Plastic upper control arms on 5th gen and newer (2019+)

testerdahl

testerdahl

Administrator
Staff member
This is interesting. I was watching a movie on Friday night and a commercial break came on. I know, I should pay for no commercials, but I like the break sometimes to run to the bathroom. Anyway, I checked social media and saw several comments in a row about plastic control arms for 5th gen Ram trucks. I had NOT heard this one before.

So, I did some research and found an excellent article. The next day I filmed this. What’s really interesting is I put out a similar video as a short on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook on Saturday. The comments on that video are overwhelming negative. The comments on the YT video are, so far, positive. I think it was partly due to the way the video was done on the social media platforms. You have a three minute timeframe and I don’t know if I’ve quite nailed it yet delivering a good video in that short amount of time.

Cheap AF or Brilliant? Newer Ram 1500 Trucks Use Plastic Upper Control Arms
 
Like I commented in the video, the fact that it was empregnated with metal before the mold process helps a lot. Plus seeing how durable polymer can be during the "What would Stoner do" series on InRange TV showed me it can handle the stresses.
 
I didn't even knew that RAM had plastics control arms. Thanks Tim.

I've not heard or seen major failures being reported about plastic control arms, so to me it doesn't really matter what the control arm is made of. It seems to be performing just fine.
 
testerdahl said:
This is interesting. I was watching a movie on Friday night and a commercial break came on. I know, I should pay for no commercials, but I like the break sometimes to run to the bathroom. Anyway, I checked social media and saw several comments in a row about plastic control arms for 5th gen Ram trucks. I had NOT heard this one before.

So, I did some research and found an excellent article. The next day I filmed this. What’s really interesting is I put out a similar video as a short on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook on Saturday. The comments on that video are overwhelming negative. The comments on the YT video are, so far, positive. I think it was partly due to the way the video was done on the social media platforms. You have a three minute timeframe and I don’t know if I’ve quite nailed it yet delivering a good video in that short amount of time.

Cheap AF or Brilliant? Newer Ram 1500 Trucks Use Plastic Upper Control Arms
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The funniest part of this video are all the comments about how "this will be a complete failure" and "it will never work!". I think they really didn't pay attention to the part about being done since 2019 with no issues.
 
Dusdaddy said:
The funniest part of this video are all the comments about how "this will be a complete failure" and "it will never work!". I think they really didn't pay attention to the part about being done since 2019 with no issues.
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I really like the people who state "one pot hole and it is done." It has been SIX years. Pretty sure, it would have hit a pothole by now. LOL
 
testerdahl said:
I really like the people who state "one pot hole and it is done." It has been SIX years. Pretty sure, it would have hit a pothole by now. LOL
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Yeah, 6 years in the making and no issues, seems like RAM did their homework and got it right. I will look under of my cousins truck and see how it looks after 6 years of salt and grime. Pretty sure it's going to look exactly like I think, a dirty piece of plastic with no rust lol.
 
TheDo114 said:
I think it would be a fantastic idea. Buy a metal one and try to break it as well.
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I do wonder what would be the point overall. (Yes, this back and forth is how my brain works, LOL)

I mean the upper control arm doesn't handle much of the load from an engineering POV and it is away from the ground enough that the lower control arm takes most of the damage, right?? Hmm...
 
testerdahl said:
I do wonder what would be the point overall. (Yes, this back and forth is how my brain works, LOL)

I mean the upper control arm doesn't handle much of the load from an engineering POV and it is away from the ground enough that the lower control arm takes most of the damage, right?? Hmm...
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This. Sure, you could put each one in a vice to see what breaks first but that isn't how they are used so who cares? All one could do is put a plastic one on one side and metal on the other and drive a 100K miles to see if either break. No? Keep driving, we'll wait.....

Really, the only true test would be to try to break them by running into a curb, a deep pothole or some such. But again, would even that prove anything unless you could perfectly duplicate the test for each? And then the manufacturer burst your bubble with a year's worth of data that puts yours to shame.
 
Yeah, I was thinking Project Farm style, but at the same time, it would no prove anything. I can take a metal bar and bend it, or take a plastic stick and shatter it, but that's not what they were designed to do and it doesn't prove anything.
 
TheDo114 said:
Yeah, I was thinking Project Farm style, but at the same time, it would no prove anything. I can take a metal bar and bend it, or take a plastic stick and shatter it, but that's not what they were designed to do and it doesn't prove anything.
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I asked my Mopar contact for the parts anyway. I figure if I can get them for free then what the hell. If I have to fork over $400, I just can't see the ROI on doing a video and what would be the point of the video?? A business/journalism decision.
 
I hate the idea of plastic upper control arms and I did notice it when I did my first oil change before ever reading about it and freaked out for a second but honestly after seeing your video on it, it doesn't bother me so much. I don't like it but it sure makes that ball joint easy to replace because now the whole control arm is replaced and very cheap actually. I'm sure it's been tested enough that they figured out the best way to make it durable. Hopefully it continues to be reliable.
My only concern is I wanted to add larger more off road focused tires on my new truck and not sure if that will cause a failure and denial of warranty. Any thoughts on that? I wanted to go to 33" tires like a BFG KO3 or Toyo Open Country
 
JLPZ104 said:
I hate the idea of plastic upper control arms and I did notice it when I did my first oil change before ever reading about it and freaked out for a second but honestly after seeing your video on it, it doesn't bother me so much. I don't like it but it sure makes that ball joint easy to replace because now the whole control arm is replaced and very cheap actually. I'm sure it's been tested enough that they figured out the best way to make it durable. Hopefully it continues to be reliable.
My only concern is I wanted to add larger more off road focused tires on my new truck and not sure if that will cause a failure and denial of warranty. Any thoughts on that? I wanted to go to 33" tires like a BFG KO3 or Toyo Open Country
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I wouldn't sweat it unless you are getting something really extreme. No different than exceeding the range a metal upper. Of course, when you go up, you can upgrade everything, so durability is equal.
 
JLPZ104 said:
I hate the idea of plastic upper control arms and I did notice it when I did my first oil change before ever reading about it and freaked out for a second but honestly after seeing your video on it, it doesn't bother me so much. I don't like it but it sure makes that ball joint easy to replace because now the whole control arm is replaced and very cheap actually. I'm sure it's been tested enough that they figured out the best way to make it durable. Hopefully it continues to be reliable.
My only concern is I wanted to add larger more off road focused tires on my new truck and not sure if that will cause a failure and denial of warranty. Any thoughts on that? I wanted to go to 33" tires like a BFG KO3 or Toyo Open Country
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If you're lifting your truck and putting bigger tires, you should already be looking at upgraded upper control arms, so it doesn't really matter what the originals were made of.
 
JLPZ104 said:
I hate the idea of plastic upper control arms and I did notice it when I did my first oil change before ever reading about it and freaked out for a second but honestly after seeing your video on it, it doesn't bother me so much. I don't like it but it sure makes that ball joint easy to replace because now the whole control arm is replaced and very cheap actually. I'm sure it's been tested enough that they figured out the best way to make it durable. Hopefully it continues to be reliable.
My only concern is I wanted to add larger more off road focused tires on my new truck and not sure if that will cause a failure and denial of warranty. Any thoughts on that? I wanted to go to 33" tires like a BFG KO3 or Toyo Open Country
Click to expand...
I agree with the others, if you upgrade with the bigger tires, I'd get some aluminum upper control arms.
 
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