SPC adjustable UCA quality questions

I had to replace the UBJs on my SPC UCAs (holy acronyms Batman) a couple months ago, because they were shot. I had all of 10k miles on them. SPC warrantied them out for me, and gave me the new ones with the grease zerks. The new design definitely seems to be a lot better.

Normally, people can get 40 - 50k (with offroading) out of them. It's entirely possible they just had a couple bad batches, or as others have pointed out, an older and flawed design that has since been corrected.

 

I agree. For what they cost you shouldn't have any issues with them. I like everything I have read about them but don't want to deal with grease coming from the bottom and definitely don't want to deal with any squeaking .

 

So, all that being said, I was going to go with SPCs but it seems like there is a lot of issues. I'm going to modify some stock UCAs to work on a 3in lift, I will move the location of the Bj outboard half in, and back a half in. This should give me a great alignment and will use all OEM rubber bushings and OEM BJs. No squeaks soft ride and no road noise that comes with poly bushings, just my 2 cents

 

I’ve been running a set of these for about 4/5 years now. I purchased them used and rebuilt them.

They have approximately 50k miles on them at the moment.

I rebuilt them with the Spec bushing and sealed ball joints (only ones available at the time)

The ball joints failed a year and a half ago. Replaced those with the updated greasable ones.

One of the bushings failed this year. Replaced them with the Spec bushings again.

My thoughts....

The sealed/non grease fitting ball joints need to be watched after. They need pulled apart periodically and maintained/regreased. I did not do this to mine, and they failed.

Pulled them apart. The grease was broken down and had dirt in it.

The updated ball joints are much easier to maintain. Just grease them every oil change and you should be fine.

I pulled mine apart recently just to inspect them. They still look new inside. Tons of clean grease.

The bushings - bushing wear out over time. It’s just the nature of suspension components. 4/5 years / 50k miles isn’t great but isn’t horrible in my opinion.

Conclusion -

I think the little bit of hassle is worth it to be able to align the truck to the exact specs you want.

 

Agreed. I've had the updated ball joints with no problems, just grease at every oil change. Only thing I would recommend is to set the ball joint as far out as possible and then get an alignment. I didn't, and now my tire will rub on the UCA when aired down. It only rubs on the side where the ball joint is centered.

 

The grease has to go somewhere. It's no different than when you grease your ujoints...the old grease gets pushed out. Greasable joints have to be greased every so often and the old grease doesn't just disappear, it comes out the bottom of the boot. Nothing a shop towel and 1 minute of your time can't fix.

If you don't want to deal with grease then go with the uniball UCAs, but those have a much bigger reputation for being noisy and require lubrication all the same.

My original post in this thread a few years ago was me being concerned that the SPC boots were not completely "sealed" but I've since realized that having a completely sealed boot would make no sense if the joint requires greasing every few thousand miles like SPC suggests. The old/excess grease has to be able to escape.

 

Just placed an order for some. Hopefully not squeak!

 

In 2+ years and tons of wheeling mine haven't squeaked yet.

Hopefully I didn't just jinx myself.

 

what grease do you use? Every oil change?

 

Same black moly grease I use on the u-joints, about every oil change interval yeah.

The old grease will come out the bottom eventually but that's normal for a greaseable joint, just like how it comes out the seams of the u-joints when those get greased. Nothing a shop towel can't fix.

 

Are you guys basically zeroing out the LCA adjusters before alignment? Do you get all the adjustment from the arms or are you tweaking it at the LCA too?

 

I have a set waiting to go on after hurricane passes

 

Does anyone experience better ride quality after install or just better alignment?

 

2nd that because my prerunner on 5100/885 is a nightmare to drive. Extremely harsh. My caster is way to low so I know that makes a huge difference about dumpster and wander.

 

*bumpsteer

 

Not to bump an old thread but has anyone switched from Total Chaos to SPC because of TC's being noisy? I've replaced the bushings and uniballs once and they are loud again over every little crack in the pavement. The components in the TC's have seemed to last me about 2 years both times (living in the salt belt). I'm hoping SPC's would stay noise free, longer.

 

Pretty sure the dude from last line of defense went from total chaos to SPCs.

My SPCs don’t make any noise, work great.

 

Just bought SPC off Amazon for $477.

 

Cancelled due to it likely not being the latest model with greasable zerks. Will just order through Headstrong.

 

yeah get the latest with the greaseable UBJ's and xAxis joints. Super easy maintenance on em.