opinions on LR UCA?

chiahead52

New member
I am debating on buying some of these to help with my alignment to have a better ride after my lift. I don't go off road very much and I am mainly trying to improve my caster alignment specs. I saw these LR UCA with the spec ride ball joint adapters and I am not sure how they work for others? Can you share opinions as to how they are? Also, a bit concerned with some of the past issues LR has had with breaking. Has all of that been fixed and no more issues? If LR UCA aren't a good choice then whats a good alternative without costing too much. Not sure if I want a regular ball joint or a uni-ball one. Thanks in advance for any info.
 
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I have a set only been on about 5,000 miles no issues and my alignment turned out great. I also had worries about them. I haven't had any issues, but it still in the back of my mind. So far they have been great though.
 
TONS of threads on this subject here and on all the other 4runner, fj and tacoma forums.

Camburg makes a bj uca, I just purchased and installed a set. 380 from wheelers, does not include bjs.

Depending on the lift, you may not even need them...but again you would already know this if you searched the TONS of previous threads on the subject...
 
My understanding from a kit dealer is that the Light Racing UCA quality is sub-par (made in China, bushings/ball joints going out after a few thousand miles, welds breaking). Camburg ball joint UCAs are a better option.
 
TONS of threads on this subject here and on all the other 4runner, fj and tacoma forums.

Camburg makes a bj uca, I just purchased and installed a set. 380 from wheelers, does not include bjs.

Depending on the lift, you may not even need them...but again you would already know this if you searched the TONS of previous threads on the subject...

You have a link for that? Not finding anything for that price on their site
 
You have a link for that? Not finding anything for that price on their site

They don't have them listed without the ball joints anymore. Last night I ordered a set and found out today that it will be about 2 weeks before they get more parts from Camburg.
 
If you like chinese shit you'll like the LR UCA's. if you want a quality product , I recommend total chaos or camburg. remember, you get what you pay for, LR are cheap as hell so thats what you get, a cheap product
 
I've had mine for 10k miles and they've proven to work well in all types of terrain. I've heard of a lot of issues with welds breaking on others but so far, mine have proven to be a good investment...if they do break, I will upgrade to Camburg but I'm hoping that isn't for a long time...
 
Satisfied user here. And why they are still referred to as light racing perplexes me. When I bought them 6 months ago they were and still are "SPC" brand.
 
You have a link for that? Not finding anything for that price on their site

looks like they removed the arms only for $380? might sell them to you if you call and request them without the Moogs. The Moogs can be had for $50/pair, so they basically charge $100 to press them in...crazy!
 
LR/SPC = POS.

Camburg, Desert Products & Total Chaos are better quality products.

But if you want cheap buy the LR/SPC ; it will leave you cash after to pay for additional life insurance premiums.

[MENTION=105800]Brutalguyracing[/MENTION]
 
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If its any consolation, I've been running LR UCAs for almost 3 years now. Aside from the rubber bushings going out in about a year or so (which SPC fixed by sending me an entire new set of UCAs with the newest Delrin bushings in them for free under an extended warranty) I haven't had any issues.

I've seen Keak's LR UCA break, but his suspension set-up vs. his additional weight/upgrades made me feel a little uneasy laying the blame squarely on his UCA (though the welds did fail and he got his covered under warranty as well, so I won't dispute that I think there was a manufacturing defect there; just that his set-up puts more stress on his vehicle's suspension than needs to be.)

I've been pretty hard on the 4Runner when off-roading so if they were as weak as everyone likes to say, they should have grenaded by now. Just some food for thought, not saying that they haven't had issues in the past or even recently. But so far their products have been mostly holding up this past year or two and their customer service has been top notch in trying to help people with older LR UCAs that have issues.

Also their Balljoints seem to be much tougher than factory balljoints, so I would say they are comparable to uniballs in strength. I don't think I've heard of one of the LR UCA balljoints shearing or cracking.
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-gen-t4rs/177950-uca-decision-help-2.html#post1800991

My SPC's have held up pretty well and I slam the 4Runner around enough to put a few good dents in my new RCI 3/16" steel skids.

The first set I had the bushings went out in a little over a year or two (this was the set I bought about 3 years ago) and SPC sent me an entire new set of UCAs, the current ones have held up fine and I haven't had any issues, they even have longer upper ball joint boots (the old ones did not and it concerned me in dusty/dirty environments.) That being said I have seen one set actually crack at the welds and just make a mess (part of it was the driving style/improper approach/over burdened suspension set-up on that vehicle/driver, the other part was a very probable welding defect when I looked at it.) Though I have seen a few more cases of failures from mild to severe off-roading, which in my opinion is a bit on the high side for a product intended for off-road use; but conversely SPC has been very good with their customer support and they seem to actively be fixing their product for what its worth.

