Failing spc uca ball joints after 2 years

[Ungardo]

The shop quoted me 695 for labor and almost 300 for an alignment but did not differentiate between replacing the ball joints or replacing the uca. Trying to figure out if I should move away from the spc ucas now or try to replace the ball joints. Def don’t want to be spending a grand every 2 years.

 

[CutthroatSlam]

The shop quoted me 695 for labor and almost 300 for an alignment but did not differentiate between replacing the ball joints or replacing the uca. Trying to figure out if I should move away from the spc ucas now or try to replace the ball joints. Def don’t want to be spending a grand every 2 years.

Remind me what are SPC UCAs?

 

[eurowner]

Did you buy your SPCs brand new from an authorized seller?

 

[Bmnorm2]

The shop quoted me 695 for labor and almost 300 for an alignment but did not differentiate between replacing the ball joints or replacing the uca. Trying to figure out if I should move away from the spc ucas now or try to replace the ball joints. Def don’t want to be spending a grand every 2 years.

Are these grease-able ball joints? Did you regularly grease them?

 

[Ungardo]

Yes. I reached out to the shop that purchased and did the install and waiting to hear back from them if I can get them warrantied.

Yea I greased them every 5k.

 

[eurowner]

Yes. I reached out to the shop that purchased and did the install and waiting to hear back from them if I can get them warrantied.

I did SPC on my 3rd Gen Tacoma a few years back. 30k later the Xaxis bushings failed, talked with Johnathan and he sent me new UCA with the non greaseable ball joints, I swapped them out myself, the next day got an alignment. Last fall one ball joint failed, again I spoke with Johnathan and he sent me the 3rd Gen ball joints under warranty. I swapped them out and got an alignment the day after. Those two failures are rare. And I felt SPC did a great job with my situations.

A few people I know whom had failures of their SPC bought them from unauthorized sellers and SPC refused the warranty.

 

[rdruss]

IMO an alignment is not needed after replacing the ball joints, upper or lower, unless you feel something has happened to knock your alignment out. With SPC you put them in with the same orientation as they came out and alignment should be same. Lot of money spent by people on this site for alignments IMO, mark your adjusters and don't worry about it once you have a "good" alignment.

 

[Ungardo]

Purchased a replacement set of ball joints through SPCs warranty option. They said I will be refunded once they receive the old parts and all failures discovered are result of a manufacturing defect… hopefully

 

[T4R_Canuck]

The shop quoted me 695 for labor and almost 300 for an alignment but did not differentiate between replacing the ball joints or replacing the uca. Trying to figure out if I should move away from the spc ucas now or try to replace the ball joints. Def don’t want to be spending a grand every 2 years.

You got 2 whole years out of yours? Man, I wish. I went through a set every year for 3 years until I gave up on SPC and went with a completely new UCA from another brand. Got both replacement sets provided by warranty and changed them myself so not a giant deal, but they basically fail after only a few off roading trips, which is obviously ridiculous.

 

[Ungardo]

You got 2 whole years out of yours? Man, I wish. I went through a set every year for 3 years until I gave up on SPC and went with a completely new UCA from another brand. Got both replacement sets provided by warranty and changed them myself so not a giant deal, but they basically fail after only a few off roading trips, which is obviously ridiculous.

Dang. Ya. I was worried about that. Did you end up trying their newest version or did you give up before?

 

[T4R_Canuck]

Dang. Ya. I was worried about that. Did you end up trying their newest version or did you give up before?

Their latest and greatest is currently sitting in it's box on my garage shelf as the xAxis bushings have now failed in my SPC arms. I switched to the ARB arms for now as a stop gap until I decide if i'm going long travel or not.

I'll likely either rebuild the SPC arms and keep them as emergency spares, or sell them for cheap. I'll likely cut the old xAxis bushings out, give the arms themselves a good sand, prime and paint and then make a decision from there.

 

[Ungardo]

New ball joints installed and existing were covered in full. Really good customer service experience.