SPC UCAs

I think I've narrowed it down to SPCs after 7 years. How are everyone's holding up? Any places ever have sales on these?

Thanks in advance!

 

Plenty of threads about them if you use your google-fu, young padawan.

Mine have held up great after 10k on them, but I've been pretty religious about keeping the zerks greased with SPC approved grease & I'll admit 10k isn't a ton of miles. I'm sure other folks will chime in here

 

I’m not sure I’d recommend them. I got an alignment after like 1.5-2years of having them on and both ball joints were done for. Replaced them and not even 4 months later one is already needing to be replaced. Don’t think it ever saw any off-road use in that 4 months either…seems to be a relatively common issue after googling.
Might switch to JBAs if they keep giving me problems.

 

I have the older style SPCs with urethane bushings. They've held up well after 4 years of trail use (see June page of 2023 TW calendar ). No noise. I grease the ball joints yearly with Lucas NLGI2 grease. Only thing I needed to replace were the ball joint boots (~$30 a set on various sites. Got mine from a Walmart marketplace seller)

 

I just warrantied a set for the bushing issue, it seems like the new set's aren't as reliable.

I usually push for everyone to get them, but I've fallen out of love with them. You can see a few on here that complain about quality.

As an alignment tech I love them. But when road use is wearing out the bushings? We got problems.

JBA is my favorite looking and has fairly solid reviews. It just lacks adjustments.

 

Thanks for the info. I just have bilsteins to level mine out and am getting 4.88's in 2 weeks. I'm not going to lift, but would like to go w/285's, so instead of a CMC, I was going to try UCAs instead.

 

I have the older set as well, maybe 4 years and 40k miles on them now about. No issues.

 

If you aren’t going to lift, you have extra caster adjustment to work with and might not need a to spend $$$ on aftermarket UCAs. The CMC on the other hand is probably necessary regardless of aftermarket UCAs and not as expensive
That said, I have not personally tried to fit 285’s. I’ve only read a lot of posts about it.

I have however fit 255/85r16 and they just barely fit with SPC UCAs, 1-2” lift, and no CMC.

Let us know how it works out.

 

Local shop wants 900 for CMC, but no one else does them around here.

 

Yikes. I’ve read mostly numbers around $200.

Although I installed my shocks, springs, and UCAs myself, I wouldn’t attempt a CMC due to the lack of a grinder, welder, and the related skills.

 

My God. That was $150 where mine was done plus about a $25 metal plate

 

For real. 1150 for cab mount relocate.

 

SPC’s over here no issues plenty of off-road use as well.

 

I got the SPCs because I really didn't know just what I wanted to do with the vehicle, and they provided a lot of choices in alignments and future changes. Been on for over 20,000 miles with no problems, yet. I'm not opposed to something else once my decisions have been made.

 

I have SPC's because Toytec recommended them for my lift and tire size (285/75/16). Been on there about 2 years with some, infrequent off-roading. I'm a little disturbed that others are having some issues. Truck drives okay but honestly, I wouldn't know if they were giving trouble (I don't know much about cars and I hate working on them)
I don't grease them either, hoping Toyota does it on my scheduled maintenance?

 

A typical Toyota tech might not know that you have grease zerks. I would either request it each time you go in or buy yourself a grease gun. They’re cheap and easy to use, but can be a bit messy.

 

I don't know where they are! I don't want to crawl on the ground and look for them! I don't want a grease gun! Thanks (really) but no thanks.

I'll ask them next time I take it in. I'm certain they would grease them and not just tell me they greased them...right?

 

The zerks are plainly visible on the outboard end of the UCA. You don’t need to crawl on the ground or use a jack. All you do is squat down, attach the grease gun, and squeeze 5 times.

 

I dunno, I wouldn't put it past them to overlook it...

Not because they suck, more due to the fact that zerks on an UCA are mostly reserved for aftermarket/performance UCA's. You don't see zerks on the OEM UCA's Toyota has on the majority of vehicles a dealership tech might service