BEWARE OF SPC UCA'S

Just wanna let my fellow Tacoma owners be aware if you are running older version of spc uca with older version balljoints might wanna inspect thoroughly had mine break yesterday which resulted in one hell of a ride with possible other damage to other front end parts luckily it happened at 40 mph instead of the 70 I was running on highway where I just exited a mile back i have been getting a squeaking noise and contacted spc a bit back and since I wasn't original purchaser of truck which had 0 miles on them when I purchased truck and now they have about 25,000 miles on them no wheeling just mainly highway use for work maybe my misfortune can save someone costly repairs and maybe someone's life because if this would of happened on highway it would have been bad spc admitted fault with these so in my opinion they should of been replaced on their dime regardless if you are original owner or not pics will be added later as I tear it apart .

 

Ive read a lot of things with people having problems with older ones. Supposedly newer are better, but I have no experience. I would like to get new adjustable UCAs, but I don't want to go with a part that isn't as good as an OEM part. Especially a critical part like this that can cause a serious accident.

 

you have any pics of the ball joint?

 

No as I got to go buy as jack due to somebody stealing Mine but will definitely post pics of damaged parts got new upgraded version of ball joints but with working so many hrs just ain't had time to replace also I will check bushings due to reading these old version uca had bushing issues luckily wasn't on highway because at 40 miles and hr it was a crazy ride and if would of been on highway would of definitely ripped off wheel and probably would of had fender damage also as at 40 it took a chunk out of fender flares .

 

And some thing that could of been better is the finish on these I know it's cosmetic but when you go with upgraded parts they should stand out and look like a upgrade and not like a stock one with a rusty finish should of been powder coated instead of a thin layer of paint it ain't like these are cheap parts at 400-500 a set .

 

Uhm they are cheap in comparison to the rest of the uca market

 

I'm glad your ok and truck sounds like it's in a repairable state.

What exactly was the cause of failure, maybe not warn of the entire product or failed part until you have a root cause. My old style SPC ball joints wore heavily where the ball meets the "bolt" because I never added grease and the factory amount of grease is minimal. I was the cause in this case, and with proper care I believe the ball joints would last a long time.

 

Such a flare for the dramatic. "If I had been going 2mph faster I'd be dead for sure!" lol

Your UCA failed. You pulled safely out of traffic. Nobody died. You're fine.

The OEM UCA could have failed in exactly the same manner as they're VERY similar designs only the SPC version gives you adjustment for camber corrections which is necessary for lifts above a certain amount to keep your alignment safe. It's not a WMD it's an adjustable UCA. You can pay more for a different design/style but guess what.... they can fail too. Oh noes!!!! So much hyperbole these days.

In the infamous words of Aaron Rodgers: R. E. L. A. X.

This is a wearable part much like the OEM ones. Parts fail all the time. People die as a result sometimes. If you're that scared don't drive a car.

p.s. The bold lettering doesn't overcome the lack of punctuation.

 

And yes sandman since I wasn't original purchaser no warrenty applies .

 

I drove 100tkm/62tmls with older type ball joints, then noticed a little freeplay and changed them and inner bushings to the new type. No complaints.

 

"....contacted spc a bit back and since I wasn't original purchaser of truck which had 0 miles on them when I purchased truck..."

So you knew the earlier production ones were a bad design, and you continued using them?

 

Wow. So you knew there was a problem with UCAs with a known problem well documented on this forum, chose to not fix it, it broke, then you warn everyone with a hard to read rant, then start calling people dildos.

Welcome to the site.