SPC Upper Control Arms: Safe or Not Safe?

For the 3 of you that got butt hurt about my negative comments about JBA...get over yourselves! Accept the fact that the owner treated me like shit, I am entitled to my opinion, and you can put what ever the hell you want too on your 4Runner. I just wouldn’t and I won’t put anything made by this company on my T4R.

In the interest of this thread, I would feel safe putting SPC UCA on my 4th gen if I was purchasing UCA’s today! ... and yes I off-road, yes I travel with my family in my T4R, and yes I think SPC UCA’s are safe!
 
Powder_Hound said:
For the 3 of you that got butt hurt about my negative comments about JBA...get over yourselves! Accept the fact that the owner treated me like shit, I am entitled to my opinion, and you can put what ever the hell you want too on your 4Runner. I just wouldn’t and I won’t put anything made by this company on my T4R.

In the interest of this thread, I would feel safe putting SPC UCA on my 4th gen if I was purchasing UCA’s today! ... and yes I off-road, yes I travel with my family in my T4R, and yes I think SPC UCA’s are safe!
Click to expand...

You’re the only one getting butthurt Bilbo Baggins.....we get it, you got hurt feels, and now want to foam at the mouth and tell the interwebz all about your troubles. Bottom line, no one is having issues with their JBA’s! They are well built, guaranteed for life and very serviceable, and at a competitive price point. Who cares if the owner is a little douchy, even though you are the only person in here who has had problems. Google search “issues with SPC UCAs” and let me know how that works out.
 
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Well it was last October when one BJ ate it self. Now the other one is bad.

I am not impressed.

Going to replace both even though one is basically a few months old; since you have to buy them in pairs.

If further problems- then SPC UCA will get shit canned.


Total Chaos or JBA will be the replacement.

As a side note my best friend is sliding by tomorrow with his Toytech/ SPC UCA lifted Tundra that is only a few months old. He thinks one of the UCA BJ is bad too.
 
I wonder if a person used the hiem inner adjustable Total Chaos upper arms with the EMF uniball to make it greaseable, would it have the same amount of adjustability? They say it's designed for the 6" drop bracket kits but it should be able to be used in a lower lift application. The only difference would be no poly at the frame and a lot more work involved with initial alignment set up.

TOTAL CHAOS FABRICATION - 2007+ FJ Cruiser 2WD & 4WD 2003+ 4Runner 2WD & 4WD Upper Control Arm Suspension Kit
 
I am chasing a thud/bump in my steering when I accelerate from a stop. I recently had SPC UCAs and Toytec spacer loft put on my Pro.

I’ve checked tightness on everything seems good, I need to check torque on the castle nut.

When I was shaking things I slightly heard a noise from the pass side balljoint. Also noticed a lot of grease on the arm side of the BJ.

I massaged it a little and wiped everything off.

Anyhow people mentioned “ball joint failed” what does that mean? Gets stiff and grinding? Completely snapped? Getting ready to go on a 1500 drive and I am kind of concerned.
 
SendInTheCavalry said:
I am chasing a thud/bump in my steering when I accelerate from a stop. I recently had SPC UCAs and Toytec spacer loft put on my Pro.

I’ve checked tightness on everything seems good, I need to check torque on the castle nut.

When I was shaking things I slightly heard a noise from the pass side balljoint. Also noticed a lot of grease on the arm side of the BJ.

I massaged it a little and wiped everything off.

Anyhow people mentioned “ball joint failed” what does that mean? Gets stiff and grinding? Completely snapped? Getting ready to go on a 1500 drive and I am kind of concerned.
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Check the LONG bolt that ties the upper control arm to the truck. If it isnt torqued to spec it can do this. I recomment a little lock tite there also.
 
SPC Upper Control Arms Safe or Not Safe

Picked up a set of free wheeling hubs this morning. going to put them in over the weekend. Do they need greasing?
 
Louisiana Overland said:
Check the LONG bolt that ties the upper control arm to the truck. If it isnt torqued to spec it can do this. I recomment a little lock tite there also.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads up. I checked torque today; Lower CA 129 ft lbs, lower shock 70 ft lbs, UCA bolt 85 ft lbs, the SPC BJ 150 ft lbs.

I got maybe 1/2 - 1 turn out of the passenger side UCA... we will see if that was it... I didnt check the LCA front bolts because of the skid but everything else was good.

150 ft lbs is no joke!! lol

The thud i feel seems more frequent/noticable when I have an adult passanger...weird. It feel like someone taps the steering wheel with a small hammer...
 
Currently on a third vehicle set of SPC/LR UCAs.

Newly bought 2012 CM RW Tundra with FOX COs/shocks and SPC/LR UCAs. Differential drop too.

2002 standard cab PreRunner Tacoma with Bilsteins and SPC/LR UCAs.

2019 4R TRD Pro with Cornfed 2”/1” spacer lift and SPC/LR UCAs.
Differential drop too.

Zero issues.

Just to mention... The ‘02 are & ’12 were the style before the grease zerks.
The 2019 are the newer version with grease zerks.

Again: Zero issues.

Pictures in order of mention...

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I’m CDO like that (OCD alphabetically)...
 
Even though the SPCs were readily available up here in british columbia, I ordered the JBAs from the states. Main reason was to colour match my toytec front springs! I am a little concerned that my stock off road rims with stock size tires wont clear the arms but they told me they would. I just placed the order yesterday so wont have them for a couple weeks
 
Hi. Thanks for this post. I have SPC upper control arms on my 4runner (with a Toytec Aluma lift) - what are the signs / symptoms when these go wrong? When I tap (fairly hard) on the top of the control arm, it makes a knocking sound. I also hear this on small bumps (not big bumps interestingly enough). Any thoughts or suggestions?
 
I have had SPCs for about 10k miles now and I am not happy with them. They clunk, and I think after my cross country road trip to Moab and back, they're fried. I've greased the ball joints too, so It's not a lack of maintenance. I also reached out to SPC and they ghosted me. I think I may have gotten a bad set, because my friend has them and has zero issues. Who knows.

I've also run JBA and they were pretty good. I had a much better experience with them, but they do limit what wheels you can run because they are a bit bulkier around the ball joint.

Next set of UCAs I get, I'm going to try something different.
 
SPC for over 50k. Ive replaced ball joints once (was taking everything apart figured replace them - after removal they were fine).

im no expert but noticed the trucks "clunks" and noises reduced significantly when i decreased my caster from +4* to 2* (was going high for rubbing issues). Not getting into a fight with anyone - each their own :uzi:
 
I noticed a few were confused about why built in caster may be desirable and what the UCA has to do with it.

One of the first areas that larger tires will hit is the body mount. We can maximize clearance by increasing caster on a stock vehicle using the lower control arm cams effectively "pushing" the wheels slightly forward, but alignment will be out of spec so handling and tire wear may be a problem.

Some companies build positive caster into UCA's, Ball joint further back than stock, mistaking caster itself as what pushes the wheels forward, but that is not true. Having positive caster built into the UCA may require alignment that brings the tire closer to the body mount! You need to shift the steering axis forward which means the UCA ball joint needs to move forward from stock. Buyer beware!

SPC understands how to properly maximize clearance at the body mount and has provided a UCA with a moveable ball joint that will allow us to optimize for our individual vehicle by moving the UCA so the lower control arms can be moved close to the maximum forward position for the vehicle while maintaining the correct balance between caster and camber.

Tinkerer's adventure on youtube does a great job explaining suspension geometry.These two video's will be helpful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huMztKaHsUE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InQnp42pfts
 
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