UB Machine Tubular A-Arms

I think the 0809-5R on both sides is going to be the best. I took a look at this one last nite installed on a locals car on the passenger side. Ball joint angle looked pretty straight. For all those following, the reason we received two different UCAs was a mistake. We both needed two 0809-5Rs.
 
Originally posted by Red Regal T
Macs had his installed since the date of the origination of this old thread. If he would chime in here, we'll get more info.
Click to expand...

Sorry, John. I wasn't paying attention. :D

Re: the polyurethane, since I had gone through several melted/burnt bushings, and it seemed like the metals wouldn't melt, I went that way.

Re: the ball joint alignment, I dunno. It doesn't seem to be a problem on my car. When you get them professionally aligned, don't be surprised if they have to take out all the shims to get to factory spec on the camber. I think I wound up with -.5 with no shims.

But I like that bump-stop setup from the pix. I think I'll have to do that myself.
 
Originally posted by Red Regal T
Sorry........posted too soon. This will work.

http://community.webshots.com/photo/105502178/313624685YEurGX

http://community.webshots.com/photo/313622911/313622911xkiiSa

http://community.webshots.com/photo/105502178/313624685YEurGX

http://community.webshots.com/photo/313627834/313627834wxHurL
Click to expand...

John

Thanks for hosting the pics. But hey, you posted the shim stack pic twice and didn't include the pic of the ball joint angle when viewed from the front.;)

Mike
 
Originally posted by Red Regal T
http://community.webshots.com/photo/313626138/313626138QmQoGV

I'm going to install the 0809-5Rs like Mac on both sides as soon as I can get a chance. Seems to me, they'll be OK. If I don't like them for some reason, they were only $130. Not much to cry over. :D
Click to expand...

Mac in SD....is this what the ball joint angle looks like on your car?

John....can you get a picture of the 0809 arms and the ball joint angle on the car of the other guy local to you?

I'd like to compare. If Mac's and this other guy's look like this and they've been driving the car that way, I guess that would be a good indication that it's acceptable. One test is worth a thousand expert opinions.:cool:
 
I talked to Randy at UB Machine this morning and also sent the pictures I have (the one's Red posted). Randy said the ball joint angle looks acceptable. He's sending me another 14-0809-5R UCA for the other side. When I get it, I'll install it, get the front end aligned and report back. However, I might not have a chance to finish the job (i.e. alignment) until later this month.

Randy and Lori at UB Machine were very helpful. It's refreshing when you call someone and they take the time to talk and make you feel like they actually care about your problems.

Mike
 
Mention above of "stock" alignment. Is that really what you want? If the arms change the camber curve, maybe they should be set differently from stock.
 
I ran these on my car all last season. Several, and I mean several, wheels up launches and no issues. The alignment was fine and they went together with no problems.
 
Chris.........thanks for the input. I won't be pulling my wheels up so not that much of an issue for me. Did you notice the bump stop idea of "stickybones" in the photos? Did you do anything in that regard?
 
OK, here's the latest scoop. I finished the left side (driver's side) today. Started with the 14-0809-5R UCA. It wasn't working for me. I had too much negative camber with NO shims on the front shaft bolt. Using a carpenter's level, a tape measure and trigonometry, I estimated I had ~1.3 degrees negative camber with no shim. I switched to the 14-0829-6L UCA. I had to shim it more than I wanted on the back shaft bolt, but I estimate I got the camber and toe-in where it looks good. (Couldn't figure out an easy way to estimate caster....maybe if I had a plumb-bob and my wife was willing to help I could have estimated caster, but...whatever.) Using my ghetto alignment job, I took the car for a ride and it seems to be working OK...at least well enough to safely get it to a professional for alignment. The steering returned to center after turning so I guess I got some positive caster in there. I won't be able to get it professionally aligned for a couple of weeks though. I'll report back then.

Hope I'm not violating some unwritten symmetry rule with these cars.:rolleyes: I'm somewhat surprised that the 0809 UCA wouldn't work on the left side. I'm not the original owner of this car and I know that it was in a "minor" accident with one of the previous owners circa 1991 before I bought it in 1992. Maybe the frame or something is "tweaked" a bit. My rear end isn't centered either. Who knows, maybe I'm crooked.:p
 
Well I finally got my front end aligned. Went to a place called Dimension Frame and Unibody in Hackettstown, NJ. As mentioned above, I had to use UB Machine UCA 14-0829-6L on the left side (driver's side) and 14-0809-5R on the right side. For whatever reason associated with my car, I couldn't use the same size arms on both sides to get the alignment I wanted.

