Chevy upper control arms

[dfarm]

I recently had the ball joints pop out of the upper control arms on my 2001 suburban 2500.(they pressed themselves back out the top, not tore the joint apart)

I was able to hammer the joints back in, but I done trust that set now for anything more exciting than moving he vehicle in and out of the shop.

I started looking at upgrading the upper control arms and was a little surprised that the hot rod stuff costs more than double what the factory stuff does. I've been looking at tubular arms with dual shock mounts and bolt on ball joints.(cognito)

The truck has a 6" lift and 35" tires on it. I don't know who made the lift, as it was on there when I bought it. It does have shock towers on the frame, and the p/o gave me 4 Fox shocks that he couldn't mount because he changed the upper control arms before I got the rig from him.

The vehicle is used 90% as the family driver and the rest is made up of anything from towing a utility trailer full of firewood to camping, hunting and hopefully more mild off-roading in the future.

I'm looking for opinions from folks who have used, broken and built ifs gm trucks to help me decide if It is worth it for me to upgrade the uca's or if stock stuff is good enough.

What, if anything will I notice if i upgrade?

Thanks in advance.

 

[legendaryandrew]

With cognito, you get 2 main things, bolt in upper ball joints (factory are non serviceable afaik), and a better angle on the ball joints so they don't wear prematurely, which they will with any lift.

 

[dfarm]

Is there any difference in strength, handling or ride quality?

Will it make a big difference in the ride quality if I install the dual Fox shocks that I have (provided I install control arms with mounts for them)?

 

[legendaryandrew]

I imagine the tubular arms are stronger than the cast factory ones, but there should be no difference in ride quality or handling. Dual shocks on a normal to mild usage vehicle are a waste of money IMO, just poser factor. The dampening of the shocks is lowered to account for the second shock, so it isn't much stiffer, it just deals with heat better, which will really only come into effect under severe duty usage. This is from what I've read fwiw. I only have experience with single shocks, and I've never had an issue.

 

[dfarm]

I ended up just ordering new moog problem solver control arms. In the end I just couldn't justify 3 times the price for the tubular arms.

Thanks for the help

 

[rayra]

Didn't know it was even possible to pop the upper ball joints out like that. Must have really bottomed it out / bounced the front end. The way the parts fit together I really can't visualize the combination of forces that would drive one out of its press-fit socket. Not if the castle nut is tight and cotter pinned properly. Ought to be impossible.