One of my personal favorite things about the SPCs is how well they adjust in terms of correcting alignments, their upper balljoint set-up so far is a much better solution than most of the tubular designs.

All that being said, if you have an extra hundred or two and you really intend on slamming your 4Runner around; I'd go with some nice tubular set-ups. If you're mainly just looking to correct alignment after a lift and mainly do on-road driving I don't think the SPCs will hurt and they do a good job there. I personally will be going to a beefier UCA later down the road, but so far I haven't had an issue with my set and my typical off-roading mentality is: "the mountain will either stop me or crumble under my 4Runner, one way or another I'm going THERE!" :)


Post Note-

The SPCs have garnered a bad reputation (not undeservedly so) and it takes a while for companies to recover from bad reputations, even if their product is 100% flawless NOW (not saying that they are, just saying that even if they were the best on the market NOW, people would still be wary/uneasy); its a natural reaction from people. Its not bad or good that people still bash on them, even though it seems their quality has gotten better, its just one of those things that takes time to sort out and many people would rather err on the side of caution and history and I genuinely can't blame them for that. All I can do is play devil's advocate and say, "well my new SPCs haven't exploded and killed me yet and they do well with how abusive I am off-road so maybe they're getting their shit sorted out?"

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-gen-t4rs/183284-spc-light-racing-uca.html

I am not at all easy on my 4Runner:
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I was going about 20-25ish through that zone if not a bit faster (stopped where you see the flex for Mikey to get a shot) I do jump and land pretty hard on obstacles with the 4Runner, so far the only failure with the LR/SPC UCA I have experienced personally was my first set's bushings wearing out in less than 2 years (which SPC gave me an entire new set free of charge with Delrin bushings as warranty.)

That being said, I have personally seen a set of failed LR UCA on Keak's 4Runner (old design for the record); which did appear to have a welding defect that was exacerbated by his under-built suspension at the time. Also I have looked a few others and seen a commonality in failure points and so on. I haven't seen any evidence that supports them being "Chinese" as I would expect there to be far more clones of that design out (which I haven't noticed,) that just sounds more like hate mongering to me.

I'm not trying to sell anyone on the LR/SPC UCAs, just saying that while there is a known quality issue with the products in the past; the last couple years seem to actually show improvement in the product itself. So its up to you if you decide that cost vs. possibly better quality THIS TIME is better than the slightly more expensive products out there now. So far every time I have dealt with SPC they have shown a willingness to help and satisfy their customers in the last few years, which is always a good thing in my mind. The product's most recent iteration (they have been many many bushing designs, but the Delrins seem to be holding up well so far) seems to be doing pretty damn well so far.
 
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If you have the money go ahead and get some of the other brands. The bushing issue has been reengineered but was a real issue.

I bang the heck out of my LRs and have never had an issue but they are pretty new (Only a few thousand miles)

I'd say a lot of people who comment have no direct knowledge of failure but i don't think anyone would argue that Camburg and some of the others are better products.
 
I've had my SPC UCA's for about 3 years/75k miles. I recently replaced the ball joints (one had a little bit of play). Since I had them out also upgraded from the old style bushing design to the newer spec-ride bushing, but the old bushings looked fine and hadn't gotten to the point of failure yet.

No other problems yet, and they provide great adjustment to correct alignment after lift. I'm not too easy on the 4Runner either.
 
What I am looking for a how much caster was added by replacing the UCA with any of the mentioned UCA's. Whether it is LR, Total Chaos, Desert Products(which may no longer be sold), Camburg, All Pro. etc, etc.

Most places dont really mention that info. Just that they add for lifted vehicles. Again thank you for all the comments and suggestions so far
 
Looks good but I wonder how much alignment is changed by these?

What I am looking for a how much caster was added by replacing the UCA with any of the mentioned UCA's. Whether it is LR, Total Chaos, Desert Products(which may no longer be sold), Camburg, All Pro. etc, etc.

Most places dont really mention that info. Just that they add for lifted vehicles. Again thank you for all the comments and suggestions so far

Give em a call and ask, most say they add in +2* to account for lifts.
 
As far as I can tell on the SPC's, you should be able to go from - to + beyond factory specs with them.

I also am running them, and have extra weight added to the ride.
And as far as how far I push them, well, running with modded gen3's and Taco's in some places I probably shouldn't even try, no signs of problems yet.

If you do go this route, just add some locktite to the bolts.
Edit... I have had them on for 2yrs/25k.
 
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