Which UCA’s?- RC, Cognito, RL

rico750sxi · January 16, 2021

Hi guys, a little background... I have a 2021 AT4 that I did a 1” level on but I am now worried about upper ball joint failure so I’m looking at replacing the upper control arms. The price point is nearly the same for the Rough Country, Cognito, and ReadyLift arms but would like some input please.

Rough Country- Aluminum, rubber bushings, they say the ball joints are replaceable but I haven’t found them, greaseable ball joint. . I like the look of them too.

Cognito-poly bushings( squeak down the road?), bolt in Moog ball joint that I’ve found for $60, greaseable bushings, non greaseable ball joint.

ReadyLift- very similar to Cognito but with rubber bushings, greaseable ball joint, also says replaceable ball joint but haven’t found it.

I’m also considering not worrying as much about it because comparing my ball joint angle to a friend’s stock TrailBoss they look the same. However, the primary purpose of this truck will be to tow my track car and a ball joint failure then could potentially destroy both my vehicles. The other reason I’m concerned is another friend with 2020 GMC (non AT4) just had a ball joint fail and he’s at 3” of lift which is what I’m currently at. I just bought 1/2” leveling kit and for now I’m just going to drop it down a bit until I get the UCA’s. Right now I’m leaning towards ReadyLift I think but would like to hear what others are running. Thanks

Edited January 16, 2021 by rico750sxi

Monkey · January 16, 2021

I've been going back and forth between Zone Offroad and Ready Lift for my 1500 AT4. Leaning towards Zones but definitely interested is this thread.

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Kchampagne · January 16, 2021

If you are looking for a deal on UCAs, I found these discontinued Rough Country UCAs on eBay for $120. Not sure of the quality though.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/S-D-GM-FABRICATED-UPPER-CONTROL-ARMS-19-20-1500-PICKUPS-3-to-3-5-Lifts-/184284279832?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49292

rico750sxi · January 16, 2021

5 hours ago, Kchampagne said:

If you are looking for a deal on UCAs, I found these discontinued Rough Country UCAs on eBay for $120. Not sure of the quality though.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/S-D-GM-FABRICATED-UPPER-CONTROL-ARMS-19-20-1500-PICKUPS-3-to-3-5-Lifts-/184284279832?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49292

Hmmm... I wonder what the story is with them and why they were discontinued in the first place. I’m going to have to call Rough Country. Thanks for the link!!

AdamAT4 · January 17, 2021

I'll be getting the ready lift as in Canada it's the cheapest I can get. I'm not going to be driving my truck like a Raptor or TRX so I'm confident they will be fine, all are better than stock at least.

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rico750sxi · January 17, 2021

ReadyLift looks pretty good. I only need the arms so I need to see if they sell them by themselves.

Coles5515 · January 17, 2021

I have the ReadyLift arms and they are very solid, only weak point I see is maybe the ball joint but it’s fully greasable. I had a set of Cognito arms on my old truck and those were indestructible however I didn’t feel like dropping that much for UCAs as I bought the RL SST kit.

rico750sxi · January 17, 2021

58 minutes ago, Coles5515 said:

I have the ReadyLift arms and they are very solid, only weak point I see is maybe the ball joint but it’s fully greasable. I had a set of Cognito arms on my old truck and those were indestructible however I didn’t feel like dropping that much for UCAs as I bought the RL SST kit.

The Cognito UCA I’m looking at are the same price as the RC arms and cheaper than the RL kit. What don’t you like about the RL ball joint nd have you found an available replacement ball joint for them?

Coles5515 · January 17, 2021

3 hours ago, rico750sxi said:

The Cognito UCA I’m looking at are the same price as the RC arms and cheaper than the RL kit. What don’t you like about the RL ball joint nd have you found an available replacement ball joint for them?

Well the kit is more than just new UCAs so yeah makes sense why it’s more. I think all RC stuff is garbage.

They look a cheaper ball joint that’s all, not the cheapest but just not the highest quality.

rico750sxi · January 17, 2021

How long/ many miles have you had the RL arms on for?

rico750sxi · January 18, 2021

On 1/16/2021 at 12:12 PM, Kchampagne said:

If you are looking for a deal on UCAs, I found these discontinued Rough Country UCAs on eBay for $120. Not sure of the quality though.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/S-D-GM-FABRICATED-UPPER-CONTROL-ARMS-19-20-1500-PICKUPS-3-to-3-5-Lifts-/184284279832?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49292

I called Rough Country about these today. They discontinued the kit these came with and chose to go with the Al arms when they came out with a new kit. Otherwise there is no difference, they even use the same ball joint which is good although you can only get the ball joint from them (so they said). I'm still leaning towards the ReadyLift arms but $120 is sure tempting. I want to speak to ReadyLift and see what the ball joint is in them and if it is readily available just in case 5 years from now I need to replace it.

bowtie76 · January 18, 2021

I had the cognitos on my 17, no problems, the bushings were quiet and lube'able. The ball joints were easy to change (4 bolts) and each had a zerk fitting.

Supercup · January 18, 2021

On 1/16/2021 at 10:48 PM, rico750sxi said:

How long/ many miles have you had the RL arms on for?

I had RL UCA's on my 2019 AT4 for 10,000 miles before I traded it in for a 2020 and had no issues. Only issue is they are bigger in circumferance - so they are a lot closer to tire that stock UCA with same wheels. Here are some photos - so if you want bigger tires, you may need ot change out wheels as well. the photos are of the UCA with stock 275/65/18 Duratracs on Method 18"x9" NV wheels with a 18mm offset - the stock 18" AT4 wheel is 26mm.

Edited January 18, 2021 by Supercup

rico750sxi · January 19, 2021

Thanks Supercup, I have 0 offset wheels so clearance shouldn’t be an issue. I like both the RL and Cognito, I like that the Cognito ball joint is readily available. They gave me the MOOG part number today and I found it at a lot of places. I’d like to know where I could find the RL one. They gave me a part number but it seems to be their internal number. Plus, RL won’t sell me just the arms, I have to buy the lift kit which I don’t need.

Therefore, that has me leaning in the direction of Cognito and now that Bow tie 76 said his Cognitos didn’t squeak I’m pretty much decided.

Edited January 20, 2021 by rico750sxi