My alignment specs are:

Caster... 2.9deg on the left, 2.8deg on the right
Camber... -0.3deg on the left, -0.4deg on the right
Toe... 1/16" in on the left, 1/32" in on the right

I haven't put alot of miles on the car since, so I can't say how it's driving. But so far so good.

Mike
 
Thanks to everyone associated with this thread first of all...

Now then, I'm getting ready to rebuild my front end. As part of the rebuild I want to go with Tubular a-arms, but I am on a budget. These UB Machines seem to fit right into that budget. My other plans include either Hotchkis or Eibach springs all around to lower the car, not sure which shocks yet. I also am giving consideration to the B-body spindles for a FUTURE brake upgrade. I'm presently running all stock, shot, and I mean SHOT suspension with 16" GTA front wheels all around.

My questions:
-Are you all happy with these a arms?
-Anyone think I'll have any issues with the B-body spindles and 14-0809-5R arms?

ANY other input is surely welcomed as well.

Thanks again guys.
 
I'm not positive, but I don't think the 14-0890-5R UCA will work with a B-body spindle. Your best bet is to call UB Machine and ask Randy.

As for being happy with the arms...it's still too soon to tell. I will say though that, at least in my case, they weren't a perfect fit. As indicated, for the left side, neither 5R or 6L arm fit as well as I liked. I really needed something in between the two. UB Machine could have custom made something for me I'm sure, but... It also would have been nice if the ball joint mounting plate of the UCA was at an angle to the tubes so that the ball joint stud would be perpindicular to the spindle mount when the car is resting on its own weight and the wheels pointing straight forward. With these UCAs, that's not the case. It doesn't seem to be a problem, but I'd prefer them to be true vertical and perpindicular to the spindle.
 
Well, I finally got around to remembering to look at my balljoint angle, and it's a lot different than it was, say, 15 years ago. Which happens as we get older, I guess. :cool:

Seriously, my balljoints are at somewhat of an angle away from vertical. Like John said in an earlier post: around 1:00 or 1:30. But no problems whatsoever on the road.

As far as "bolt-on-direct-replacement", I think they are, although I believe what Stickybones says about his situation. These G-body frames aren't exact - especially 20 years down the road, right? I though installation was very straightforward. In fact, if I wanted more negative camber, it would have been very close with the shimpacks that were on the car.

Again, check out the Monte SS board - they've got a lot of threads on the UB's. Cheers.
 
Originally posted by Mac in SD
Again, check out the Monte SS board - they've got a lot of threads on the UB's. Cheers.
Click to expand...

I think I've read every post now....my brain is throbbing! If I could afford to I would get the GW arms, but I'm poor. What I'm looking to do is rebuild my front end now with tubular arms. I need to wait a bit before doing a brake upgrade. So....now my questions are:

-Can I go UBM 14-0809-5R with stock everything else now and do brake upgrade later.
-Doing it this way would I need say Belltech drop spindles to do the brake upgrade or just stock g-body spindles?

I know I have more questions, but my brain is officially mush. Thanks again for helping out, this is looking more and more like a "go" for the UBM's.
 
As I reported last May, I used two different UCAs on each side of the car. I never was happy with that especially seeing how much the left arm was shimmed. A few months ago, I replaced my front LCA bushings and ball joints. While I was at it, I measured the shims on the left side UCA and called UB Machine to get some dimensions off of there 14-0809-5R and 14-0829-6R arms. With this information, I calculated that the 14-0809-5R arm would just barely fit on the left side too (and thus give me a matching set of the 0809 arms on both the left and right side which is what I wanted). UB Machine sent me the 0809 arm and I installed it on the left side with my calculated shimming. All looked good. I just took it for another alignment and sure enough, it was acceptable. The only thing I couldn't get with the 0809 arm was a bit less negative camber. I wanted a nominal 0.5 degree negative on both sides, but the least I could get was -0.65 degree. Still not bad. Caster is ~2.5 degrees per side. A little bit more caster would have been better, but 2.5 is acceptable. Bottom line is that I'm happier with the same size arm on both sides of the car and I don't have a huge shim pack anymore like what was required with the larger 0829 arm.

Also, I've put some miles on the car since last spring with the UB Machine arms. Not one bad issue to report. Everything is working out just fine. I think I've only re-greased the bushings once during that time. My homemade heat shield is also doing the trick protecting the right rear bushing from the downpipe.

The UB Machines arms appear to be a great deal for the price.
 
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