UCA options in 2023 (Too many issues with SPC Arms)

[jross20]

So for those who remember recently I was posting about this weird issue with the noise and a clicking. Well I think that they're separate, because the rumbling and the popping noise ended up being the right upper control arm....

I just replaced both ball joints in the SPC arms as they both had play out of spec. That was maybe a month or two ago, and now the right side arm's bushings have failed...Seriously? Is this normal for these arms within 2 years of very light use? This just seems ridiculous to me.

Anyway, I'm kind of fed up with them at this point and just want to get something else. Honestly I don't even really know if I truly need the extra adjustment, I'm sure something within stock geometry would probably be fine for my lil' lift. At 1.5 but I might go up to 2".

I don't really think that I need a uniball, a regular ball joint would be fine.

TL;DR
What upper arms are you guys buying these days?

 

[Zhehan]

I have JBA. I chose these because of reports like yours. They have a better bushing design and a stronger ball joint from what I gathered from my research. Both the bushings and ball joint are greaseable.

They were a huge improvement over the stock arms as well.

 

[jross20]

I have JBA. I chose these because of reports like yours. They have a better bushing design and a stronger ball joint from what I gathered from my research. Both the bushings and ball joint are greaseable.

They were a huge improvement over the stock arms as well.

I actually had those before I like to come in and didn't have any issues with them. The only thing I'm worried about with these is that they say hi caster, which I don't really think that I need necessarily. Or do we really know for sure when or when you don't need that? I know what other ones they offer stock geometry arms, but when I looked yesterday I only saw the high caster ones.

And I know it's ridiculously petty, but I really wish that they weren't bright red lol

 

[JZiggy]

I have 2" lift or less in the front and the JBAs work great. They are the "STD High Caster" ones. I had my alignment guy dial in 4* of caster and it took it fine and rides awesome.

Spray paint 'em!

 

[shadow247]

So for those who remember recently I was posting about this weird issue with the noise and a clicking. Well I think that they're separate, because the rumbling and the popping noise ended up being the right upper control arm....

I just replaced both ball joints in the SPC arms as they both had play out of spec. That was maybe a month or two ago, and now the right side arm's bushings have failed...Seriously? Is this normal for these arms within 2 years of very light use? This just seems ridiculous to me.

Anyway, I'm kind of fed up with them at this point and just want to get something else. Honestly I don't even really know if I truly need the extra adjustment, I'm sure something within stock geometry would probably be fine for my lil' lift. At 1.5 but I might go up to 2".

I don't really think that I need a uniball, a regular ball joint would be fine.

TL;DT
What upper arms are you guys buying these days?

I have the same issue. I got the SPC in August of 2021. I have put about 10 miles on them, and the driver side bushing is shot. The SPC warranty process is a massive hassle as well..

I am waiting on someone else to develop an adjustable arm that is not 1100 dollars... But I might be holding my breath forever. I have Alignment Cam deletes, so I am pretty much stuck with SPC if I want to keep it streetable.

JBA is what my friend is changing out all his clients with. So far he has replaced about a dozen failed SPC with various mileage and usage. Not a good look for them. I'm hoping they fix their quality issues and I can get an updated set... Again, might be holding my breath forever...

 

[jross20]

I have 2" lift or less in the front and the JBAs work great. They are the "STD High Caster" ones. I had my alignment guy dial in 4* of caster and it took it fine and rides awesome.

Spray paint 'em!

Yo Ziggy, how goes it? That's reassuring to hear; so are you riding at 4° instead of the stock 2.4° to 2.8° (or whatever the book says)?

And you're overestimating my rattle can abilities... Haha...:laser:

But yeah I guess I could paint them. Hell even a dark red would look nice; just not really a fan of bright colors.

I have the same issue. I got the SPC in August of 2021. I have put about 10 miles on them, and the driver side bushing is shot. The SPC warranty process is a massive hassle as well..

I am waiting on someone else to develop an adjustable arm that is not 1100 dollars... But I might be holding my breath forever. I have Alignment Cam deletes, so I am pretty much stuck with SPC if I want to keep it streetable.

JBA is what my friend is changing out all his clients with. So far he has replaced about a dozen failed SPC with various mileage and usage. Not a good look for them. I'm hoping they fix their quality issues and I can get an updated set... Again, might be holding my breath forever...

