I helped mbisson with the installation of the Total Chaos Upper Control Arms on his FJ Cruiser and thought it may be useful to post the steps we used today.
Installing Total Chaos Upper Control Arms (UCA) on a FJ Cruiser
Removing factory UCAs (ref.: FSM 02600410):
1. Choke rear tires
2. Lift vehicle and place jackstand under frame
3. Remove wheel and tire
4. Support front Lower Control Arm (A arm)
5. Retain spindle with wire or rope to prevent spindle from falling away when upper ball joint is removed
6. Remove bolt holding ABS wire bracket; remove wire from bracket (bracket is not re-used)
7. Remove cotter pin and remove nut holding the upper ball joint to the spindle (Exercise care since nut is fairly soft and may be rounded easily)
8. Use ball joint separator to detach upper ball joint from spindle (a pickle fork may also be used)
9. Loosen nut on UCA pivot bolt
10. On driver’s side, loosen battery and place wedge under battery and detach wiring harness from bracket next to battery; on passenger’s side detach AC line from plastic bracket to make room for the pivot bolt removal
11. Remove pivot bolt and the two washers
Remove balljoint from spindle using a balljoint separator
Installing Total Chaos UCAs:
1. Thread pivot bolt through washer, front UCA arm, washer, UCA mount on frame, washer, rear UCA arm, washer (make sure ABS wire is outside of UCA)
2. Install nut onto pivot bolt and torque to 85 ft-lb
3. Insert adaptor onto spindle
4. Insert bolt through upper misalignment spacer, uniball, lower misalignment spacer, spindle adaptor, washer
5. Install nut and torque nut to 100 ft-lb
6. Zip-tie ABS wire onto rear of TC UCA
7. Grease polyurethane bushings at zerk fittings with synthetic grease such as Redline CV-2 or SuperLube
8. Spray Tri-Flow teflon lubricant onto uniball
9. Cycle UCA to make sure there’s no interference and there is slack in ABS wire
10. Install wheel and torque wheel nuts to 85 ft-lb
11. Lower vehicle
12. Repeat on the other side
13. Inspect and adjust front alignment
Total Chaos UCA installed shown at full droop
edit: added link to Total Chaos instruction
Total Chaos UCA PN 96504 instruction
