To start with, my upper control arm bushings are shot. The upper control arms look kind of weak compared to my beefy lower control arms (Rubicon Express 3 ½ lift). .

I see three options in ascending price and hassle factor.

1.) Replace the bushings and call it done.
2.) Get one of the beefy adjustable control arms and new bushings.
3.) Option 2 plus johnny joints rather than bushings.

The stock arms have lasted 140k miles and look OK. This is not a DD but is a tow car for my RV as well as a competent off roader. I need some ride quality but I don’t like breaking stuff, especially miles from pavement.

The suspension takes a pretty vicious pounding in my desert off roading. I am thinking "don't replace, upgrade". Heard it here.

Any thoughts?

 

Yoiu are right. I think an upgrade would be the best for you. Either option 2 or 3 would work well. Make sure your new upper arms are adjustable so you can dial in your castor angle

 

Option 3. Ironman4x4fab, cav-fab or ruffstuff.

 

The cavfab looks really good for having a johnny joint that is a straight bolt-on at a good price. Anybody have experience with this?

 

Core4x4 stuff is beefy and works good and reasonably priced.

 

This is true. I had Core 4x4 top arms on mine and had no complaints. Good price and well made.

 

OK, I think that I have it narrowed down. I am looking at the core 4x4 Tier 2 (Johnny joints on one end) and new bushings on the axle end.

Are poly bushings an example of getting carried away? How much degradation of ride quality am I looking at?

Would appreciate feedback from those who have been there.

 

I would steer clear of johnny joints or any other adjustable tension joints . I had a big problem having to adjust them all the time ,I have now upgraded to METALCLOKE joints and have never been happier

 

After reading your post, I looked up METALCLOKE and their UCAs are all adjustable. Is the problem that they were adjustable or was it the johnny joints?

 

I have Johnny joints at the frame side and I have bushings at the axle side. The ride quality is good and the bushing takes most of the impact allowing the Johnny joint to last longer. I have cav fab long arms so I can vouch for their quality as a company. My preference for control arms is a form of flex joint at one end with a bushing at the other to get a combination of ride quality/flex.

 

WJ upper control arms are decent upgrade that doesn't cost that much.