Yeah I really do wish we had another adjustable option because I'm definitely a fan of getting things dialed in perfectly... But at the same time, to be honest, practically none of the shops I've ever worked with have had any idea how to comfortably adjust with the SPC arms. So, yeah the ability is there but if nobody can use it on average then is it really worth it?

And just to be clear, you mentioned an option that's not $1,100... Is there a different adjustable arm that I'm not aware of? Or were you just saying in general?

 

[shadow247]

And just to be clear, you mentioned an option that's not $1,100... Is there a different adjustable arm that I'm not aware of? Or were you just saying in general?

SPC is the only Adjustable arm I am aware of that doesn't use some sort of HEIM arrangement for the Frame side....

As far as the techs not knowing how to align with SPC, that's on them. It's pretty much foolproof. You adjust the camber by sliding the top ball joint in/out.. The caster setting is what throws them off, but there is no need to mess with that part of it if you set it correctly when you install them.

 

[jross20]

SPC is the only Adjustable arm I am aware of that doesn't use some sort of HEIM arrangement for the Frame side....

As far as the techs not knowing how to align with SPC, that's on them. It's pretty much foolproof. You adjust the camber by sliding the top ball joint in/out.. The caster setting is what throws them off, but there is no need to mess with that part of it if you set it correctly when you install them.

Oh yeah don't get me wrong, I'm with you on that. I actually created like a little document with visual indications of how to adjust it and that's still barely helped... In fact some shops weren't even interested in trying even when I offered to pay them more just to compensate them for the extra time. A specifically tried to be conscientious of their time and the average amount of time and alignment takes but even with that most of them either just weren't interested or just couldn't figure it out...

All right so I did talk with jba and they said the arm is designed to work with 1 to 4 inches of lift and add 3 1/2 degrees of caster.

Does anyone know what the max range of adjustment is with the lower arm? i.e. "the lower arm can handle up to X max caster range".

I'm no you guys feel confident about it, but I went through this whole nightmare scenario when I had it Tacoma that was an absolute pain to deal with. I mean I was stuck with like almost 6° of caster for months. Lol...

 

[jross20]

Would you guys get the JBA's or the Icon delta joints? Looks like the JBA's add 3.5° and the Icons add 3° (though I reached out to them to confirm).

Looks like the icons can be had for $150-200 more.

 

[Devbot]

I've always been intrigued by delta joints but if I recall correctly JBA has more articulation by a hair - I'm pretty sure Icon has 80* whereas JBA has 90*. There's a new delta joint "pro" that advertises a full 90* but I don't think it's released yet, could be mistaken tho. (Mind you, in the end you probably won't notice such a minor bonus, especially if your LBJ doesn't flex to 90* as well; or at least I think that's how it works?)
At either rate the JBAs are also cheaper to replace by quite a margin. I swear up and down when I first bought them I remember reading they used some very common ball joint pattern from GM that's found nearly everywhere in case you ever needed to replace it in an emergency, but I can't find that information anywhere now (?) so I'm not sure if it's true or not - if it is, that's a major plus
Regardless, I think JBAs would serve you just fine
I've always thought about delta joints as LBJs personally...

 

[Zhehan]

When I took my truck in for its first alignment after the JBA install, I just showed the tech the install booklet and showed him the angles it recommends. He was done in less than 20 minutes and he nailed it. He was impressed with the JBA UCAs and said they made his job a lot easier. Granted, I took my 4Runner to a shop that works on a lot of lifted Toyotas, but even the guys at the front counter said I was lucky that they worked on my vehicle with "custom parts that I installed myself". Get f***ed with that attitude.

Anyway, find a good shop if you can. The JBAs made a huge difference both on and off-road.

 

[Devbot]

When I took my truck in for its first alignment after the JBA install, I just showed the tech the install booklet and showed him the angles it recommends. He was done in less than 20 minutes and he nailed it. He was impressed with the JBA UCAs and said they made his job a lot easier. Granted, I took my 4Runner to a shop that works on a lot of lifted Toyotas, but even the guys at the front counter said I was lucky that they worked on my vehicle with "custom parts that I installed myself". Get f***ed with that attitude.

