Firm feel upper control arms

[farmboy70]

Anyone using them?
Not a big fan of the offset upper bushings in original arms and looking to get more caster.
Thanks
Dave

[Chryco Psycho]

1 thought , anything welded is weaker than a 1 peice stamped steel part , you never hear of a factory control arm failing unless the ball joint holes gets tripped by improper installation

[farmboy70]

Just went out and looked and the adjusters are maxed put properly. If I remember correctly I have about 2 degrees caster. I may try the offset bushing but have had wear problems in the past with them. Might be worth a try before spending on the arms.
Dave

[GCragtop]

I have them on my -71 B-body. Money well spent.

[autoxcuda]

Just went out and looked and the adjusters are maxed put properly. If I remember correctly I have about 2 degrees caster. I may try the offset bushing but have had wear problems in the past with them. Might be worth a try before spending on the arms.
Dave

I ran them in my 68 Barracuda from 1994 to 2011 and 80K miles. Snow, track, cross country runs... I think they are still good.

[72bluNblu]

1 thought , anything welded is weaker than a 1 peice stamped steel part , you never hear of a factory control arm failing unless the ball joint holes gets tripped by improper installation

Yeah that's not true at all. Yes, the strength of the weld is a concern and that can be a joint that fractures if it hasn't been designed and constructed properly. But no, a stamped steel part is not inherently stronger than anything with a weld. If you stamped a UCA out of 22 gauge steel it wouldn't work for very long. With proper tube wall thickness and a sound weld tubular UCA's will last as long as anything else on the car.

As for the offset bushings, they can usually get you to around +3.5 degrees of caster. Which still isn't a ton if you're running power steering , or if you're running 17" or larger rims with modern tread design tires. I ran +5.5* of caster with the  Hotchkis UCA's on my Challenger, and I run +6.5 degrees of caster on my Duster. That one uses double adjustable SPC UCA's, and I even have a fast ratio manual steering box. Not the easiest car to parallel park, but it's very stable at speed and handles great.

The Firm Feel UCA's are well made pieces (like all of their stuff), you shouldn't have any trouble at all with them.

[Chryco Psycho]

Agreed a 22 ga part would be bad LOL
the metal can get brittle beside the weld though
Firm feel makes good stuff 

[PLUM72]

Interested in this as well.  Been looking at QA1 UCA's from Summit.  They look similar to the Firm Feel part.   The QA1 is a bit less expensive thru Summit and ships free.  PST also has a set of UCA's called GMax.

[72bluNblu]

Agreed a 22 ga part would be bad LOL
the metal can get brittle beside the weld though
Firm feel makes good stuff 

The weld being brittle is a consequence of the metal and filler rod used. It's really only a problem with high carbon alloys, the carbon migrates into the weld because of temperatures achieved during the welding process. But, filler rod choice is a component of that, as is the type of welding that's done. And on top of that, there are ways around it. Like a heat-treat after the welding process.

With mild steel, it's really not much of a concern. Chromemoly steels tend to have a higher carbon content, so it can be a larger issue with those. But again, it depends on the alloy, the welding process, the filler rod, etc. The fully tubular chassis of the FSAE car I welded up back in college was chromoly, fully TIG welded, with no heat treat. We came to the conclusion that with a single pass TIG weld we wouldn't have an issue, and we didn't.

Interested in this as well.  Been looking at QA1 UCA's from Summit.  They look similar to the Firm Feel part.   The QA1 is a bit less expensive thru Summit and ships free.  PST also has a set of UCA's called GMax.

QA1 is a good control arm, they make good stuff. So does Firm Feel. I'm not sure who makes the UCA's for PST, I'm pretty sure it's not PST. The non-adjustable ones have a tight "V" shape, which may require cutting the UCA mount back a little for clearance because of the steep inward angle on the UCA. It's not a big deal, but it might be necessary. The adjustable ones use heims, which I'm not a fan of on a street car at the UCA. JMO.

[farmboy70]

Got the car back from the alignment shop yesterday after the Firm feel upper control arm install. He was able to get 4 degrees on the right, but only 3 degrees on the left.

I am going to take a close look at the left side today. The frame had no damage when I built this car so time to figure out why the left has less adjustment .


Going to look closely at lower control arm and strut rod.

Anyone have this issue before?
Thanks
Dave

[rhamson]

Check out Hotchkis UCA's. They have a heim system with more adjustment than anything I have seen.

[RUNCHARGER]

3 degrees would be pretty good. How much are you looking for?

[farmboy70]

After reading many posts , I was trying for 4. I looked it over today and see no damage to any parts. I will probably just settle for 3.1 on each side.
Since it is unbalanced now ,it pulls slightly to the left.
Dave

[RUNCHARGER]

Yes, you will be happy with it in the end I think. It would be nice to be able to go past what you need though, I get your thinking there.

[1 Wild R/T]