Pathfinder I
In an effort to save some cash while alleviating the strain on my UCAs I decided to give the Freedom Off-Road UCAs a shot. My King coilovers are lifting my front end a little too high and I can't lower it any further. This was causing the OEM ball joints to sit at quite an extreme angle and shortening their life. I just couldn't afford a set of Icons or similarly priced UCAs so I emailed Freedom to ensure the fitment was correct for my 2018 Canyon 4x4 and see if they had any deals coming up. They offered me a bit of a discount in return for a simple review regardless if I liked the product or not. Lucky for them I do. I don't recommend junk products period.
The control arms are priced much lower than the next lowest competitor, $380 vs. $750. Part of the difference in price is based on the lack of poly bushings and uniballs (or Delta joint). The Freedom UCAs use an OEM style balljoint that is larger than OEM, is greaseable and is replaceable. The max articulation of the joint may be less than a uniball but since I don't have any uniballs to compare it to I can't say for sure. The UCAs feature hardened rubber bushings instead of polyurathane. Rubber bushings are quieter but easier to tear. They help isolate suspension vibrations better than poly but are less durable. On the flip side, they require no maintenance unlike poly bushings.
It is my opinion that the majority of folks lifting their vehicles don't really need uniballs or even poly bushings. Those that are really beating on their rigs off-road could benefit from those overbuilt high end UCAs but where is that line and how do you know which side you're on? :) I run my truck pretty hard but I don't thrash it. It's not a street queen nor is it a full on rock crawler. It's somewhere in between so I decided to give these UCAs a shot. A lot of my gear is what some would call budget oriented. I try to get by with gear that is neither cheapest nor the most expensive. Isn't that what most of us do in life? So my testing is based on the hope that I would find a less expensive option that works and lasts on my truck so that I can recommend that option to friends. And......
So far so good!
The UCAs arrived a few days after I placed my order. They were well boxed and there was no damage evident. Installation is pretty straightforward except GM uses a non-fixed nut on the end of the UCA bolts and it is quite difficult to install the UCAs with a coilover in place. I had to unbolt the top of the coilover and shift it around to tighten the UCA bolts. Now you're not supposed to full torque the UCA bolts until the vehicle is lowered back to the ground and its full weight resting on the coilover. Well, how do you get a wrench inside the coilover mount to hold the nut on the end of the UCA bolt? Ugggg In hindsight a pass-through 21mm socket and wrench would probably work but good luck finding one locally. I'll spare you the cursing and convoluted attempts I made to tighten those bolts. I recommend you position the UCAs in what looks like a normal weighted resting position then torque them. Then lower the vehicle slowly. This will help reduce the risk of tearing the rubber bushings.
Freedom UCA on top of OEM. You can see the ball joint cup is angled more than the OEM. This will help reduce ball joint angle and bind in lifted applications.
It may be a trick of the camera angle but the Freedom units appear slightly longer or at least the leading edge sticks out further. That could help explain why my 285 tire rubs the UCA slightly on the driver side. I haven't done an alignment yet so I can't say what the issue stems from yet. Top view.
Mounted up they look pretty beefy. Where the sticker is damaged is where my tire rubs. I have +20 offset wheels and aggressive 285 AT tires. A lower offset or less aggressive tire won't rub.
The welds look fine. Sure they are not "dimes" but I don't expect dimes at this price point. Under the black rubber cap is a zerk fitting for greasing the ball joint if needed. They come pre-greased so don't add a bunch more like I did and make a mess. ;)
At full droop the ball joint is still pretty relaxed compared to how the OEM ball joint looked.
Here is the OEM UCA at full droop for comparison.
So after a few weeks of daily driving and mild forest road use I joined a group of other Overland Bound members and spent 5 days in Death Valley. Most of the trip was spent on mild trails with only a few "rock gardens" but there were a lot of sections that just felt better at 30mph+ which at times creates quite a bucking and bouncy ride. This is where the UCAs would get their workout. Deep compressions followed by fast rebounds would test the rubber bushings and OEM style ball joints. The rocky terrain would often intercept a wheel before it could fully rebound then quickly force it back into compression. The suspension as a whole wasn't fazed. The UCAs held up to more abuse than the average Joe will put them through. In summary I think these UCAs are a viable opion for those who are maxing out their OEM ball joints with lifts over 2.5" and who don't want to spend $750+ on aftermarket UCAs. I'll continue to test these and will keep the thread updated as time goes by, especially if there is a failure.
