SPC UPPER CONTROL ARMS.. YAY OR NAY?

Any updates on these or are the SPC's still cooked. I really want to push my caster forward so I can run a 33 on my Bilstein 5100 lift without a CMC, ideally with the adjustments, I can push far enough FWD to clear the cab mount.

I know JBA is an option but I've read it pushed the caster backwards AFT towards the cab mount which is odd.

 

I haven’t heard any updates, but I haven’t looked. I went back to the total chaos and there urethane bushings are junk.The wobble noise and clunk out of them annoys the fck out of me. I have both and they both have major flaws. I like the bushings and the adjustability of the SPC, i just wish someone would make uniball ball joint with the adjustable camber. They would be perfect.

 

I'm over 1 year into my warranty replacement set now. 0 issues so far. The previous set had play in the bushings and ball joints by this point. Take that for what you will.

 

The “maintenance free” ball joints in my SPCS went after 11 months and probably 10k miles or so. They warrantied them and sent the new, all black, maintenance free model, but I just switched to JBA. The price point of JBA is hard to beat if you’re buying UCAs for the first time

 

So you got a free warranty replacement and still opted to pay out of pocket for different ones without even trying them first?

 

Yeah. From everything I read, issues are still present for a lot of people. I didn’t want to deal with the same headache a year down the road and cause additional uneven wear to my tires.

 

SPC came out with a new ball joint that was released June of 2024. In the picture below the ball joint on the right is the new ball joint. The one on the left is old style. According to SPC they have not warranted any of this new style ball joint. That's only 8 months so it could be too early to know but so far so good. They are covered under warranty and are super easy to change out. It's a lot easier to change the ball joint out than it is to replace the whole uca.
I really like this new style and not having to put any grease in it and it never leaking out. I've put around 6K miles but have been wheeling hard on all types of terrain and zero issues. I would recommend them

 

If you are one year into your replacement set then you do not have the latest ball joint because SPC told me that they released their most current version in June of 2024

 

Depending on what you mean by a 33 it can be done with stock uppers. I previously ran a 285/70/17 BFG ko2 with a zero offset and I did not rub the cab mount.

 

I installed JBA uppers in February of 2021. Only issue was resolved around that same time. They had a bad run of boots that would fail and let grease out. Replacement boots have held up without issue. Ball joint itself is tight and so are the bushings. I grease them with either Superlube or Lucas red n tacky. Whatever is in the gun.

 

They switched from greasable to sealed in Nov 2023. I got my replacement in Dec 2023.

I'm not 100% sure what the difference is between those and the painted black version now. I'm guessing the ones I got were just the same greasable unit with the holes plugged. Kinda looks like they switched to a solid top bolt now instead of the hollow one with a plug in the top, and changed the torque specs on that bolt. And it also kinda looks like they went to painted steel instead of aluminum or whatever the original material was.

 

So these are the only UCA's with the ability to move the caster forward?

JBA keeps getting thrown around, but they pull the caster towards the firewall. Seems like getting away from the firewall is the whole issue in the first place so I'm not sure how that would help at all, even if you could push the LCA front cams as far inboard.

Seems like the wrong solution for the problem.

 

Thinking about switching in new uca's with my 6112's and was wondering if anyone had uca's that still used oem ball joints.
While Ive had some better than others, Ive never had greaseable joints that lasted as long as sealed oem ones. Which seems kinda crazy, but Im pretty dead set on switching out the uca only if I can get a good ball joint in there.

 

No, Dobinson makes an adjustable UCA as well

 

What tires and wheels are you runnin? So far Ive decided to keep stock uca. About to go 2" up and dont want to replace the control arm, but also dont want to have to come back to install a new control arm when I could have done it when I replace the suspension.

 

Yes so the ball joint you have is sealed and non-greasable but it is basically just the same ball joint on the inside from previous years but they made it to where it has a sealed boot. The ball joint that was released in June of 2024 is a complete redesign on the inside and more like OEM.
Below is a link to the most current ball joint. The old ball joint is still available and is being sold as a complete UCA but I would not buy it. My recommendation to anyone that wants the SPC make sure it has the new style BJ part# 35101 is for Tacos
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/SPS-35101
The newest/ latest SPC bjs

 

Just do the ole choppy choppy. Basically a haircut….

 

This is very interesting, I’m glad they are seeing the failure rate and addressing the problem. The last “maintenance free” set I bought were the same , they just had plugs instead of zerk fittings. I swapped the zerk fittings and put grease in them anyway.

 

What size tires do you ultimately want to run? If it's 35s, stick with the OEM UCAs. If you need more caster after lifting, get the BTF LCAs.

 

Well Im somewhat at a crossroads. I'm thinking 33's or so, but with my stock OR rims. Wouldn't mind bigger tires, and if need be new rims or fairly small length spacers. I dont care about having the biggest tire I can squeeze in there if it's gonna cause bad rubbing or the tire gets stuffed into the fender well and surrounding parts when using the suspension offroad.

Edit to add: Im looking to do narrow/tall "skinny" tires.