For the short arm suspension: We run the stock control arms on the race truck - no bracing or reinforcement. (quit laughing, it's a BITD class requirement :rof: ) Interestingly, while we've taken hits hard enough to bend the track bar, and to warp the spring pad/bump stop area, bent the front axle truss, and generally tear up the truck we've never managed to damage a control arm.(What's really funny is we have a full set of spares we carry on the truck. :dunno: )
A lot of people make the assumption that the stock arms are weak because they will twist as the suspension moves. They miss the fact that the arms are supposed to twist. If you braced the arm enough where it wouldn't twist, all the play would be taken up in the bushings, and they would wear out and tear pretty quickly. Because of the geometry of the stock link setup, there has to be both fore and aft, and side to side play in the system. That's why the huge rubber bushings and twisty links.
Generally when you see someone with a broken passenger side upper control arm mount, you see the rig has solid one-piece link arms with hard poly bushings or heim joints. When you take all the play out of the system, the weakest link becomes the passenger side upper control arm mount. Which twists and flexes until it breaks off.
As long as you're not bashing rocks into the arms, the stock arms probably won't be the first thing to break.