Mengel Pass
I purposely took rutted or awkward lines just to flex everything out as much as possible. Even little ruts can create some flex.
The trail were not extreme in any away but you could drive them fast enough to make for some suspension testing. Especially if you zig when you should have zagged when threading your way between rocks. ;)
The control arms are priced much lower than the next lowest competitor, $380 vs. $750. Part of the difference in price is based on the lack of poly bushings and uniballs (or Delta joint). The Freedom UCAs use an OEM style balljoint that is larger than OEM, is greaseable and is replaceable. The max articulation of the joint may be less than a uniball but since I don't have any uniballs to compare it to I can't say for sure. The UCAs feature hardened rubber bushings instead of polyurathane. Rubber bushings are quieter but easier to tear. They help isolate suspension vibrations better than poly but are less durable. On the flip side, they require no maintenance unlike poly bushings.
It is my opinion that the majority of folks lifting their vehicles don't really need uniballs or even poly bushings. Those that are really beating on their rigs off-road could benefit from those overbuilt high end UCAs but where is that line and how do you know which side you're on? :) I run my truck pretty hard but I don't thrash it. It's not a street queen nor is it a full on rock crawler. It's somewhere in between so I decided to give these UCAs a shot. A lot of my gear is what some would call budget oriented. I try to get by with gear that is neither cheapest nor the most expensive. Isn't that what most of us do in life? So my testing is based on the hope that I would find a less expensive option that works and lasts on my truck so that I can recommend that option to friends. And......
So far so good!
The UCAs arrived a few days after I placed my order. They were well boxed and there was no damage evident. Installation is pretty straightforward except GM uses a non-fixed nut on the end of the UCA bolts and it is quite difficult to install the UCAs with a coilover in place. I had to unbolt the top of the coilover and shift it around to tighten the UCA bolts. Now you're not supposed to full torque the UCA bolts until the vehicle is lowered back to the ground and its full weight resting on the coilover. Well, how do you get a wrench inside the coilover mount to hold the nut on the end of the UCA bolt? Ugggg In hindsight a pass-through 21mm socket and wrench would probably work but good luck finding one locally. I'll spare you the cursing and convoluted attempts I made to tighten those bolts. I recommend you position the UCAs in what looks like a normal weighted resting position then torque them. Then lower the vehicle slowly. This will help reduce the risk of tearing the rubber bushings.
Freedom UCA on top of OEM. You can see the ball joint cup is angled more than the OEM. This will help reduce ball joint angle and bind in lifted applications.
It may be a trick of the camera angle but the Freedom units appear slightly longer or at least the leading edge sticks out further. That could help explain why my 285 tire rubs the UCA slightly on the driver side. I haven't done an alignment yet so I can't say what the issue stems from yet. Top view.
Mounted up they look pretty beefy. Where the sticker is damaged is where my tire rubs. I have +20 offset wheels and aggressive 285 AT tires. A lower offset or less aggressive tire won't rub.
The welds look fine. Sure they are not "dimes" but I don't expect dimes at this price point. Under the black rubber cap is a zerk fitting for greasing the ball joint if needed. They come pre-greased so don't add a bunch more like I did and make a mess. ;)
At full droop the ball joint is still pretty relaxed compared to how the OEM ball joint looked.
Here is the OEM UCA at full droop for comparison.
So after a few weeks of daily driving and mild forest road use I joined a group of other Overland Bound members and spent 5 days in Death Valley. Most of the trip was spent on mild trails with only a few "rock gardens" but there were a lot of sections that just felt better at 30mph+ which at times creates quite a bucking and bouncy ride. This is where the UCAs would get their workout. Deep compressions followed by fast rebounds would test the rubber bushings and OEM style ball joints. The rocky terrain would often intercept a wheel before it could fully rebound then quickly force it back into compression. The suspension as a whole wasn't fazed. The UCAs held up to more abuse than the average Joe will put them through. In summary I think these UCAs are a viable opion for those who are maxing out their OEM ball joints with lifts over 2.5" and who don't want to spend $750+ on aftermarket UCAs. I'll continue to test these and will keep the thread updated as time goes by, especially if there is a failure.
Mengel Pass
I purposely took rutted or awkward lines just to flex everything out as much as possible. Even little ruts can create some flex.
The trail were not extreme in any away but you could drive them fast enough to make for some suspension testing. Especially if you zig when you should have zagged when threading your way between rocks. ;)
