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Upper Control Arm Comparison


Precise1
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Like it said. A buddy of mine got a 91 Pathy XE with 135k on it as well as these interesting UCAs. The bushings are shot (visibly loose, part of why he got a deal) so I gave/lent him my stock ones with good bushings while I map these out and make some bushings for them. Has anyone seen or heard of these before?

 

 

002.jpg

 

 

I believe those are stock spindles and they are made out of steel. I'll take more pictures and make a 'print' by reverse engineering it. In the mean time, I'll display pictures of all the known aftermarket manufacturers that I find. Rough Country, SuperLift, Rancho, Automotive Customizers, Calmini.

 

B

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Well, it looks a lot like the AC (4x4parts.com) upper control arm now that I found a picture of them. Didn't AC get the design from another company that either went out of business or stopped producing them? Is this one of the original makes? It would be good to compare them to a stock unit, but I'm fresh out... :shrug:

 

AC UCAs.

 

81dd21fb49d0a9990310c8bc310ec570.jpg

 

B

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Those look exactly like my AC ones, B. I don't have a good pic of them but I can get one tomorrow.

Agreed, but please do post a good picture if you have it.

 

Wernt AC the ones that don't do anything about balljoint angles?

Yep, and now I'm curious if these are the same or not. Anyone ever map out an AC UCA??

 

B

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Here are a couple of shots of the UCA options that are/were available for WD21 Pathfinders:

 

DSC01187.jpg

Top is AC, RC, Stock and then Rancho at bottom

 

DSC01188.jpg

Top is AC, bottom is RC, Rancho and stock

 

Once again, thank you beastpath. I tried to find this earlier before I started this thread... :shrug:

http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=23611&st=0&p=426314&hl=superlift&fromsearch=1entry426314

 

B

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That proably don't fit right :lol:

True, I forgot to mention that. You have to remove some beef so you can actually drive...

Calmini is hit and miss as my experience with the idler arm brace shows, but that's another story.

 

B

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Jim Connor Racing was who made all the Nissan Truck parts before anyone else, AC bought the remaining inventory and designs from them, here is a page from the JCR catalog when they first introduced the tubular a-arms, they did compensate for the ball joint angle as their previous UCA's were reinforced stock arms with a welded in ball joint spacer ( I had a pair in my 87 Hardbody):

 

23k8dd.jpg

 

 

2n6rb0m.jpg

 

original style:

 

b7c576.jpg

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Was looking at the original pictures again, I see the arm has an Explorer sticker on it, was just trying to remember, did Explorer Pro Comp ever make suspension lifts for the Nissan's??

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Yes, they appear to be the same as the JCR/AC arms, but the Explorer sticker on them has me scratching my head. Maybe just an aerly rebadge for distribution... :shrug:

 

Does anyone know, do the AC UCAs use the same bushings as the stock UCAs?

These??

https://www.4x4parts.com/nissan/upper-control-arm-bushings-p-4131.html

 

Thanks,

 

B

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Yes, they appear to be the same as the JCR/AC arms, but the Explorer sticker on them has me scratching my head. Maybe just an aerly rebadge for distribution... :shrug:

 

Does anyone know, do the AC UCAs use the same bushings as the stock UCAs?

These??

https://www.4x4parts.com/nissan/upper-control-arm-bushings-p-4131.html

 

Thanks,

 

B

 

Those look like the ones on my AC arms.

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well, I guess the explorer sticker on the arm was added as I just got off the phone with Explorer Pro Comp and they said they never made a suspension lift for the older Nissan's.

 

The black A-arm in the previous picture, the tubular one says RC (rough country??), why does it appear narrower than the rest? were some of the 2 WD's using a narrower A-arm? Or is it just the picture making it look narrower?

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Thanks Yendor, I figured as much but like to make sure before I order. :aok:

 

AHB, Thanks for checking up on that.

Yes, it is just the angle (more acute) that makes them look more narrow. Look at the ends of the tubes, they run along side the ball joint mount plate. With the AC units, if the tube extended past the edge of the mounting plate, they would interfere with the mounting holes.

I have the Rough Country units on my truck and like them alot, my first pick other than the Rancho which I haven't inspected or mounted. (made by superlift, just rebadged). They mount on the stock spindles also...

 

B

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No problem, I even checked in an old price book I have from when I worked in the 4x4 shop, the book is from 1994 and has all the jobber prices and it didn't have a listing for Pro Comp at all.

 

I only have experience with the original style arms that JCR sold, they were fine in my Hardbody. JCR came out with the tubular arms after I had already had their original modified arms for a couple years. There was another company I believe even older than JCR that made a- arms for the 720 series Nissan pickups, think it was Boondocker, they used a ball joint spacer but it wasn't welded to the A- arm. they also made these really cool fiberglass front fenders, if you've seen the older 720 pickup trucks you know the fender openings were very small, the Boondocker fenders actually included a piece of metal that let you cut the floor to make the fender opening larger, than you had the new metal part welded in. For the rear they had fender flares that were installed after cutting the fender opening.

 

The shop I worked in installed this kit on a king cab 720, we also swapped a 4.3 Chevy V6 into the truck, it was nice.

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  • 2 weeks later...

some of them correct ball joint angles to make cranked torsion bars easier to allign the front end, and some have zerks fittings so you can greese the uca bushings if you like lubing your front end.

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some of them correct ball joint angles to make cranked torsion bars easier to allign the front end, and some have zerks fittings so you can greese the uca bushings if you like lubing your front end.

 

So basically don't bother buying them if I don't plan on lifting it and use the money to install zerk fitting into my hand so I can lube my front end?

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