Anyway, find a good shop if you can. The JBAs made a huge difference both on and off-road.

Install booklet? I don't remember getting one of those :wtf:
Edit: Found it on their website

 

[Zhehan]

Oh yeah don't get me wrong, I'm with you on that. I actually created like a little document with visual indications of how to adjust it and that's still barely helped... In fact some shops weren't even interested in trying even when I offered to pay them more just to compensate them for the extra time. A specifically tried to be conscientious of their time and the average amount of time and alignment takes but even with that most of them either just weren't interested or just couldn't figure it out...

All right so I did talk with jba and they said the arm is designed to work with 1 to 4 inches of lift and add 3 1/2 degrees of caster.

Does anyone know what the max range of adjustment is with the lower arm? i.e. "the lower arm can handle up to X max caster range".

I'm no you guys feel confident about it, but I went through this whole nightmare scenario when I had it Tacoma that was an absolute pain to deal with. I mean I was stuck with like almost 6° of caster for months. Lol...

I believe the range of adjustment is +/- 1.5*.

With the high caster arms, you can restore your Caster angles to stock. It's recommended to run 3.5* of Caster by JBA. My Cams are adjusted thusly:

Rear Cams are all the way out. This widens the track, moves the wheel forward in the wheel well and sets the Caster angle.

Front Cams are in or very near the Neutral position. This sets the Camber angle.

Camber and Toe are set to stock numbers.

 

[jross20]

Well I think I'm going to order the JBA's but I'll sleep on it first.

I appreciate all the comments as usual guys. It will be nice to close this shitty chapter and move on to better pastures...haha.

Next quests are shifter bushings and front wheel bearings... Oh boy... Lol

 

[mtbtim]

Another vote for JBA if you want a regular ball joint rather than a uniball. I know lots of guys that run them. They did have issues with a cheap ball joint boot that cracked prematurely, but they have since specced a better boot.

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[Zhehan]

Install booklet? I don't remember getting one of those :wtf:
Edit: Found it on their website

You should post that link for other people. :thumb3:

 

[jross20]

JBA's are ordered. I REALLY hope I don't get stuck with way too much caster... It's like PTSD from the taco days lol

Does anyone know if I can use the pressed in adapter that the SPC's come with or nay?

 

[Zhehan]

You shouldn't have 6* of caster after an alignment. I doubt you can get that much with the JBA Arms, unless you're at stock height and someone who doesn't care about the alignment does the work.

And, you'll probably need to use the adapter slug from JBA with the new Ball Joints that come with the arms.

 

[HiluxSurf SSR-G]

could you post pics of the cams?
Thanks!

I believe the range of adjustment is +/- 1.5*.

With the high caster arms, you can restore your Caster angles to stock. It's recommended to run 3.5* of Caster by JBA. My Cams are adjusted thusly:

Rear Cams are all the way out. This widens the track, moves the wheel forward in the wheel well and sets the Caster angle.

Front Cams are in or very near the Neutral position. This sets the Camber angle.

Camber and Toe are set to stock numbers.

 

[HiluxSurf SSR-G]

which bushing type did your SPC UCA had?
I have the previous one, the SpecRide bushings and still doing ok after 22,200 miles. Although I'm thinking of upgrading to the X-axis bushings.

There was excessive movement in the SPC UBJ after almost 16,000 miles of city driving. Replaced them with the greasable version and after 6200 miles still doing good, except for the grease fitting spitting a little grease. will try to replace them this weekend with a Toyota grease fitting.

So for those who remember recently I was posting about this weird issue with the noise and a clicking. Well I think that they're separate, because the rumbling and the popping noise ended up being the right upper control arm....

I just replaced both ball joints in the SPC arms as they both had play out of spec. That was maybe a month or two ago, and now the right side arm's bushings have failed...Seriously? Is this normal for these arms within 2 years of very light use? This just seems ridiculous to me.

Anyway, I'm kind of fed up with them at this point and just want to get something else. Honestly I don't even really know if I truly need the extra adjustment, I'm sure something within stock geometry would probably be fine for my lil' lift. At 1.5 but I might go up to 2".

I don't really think that I need a uniball, a regular ball joint would be fine.

TL;DR
What upper arms are you guys buying these days?