LR SPC Upper Ball Joints Leaking Already

Rock_Rat

Rock_Rat

Senior Member
Not happy. LR SPC's installed at 309K Now 331K and Upper Ball Joints leaking. Been off road twice since installed. Ridiculous. I swear, nothing beats OEM parts. Not even close...this is coming from a guy who has owned his rig straight from the factory and only had to replace your typical maintenance items such as plugs, wires, coils, pcv, sensors etc in the last fifteen years. The "out of the ordinary" maintenance was one axle bearing. I didn't even change the ball joints and radiator until last year.

Still have original alternator..etc...etc....I'm losing faith in aftermarket parts on these rigs.
 
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cashmoney said:
Um nobody forced you to go aftermarket.
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Funny, I don't think that was the impetus behind this thread. Actually, since I'm the author of the thread I know for sure that wasn't the impetus behind it. Regardless of what my decision was, the fact of the matter is the LR SPC UCA's are highly recommended. I don't think it's too much to ask for quality and a little more life expectancy out of any parts you install, provided you've done your research first. They should be somewhat comparable to OEM. Especially under normal conditions.

Since most on here are 2nd, 3rd, and 4th owners I believe I'm in a position to speak on the value of OEM parts having taken ownership from the dealer with 12 miles on it 15 years ago. I know exactly what parts I've had to replace in 15 years. That's all I'm saying.
 
Do you have any pics of the UCA's?
That really blows these things are not cheap and sure as hell are supposed to last way longer then 22k miles I would contact SPC because thats unacceptable!
 
I need to replace the lower ball joint on my 98. Does anybody recommend a good site to get reasonably priced oem parts?
 
Rock_Rat said:
Not happy. LR SPC's installed at 309K Now 331K and Upper Ball Joints leaking. Been off road twice since installed. Ridiculous. I swear, nothing beats OEM parts. Not even close...this is coming from a guy who has owned his rig straight from the factory and only had to replace your typical maintenance items such as plugs, wires, coils, pcv, sensors etc in the last fifteen years. The "out of the ordinary" maintenance was one axle bearing. I didn't even change the ball joints and radiator until last year.

Still have original alternator..etc...etc....I'm losing faith in aftermarket parts on these rigs.
Click to expand...

That sucks, I believe in OEM parts too but there are aftermarket parts (not many) that are better than Toyota. Like Tom Woods drive shafts & Marlin Crawler clutches. But when I was researching UCA's I read too many negative reviews on LR. Mostly breaking on the trail. I bought the All Pro UCA's. They were the second cheapest after LR of the "high end" UCA's. I only have a couple hundred miles on them so we'll see how they do over time.
 
Don't listen to that moron. There are a LOT of people running LR arms and wo issue. Call them up and make them figure it out.
 
Definitely email or call Specialty Products. The bjs on my Tacoma LR UCAs crapped out quick too. I emailed them, sent some pics and other info they requested. They took care of everything . Excellent customer service!
 
Rock_Rat said:
Funny, I don't think that was the impetus behind this thread. Actually, since I'm the author of the thread I know for sure that wasn't the impetus behind it. Regardless of what my decision was, the fact of the matter is the LR SPC UCA's are highly recommended. I don't think it's too much to ask for quality and a little more life expectancy out of any parts you install, provided you've done your research first. They should be somewhat comparable to OEM. Especially under normal conditions.

Since most on here are 2nd, 3rd, and 4th owners I believe I'm in a position to speak on the value of OEM parts having taken ownership from the dealer with 12 miles on it 15 years ago. I know exactly what parts I've had to replace in 15 years. That's all I'm saying.
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Instead of going to the manufacturer to work with them on this you take to the Internet to ***** about it so to me it reads like you just wanted to make a post complaining about aftermarket parts being inferior to OEM instead of actually trying to fix the problem. So again I say, no one forced you to run aftermarket parts. You run aftermarket you run the risk of this kind of stuff happening. It's the name of the game. So either spend the money for some high quality uniballs or go cheap and deal with potential issues like this or just go OEM. Choice is all yours.
 
Photo of one side

My frustration level from last night has subsided, and with a few exceptions I still stand by OEM. Many of you knew of my experience two years ago with the knock sensors. Went with NAPA and codes never went away. Had the manifold off three times trying to figure out what was wrong. Ran a diagnostic check on it to see the wave pattern before I threw a new ECU at it (I didn't). The fix was OEM knock sensors.

I went 300Kplus on my radiator and LBJ's and after reading about the milkshake on this forum, I truly believe that I replaced a perfectly good radiator trying to be proactive. Because it's not OEM, I periodically check the fluid in both the radiator and the tranny and WILL replace the radiator at around 100K as a precautionary measure. I don't believe the life expectancy to be the same as an OEM radiator.

I replaced my LBJ's after 300k plus miles with OEM. I'm more aware of the issue now of catastrophic failures but it's ironic that I have faith in the OEM LBJ's, the same ones that have a tendency to fail.

Last night when I pulled in the garage to inspect my CV boots and get ready to do some under carriage inspections over the weekend I noticed grease on the passenger upper ball joint. Took a rag to it to see if it was torn and it wasn't. I went to the drivers side and sure enough it too had grease seepage from the bottom on top of the spindle. Not a lot, but enough to be concerned.

This morning I did some research on our forum and found some interesting write ups on the LR upper control arms in the 4th and 5th gen sections. Apparently as [MENTION=7105]Scramble[/MENTION] said, there's been some quality issues in the past with LR, however, their customer service is outstanding. I'll get in touch with them today. I'm hoping I was one of the unlucky ones that accidentally received two ball joints bad from stock. That happens.

The fact that I've only had them on since the fall of 2014 is quite frustrating.

We all know there will be trade-offs when you modify your vehicle. I have GREAT caster and camber with the LC UCA's and my 33" tires and lift!! It's not that big of a deal. This will just be one of those items that I will add to my preventive maintenance checklist to inspect every couple of months or so.

Would I buy them again....probably not. I would look at other options.

EDIT: A better photo. The first photo wasn't close enough. Not a lot of grease but enough to be concerned.
 

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