The4kbeast
New member
On our recent Old Mojave Road trip, Sally (David's wife named his rig) had some issues with her upper control arm. On cold mornings leading up to the trip, the bushings would squeak until they had a mile or so on them, then they would quiet down. We knew that wasn't right; mine never do that. We both have the second gen SPC Spec-ride bushings, too.
Something was up with the bushings, and on the trip the squeak turned into an annoying (and potentially dangerous) clunk noise caused by a little bit of play in the arm. David limped it back from Mojave and stopped by for help replacing the bushings. He has quite the setup; an awesome mid-travel setup:
David using one of his favorite tools:
After the center metal carriers were popped out of the bushings, we noticed something; these things were generating enough heat that they weren't rotating freely inside of the bushing. New replacement inner carrier on left, old on right.
Looking inside the bushing was next, because those aluminum pieces should be bright and shiny, not covered in urethane.
Ok, so the guy that installed his arms said he greased the bushing. But we aren't sure how much of what grease (25460-25470-25480-25490 Toyota Adjustable Upper Control Arms) was used. Compare old versus new:
For those of you that follow the thread, you'll know that I got to go to SEMA this year. I stopped by the SPC booth and was asking about reports I read on here about cracked welds. The short answer is they addressed it the design of the new bushing; but you have to use the supplied grease, which is similar to CV joint grease. I think the difference is that it is not only thick, but it doesn't dry out.
Pic of a 4Runner/Tacoma upper arm + ToyTec front setup woth jounce shock from their booth at SEMA:
Anyway, new bushings were pushed in and the arms reinstalled, and now there are no squeaks!
Oh, and while we were at it, Sally got a new chastity belt:
David picked it up from a group buy here on the site for about $250 shipped. He got the lighter duty 1/8" pan; it's plenty thick and only weighs 41 lbs (versus the stock 18 lb unit). My only gripe is that it only uses five bolts to support double the weight of the factory unit (factory skid uses nine bolts, if I remember correctly). I do need a skid, and it provides better access to the pan drain and oil filter for oil changes. Hmmm....
PS: Originally posted in my build thread, but who really reads those? I've become too used to just posting work I do on others rigs there. Will have to start posting here to help the search feature.
Something was up with the bushings, and on the trip the squeak turned into an annoying (and potentially dangerous) clunk noise caused by a little bit of play in the arm. David limped it back from Mojave and stopped by for help replacing the bushings. He has quite the setup; an awesome mid-travel setup:
David using one of his favorite tools:
After the center metal carriers were popped out of the bushings, we noticed something; these things were generating enough heat that they weren't rotating freely inside of the bushing. New replacement inner carrier on left, old on right.
Looking inside the bushing was next, because those aluminum pieces should be bright and shiny, not covered in urethane.
Ok, so the guy that installed his arms said he greased the bushing. But we aren't sure how much of what grease (25460-25470-25480-25490 Toyota Adjustable Upper Control Arms) was used. Compare old versus new:
For those of you that follow the thread, you'll know that I got to go to SEMA this year. I stopped by the SPC booth and was asking about reports I read on here about cracked welds. The short answer is they addressed it the design of the new bushing; but you have to use the supplied grease, which is similar to CV joint grease. I think the difference is that it is not only thick, but it doesn't dry out.
Pic of a 4Runner/Tacoma upper arm + ToyTec front setup woth jounce shock from their booth at SEMA:
Anyway, new bushings were pushed in and the arms reinstalled, and now there are no squeaks!
Oh, and while we were at it, Sally got a new chastity belt:
David picked it up from a group buy here on the site for about $250 shipped. He got the lighter duty 1/8" pan; it's plenty thick and only weighs 41 lbs (versus the stock 18 lb unit). My only gripe is that it only uses five bolts to support double the weight of the factory unit (factory skid uses nine bolts, if I remember correctly). I do need a skid, and it provides better access to the pan drain and oil filter for oil changes. Hmmm....
PS: Originally posted in my build thread, but who really reads those? I've become too used to just posting work I do on others rigs there. Will have to start posting here to help the search feature.
Last edited:
