell with disconnectable SAE connectors bulkhead-mounted
• Add Utilitrack rail behind the cab with factory hardware
• Add Utilitrack rails into the floor of the bed by drilling new holes
• Install Fumoto-type oil drain valve
• Replace factory mirrors with Trail Ridge towing mirrors
• Install Hefty Fabworks aluminum engine skid
• Delete the front lower valence (this might be put back on)
• Acquired a Raider Lorider one piece fiberglass tonneau cover
• Installed Harken Hoister lifting system in the garage to allow install and removal of LEER canopy and Raider tonneau
• Replace OE 16" 12-spoke aluminum wheels with OE-spare 17" steel wheels and ACDelco multibrand TPMS sensors
• Replace Kelly Edge AT tires with 255/75/17 Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac tires in SL load rating
• Fabricate and install in-bumper front receiver for winch mounting
• Relocate power steering cooler to make clearance for the front receiver
• Wire-in high-amp fuse, AB-switch, and 1/0 gauge cabling with anderson connectors for modular winch at front and back
• Installation of Redarc Towpro Elite trailer brake controller
• Fabricate front recovery points out of 4" by 1/2" angle iron and install with D-ring shackles
• Replace the rear seat headrests with headrests out of an early-model Armada
• Install Alldogs Offroad 1.5" add-a-leafs
• Install Timbren rubber springs to replace the heavy overload leafs
• PENDING: Hefty Fabworks aluminum transmission skidplate
• PENDING: Front suspension camber bolts
• PENDING: Backup camera into the tailgate

 

[GreyDuck]

Interloper? We welcome our Fronty cousins!

 

[Lowcountry idn]

Welcome! I have an X and a Fronty. Mine is a CC short box.

Anyway option C for you would be the Mevotech control arms - SPC knock off's if you will. There like $200.00 each last I checked so still not cheap - but given your going to pay at minimum 100 bucks to ship the joints from Australia, might be worth looking. Anyway there are a few threads on them around here you can find on them.

 

[TWX]

Welcome! I have an X and a Fronty. Mine is a CC short box.

Anyway option C for you would be the Mevotech control arms - SPC knock off's if you will. There like $200.00 each last I checked so still not cheap - but given your going to pay at minimum 100 bucks to ship the joints from Australia, might be worth looking. Anyway there are a few threads on them around here you can find on them.

Yeah, it's pronounced SPC but it's spelled m-e-v-o-t-e-c-h. I suspect that the latter is who actually makes them for the former, and if the agreement allows the latter to start selling directly when the former's sales numbers drop too low or something. I'd seen them at Summit Racing for around $225 if memory serves.

 

[Lowcountry idn]

Yeah, it's pronounced SPC but it's spelled m-e-v-o-t-e-c-h. I suspect that the latter is who actually makes them for the former, and if the agreement allows the latter to start selling directly when the former's sales numbers drop too low or something. I'd seen them at Summit Racing for around $225 if memory serves.

I am not sure. Mevotech is a aftermarket only supplier based in Canada - kind of like Dorman, I don't think they actually make anything themselves - maybe our Canadian members know better.

I also doubt SPC makes them either - but the SPC are made in the USA. I haven't heard mention of where Mevotech's are made.

Could be the same company makes both. Could be Mevotech sent the SPC design to somewhere else. Stamping out and assembling control arms isn't hard - there are likely 100 stampers that have the ability to do it today. So really its about the QC each company decides to enforce - if there even smart enough to know what kind of stamping QC they even should be asking for.

Rock auto has Mevotech for $200.00 less your 5% discount code. SPC are like $600.00. If you were going to run the rubicon than I would likely get the SPC's. For the rest of us the Mevotech will likely suffice.