I've been looking around at all the options on upper control arms. Thing I don't understand is the ones with the heim joints, hotchkins, rms for example. The threaded rod with the joint that goes into the arm, do they screw in all the way? Is that how you adjust them instead of with the eccentrics? I'm new with this suspension stuff, I'm just trying to figure them out.

They have a jam nut that will need to be loosened before they can be adjusted.

To adjust, you will need to break the jam nut loose, remove the UCA bolt from the chassis, rotate the heim/rod end in 1/2 round increments, reinstall the UCA bolt and tighten the jam nut.

Ok I see. So an alignment would take a while with some patience. No more eccentric then?

Hotchkis UCAs relocate the rear pivot, so you certainly lose the eccentric there. I suppose you could use a cam bolt on the front if you wanted to.

On the a-body hotchkis you use the eccentrics. You get the arm close but shorter in back to get caster.

there are a-arms I've used on race cars that have a sleeve insert setup you can adjust the heims on the car. And the are the turnbuckle type that Pete Bergman sells.

My heims are worn out.

how many miles would you say you have one them now that their worn out? Also do you have the rubber boots on the heims?

Like Steve said, you get it close with the heims and finish the alignment with the cams.

8000 miles 6 years. No rubber boots. Don't drive in rain. So cal climate.I lube them about once every couple months.

One season of Autox they are all shot I'm am now trying to eliminate as much as I can not a fan of them. Tie rods upper control arms are shot.

There are quite a variety of different grades of rod end out there, not all are created equal.

Very true!

And the top grade ones are very pricey.

The heim joints are totally exposed to everything the road has to offer. I'll bet they handle great with near zero deflection they provide but the rapid wear is a certainty.

I have a Gerst setup, the heims can be adjusted, but the fine tuning and alignment is done just like the factory upper control arms with the factory cam/eccentric bolts.

Is the full adjustment feature of the screw in ends an advantage or disadvantage?

I think it is a disadvantage personally. How do you know where to set them without lots of analysis and testing? It takes a lot of time and wrenching to adjust, test and adjust again. There are more variables then the usual caster/camber adjustment. How about brake anti dive? Weight may be a consideration also.

I would rather buy a UCA with engineered and tested geometry with strength where needed for safety but no extra weight.

I would think they would actually be an advantage.

In my opinion, yes it is an advantage, now how much of one, I can't really say. I do know the GTS I'm running comes with very precise instructions that tell you how to set up the hiems in the control arms for a starting point. The GTS has an adjustable track width, so you can move the control arms in a little bit or outwards. So that plays with the hiem joints. 90% or more of the alignment is done with the cam/eccentric bolts just like factory uppers. You set up the GTS per the instructions and have the hiems adjusted so the centerline of the upper and lower ball joints is at the specified angle, took maybe 5 minutes total. I had mine installed and tape measure aligned in under an hour, which is good enough till on the rack. I do know you can dial in more caster with adjustable hiems.

as for weight, the uppers that come with the Gerst are actually a tad lighter than factory ones, even with the heims. so any weight savings of a fixed hiem/bushing control arm is going to be very minimal if any. Also, as far as the Gerst is concerned, the uppers are designed and engineered for correct geometry, they aren't just a piece of tubing bent in to a shape. I know Gerst designed his to correct excessive caster and have them actually gain camber.

I know I'm comparing the Gerst a lot here but it's what I have currently. I also know that the Hotchkiss setup that a lot on here rave on run heims on their adjustable control arms as well. Same with the Alterkation. I think it's bergman that is making an adjustable upper control arm that runs bushings instead of hiems. I think it is also set up to adjust without removing the cam bolts.

So to wrap up, yes I think it is an advantage over a fixed design for the fact that you can tune the suspension more. Once it's set, the fine tuning of the factory eccentric bolts is what is going to be used the most. Weight differences are minimal if any.

Another vote for Peter's delrin brushed SPC's imo.

The high end johnny joints don't last either, about 5K and they are bad/worn out

I had to look up what a johnny joint was, I'm glad you said this, its almost like the best of both worlds but man they are pricey!

Well my wife's daily driver eats the plastic/delrin bushings on her 2" Johnny joints, I should have stayed with rubber bushings...