Front End Suspension Clunk After LR UCA's

I wonder if this clunk is actually from the LCA bushings. Hear me out. The factory rubber bushings only move(stretch) so far, so when you have factory rubber upper and lower control arms they kind of restrict each other. When you put the poly bushings up top you now have less restriction because the poly bushing design allows for more range of motion than the factory rubber LCA bushings allow. Just a thought.

I had these UCA's with factory rubber LCA bushings with no clunking issues. I just installed whiteline LCA bushings and it's so much better than factory rubber.

 

They don't use poly bushings on the SPC UCAs anymore (the pic above is the newest version) but I think I get what you are suggesting, except you're contradicting your diagnosis by having no clunk with the same setup..

Also, SPC just told me there is a known issue with the new style bushings and they are looking into it.

My guess is they got a bad batch of the new style bushings.

 

Yea just saying I don't have this issue meaning that I can't do any real research into it. If it was solely the fact of having Factory rubber LCA bushings and Poly style (Free rotating through sleeve design) UCA bushings then a lot more people would be coming forward with the issue. I trust SPC will resolve the issue one way or another.

Just for reference I have these, I assume poly, bushings in my UCAs as the bushings that originally came with the arms wore out(oblonged the rubber or poly) and had excessive movement.
https://www.spcalignment.com/index.php?option=com_spc&task=part_description&pid=25476

https://youtu.be/MF1Cz4k-IRo

 

I think you're right, the 1st and 2nd gen of the SPC UCAs had a couple hiccups but I've heard nothing but good things about there new design. I too think a lot more people would have come forward with this very noticeable clunking which leads me to believe it is a bad batch of new bushings.

Yea, looks like you have the prior design with the poly bushings.

 

@Zachh805 Do you have a contact at SPC. I have this EXACT problem and ive been trying to chase this clunk ever since install. I can actually hear and feel it on the UCA if i rock the truck back and forth.

 

Hi @MYKOSPRO ,

I'll PM you the number they called me from. Don't recall the guys name though.

Just a couple thoughts as well;

- Depending on where you bought the UCAs from I might recommend going through the vendor. I initially went to SPC and wasn't getting much traction at first, then contacted the vendor, Wheelers Off Road (Josh is extremely helpful and provides great customer service). Josh has helped expedite the process and sort of validated my issue with SPC.

- Are you sure you have the latest version of these SPC UCAs? The picture in post #37 are the latest version. The reason I ask is the bushings are completely different on the previous versions and the updated bushings seem to be the root of the issue at least for me.

- You may have the same issue but your symptoms are more severe. Been wrenching my whole life and I tried everything to replicate the clunk- including rocking the truck - to diagnose the issue and I absolutely could not replicate it in my garage. Also, there isn't so much of an audible clunk for me but it is very noticeable in the floor boards. The only real way I was able to finally diagnose the issue was to throw the stock UCAs back on and confirm that the clunk is 100% gone.

Also, with my SPC UCAs, the clunk seemed to completely go away when "cold" (California cold) - after sitting in my garage overnight - but by the time I would get to work (about 7 miles away) the clunk would come back and remain for the rest of the day. This much was consistent.

 

Funny I just found this thread. Just yesterday I was getting bad clunks when extended and off camber. Did some light trails and humps before with no issue. Maxed out yesterday for the first time and having the noise.
Got through the obstacles and no noise on the gravel or interstate.
It was almost like it was getting hung up and clunking..

 

Thanks for the contact! I sent SPC an email yesterday explaining the matter and they have replied back with the same response of no ETA on the replacement arms. But, said they would put my information in their system and once the UCA are in stock again they would contact me and get all paperwork done to get warranty.

- Yup, I have the latest version of the replacement arms which I purchased from @Wheeler's Off-Road Inc on July 2nd and received July 10th. I did contact the vender on this issue (which i first thought was the ball joint) and I even purchased a new ball joint hoping to fix the matter and have a warranty on the ones that came with the UCA. But, I will contact Josh on the matter hoping to get this resolved quickly.

-Also before my SPC UCA were installed I had already installed new OEM LCA and tie rod ends. So before the SPCs were installed I had no kind of noise.

-My symptoms may be more noticeable since I live in a hotter climate (Texas), where its an average of 98 degrees. So the bushings are always warm and the clunk gets worse as I drive due to the heat from the manifold. Even if I jacked the truck up to have the front wheels off the ground i could move the wheel and feel the movement if I had my hands on the 12 and 6 o'clock position.

 

No problem. Josh has been great from the beginning. I didn't want to pay an arm and a leg to ship my UCAs back as SPC does not cover the return shipping, Josh offered to send me everything I needed with a good shipping price - I think for my zip code he quoted about $20.

I too thought it felt like a defective ball joint at first. But couldn't isolate it - probably due to my slightly colder climate - so I decided I'd be best off sending the whole arm back and having them figure it out.

Sounds like we definitely have the same issue. The heat difference has got to be why your symptoms are worse. Its got to be just a bad batch of bushings. SPC has been pretty good about there recalls in the past so I'm not to worried about it now that they've acknowledged the problem.

 

Thank you guys for your patience and understanding on this. SPC is working diligently to get this resolved and take care of ya guys as quick as possible.

 

I also have been experiencing this clunk/pop, but only in the afternoons when the temp has warmed up. I have retorqued all suspension hardware, pulled my sway bar, checked LCA bolts, etc. It's particularly noticeable at lower speeds on road imperfections and I can feel it through the floorboard.

I'm on 885 coils, Nitrocharger shocks and the latest SPC / LR UCAs.

 

Sounds like the same issue for sure. You should reach out to SPC.

 

Got an update from SPC this morning - sounds like there are around 20 people that have submitted a warranty claim for this issue so far and they are getting replacements out to customers in the order that the claims were submitted. He said they already got some replacements out.

I was told there is some kind of issue with the race of the bushing. He wasn't really clear on what the fix actually is, just that there should have been more QC on the bad ones that went out and that there will be extensive testing on the replacements before they are sent out. They still weren't sure why the symptoms of the affected bushings were more severe under warmer conditions.

 

It'll be interesting to see how the new ones work out for y'all.

 

Thanks for the update. I did email Marie at Headstrong last week (who has been extremely helpful BTW), and she has been in contact with SPC, confirming the known QC issue. Put together a GoPro magnetic mount to try to isolate the issue, but it hasn't been quite warm enough here to replicate the thunk/noise consistently.

Hopefully SPC will be able to ship out the replacement arms before they receive the old problematic ones... really don't want to think about swapping back in the OEM arms temporarily. That passenger side upper bolt was particularly a pain to access.

 

Worst case scenario, they might make you pay a core deposit which you will get back when they receive the defective UCAs. But I’ll let you know what options they give me when I get more info.

 

Just got the call from a SPC rep about the issue as well. Seems like there is no ETA on replacement arms yet, but they say there is no safety issue if you keep them installed. It is however, annoying when driving.

 

They mentioned the same to me - not a safety issue and shouldn't cause any excess wear on any other parts.

The only reason I put my stock UCAs back on was because it was the only way to know 100% that the clunk was coming from the SPC UCAs and this was before SPC had acknowledged the issue.

 

Got a time frame update this morning. They said about 5-7 weeks.