Slee SPC UCA install with pics (1 Viewer)

[Mike6158]

I have a different thread about some things that I had questions about. This is one is just about installing the SPC UCA's. It's a one job imho

Tools

1/2 drive torque wrench for:
(1) ball joint top nut: 150 ft•lbf
(2) ball joint stud castellated nut: 45 ft•lbf and then tighten to fit cotter pin through the hole
(3) nuts that hold the UCA on: 72 ft•lbf
(4) lug nuts if you torque them: 94 ft•lbf

1/2 drive ratchet
3/8 drive ratchet (you could do it all with 1/2 drive)

1/2 drive 32mm socket for the ball joint top nut
1/2 drive 19mm socket for the ball joint stud castellated nut

3/8 drive 12mm socket for the bolts that hold the brackets for the brake line and speed sensor (1/2 drive would work too)

19mm wrench for the nuts that hold the UCA on. Ratcheting box end is nice

Step one. Do the work on a solid, level surface. Block the rear wheels. Lock the center diff (optional), Lift the front of the LC so that both tires are off the ground. Put jack stands under the frame and lower the LC so that the jack stands are carrying the weight. I only have one jack so I put all of the weight in the stands (6 ton so they can handle it). I put the floor jack under the lower A-arm (there's a flat area for that on the bottom of the lower A-arm) and put a little upward tension on it. Not much.

Remove the tire

Remove bolts from the 3 brackets that hold the brake line and speed sensor cable. Make sure they are clear of the UCA and spindle. Things move when you pop the ball joint loose and you don't want your wire or brake line ripped in half if it gets caught in either.

Puller located on the ball joint. I put a little tension on it. Too much and the jaws will spread and the puller will pop off. Too little and nothing happens. I used a box end wrench to tighten it so not a lot of leverage. Tap on the side of the spindle just below where the puller is connected. I used a 2# hammer and the pinion gear spindle out of a Chevy 12 bolt rear end for a punch. The taps weren't light but I didn't use a lot of force either. Keep clear of the puller along a line from top of the shock to the ball joint.

Here's what I mean by things move. The puller flew off to the left and that's along the line of the top of the shock and the ball joint. It would have made a mark if I had been in front of it at eye level. It only took a few taps and less than a second for everything to move where it is in this photo.

I used a ratcheting box end wrench to remove the nuts on the adjustment bolts. Pay attention to how they are oriented and assembled. You will reuse these parts.

The old UCA is out. This is before I cleaned up the inside surfaces of the brackets. You'll want to clean these up so the new UCA's have a nice clean surface to pivot on. Prepare the new UCA per the instructions (use supplied grease in the inside of the bushings). The UCA's are marked L and R. Left = drivers side.

UCA is bolted up and torqued to factory specs. There is a large, supplied washer on the outside of each UCA, between the UCA bushing and bracket. Pay attention to the instructions. They are very clear about where to put the washer

98 N•m
1,125 kgf•cm
72 ft•lbf

Don't worry about position. You can move this style of UCA. Once everything is tight it'll stay where you put it.

Ball joint in place. Pay attention to which way the logo on the ball joint assembly goes (toward the engine) and make sure the star plate is positioned correctly. The instructions are very clear on this

Ball joint positioned at about the midpoint of the slot and the nut is only finger tight per instructions.

Ball joint is installed. You can see where it shifted in the slot and is toward the camera too far. It's easy to push it back. The instructions say to torque the ball joint to spindle nut to 45 ft•lbf and then tighten until you can insert the cotter pin. I wish I would have rotated the spindle to make it a little easier to insert the cotter pin but it worked out as it was.

 

[Mike6158]

Hit the 10 pic limit

Finished. Move the floor jack. Raise the front as needed. Install the tire. Torque the lug nuts to 94 ft•lbf if you're so inclined. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. Raise the front high enough to remove the jack stand if necessary. Remove the jack stand. Lower the LC.

Repeat for the other side. Get a professional alignment done and you'll be good to go.


Based on the time of the photos one side took 49 minutes to complete. I took my time plus took photos and made sure I documented everything. I think this could be done in 1 to 1.5 hours for both sides. No more than 2 hours.

 

[MGarland]

This is great. Thanks.

 

[Mike6158]

This is great. Thanks.

I'll try to add a tool list on the first post this evening. It doesn't take much

 

[SierraWheeler]

Great post, thank you! This helped me to install my Nitro UCA's last night.

Some good tips I picked up elsewhere in my research, loosen the nut on the ball joint bolt but do not remove it completely. That way when the puller finally pops the knuckle off of the ball joint, it will only move about 0.5" and will still be supported by the UCA. Also, it really helped me to use a white paint pen or similar to make match marks on the cam bolts before removing them. When installing the new UCA, you can align the bolts to the match marks you had made earlier and the alignment will be very close to where it was before. Made it really easy to drive over to the alignment shop.

For my install, the first side went very smoothly, ball joint bolt came off with little drama and the rest of the install was a one job.

On the other side I discovered the ball joint bolt was practically welded to the knuckle.... spent the better part of an hour working on removing that 1 darned bolt. I would put what felt like 70-100 ft lbs of torque on the puller and have it fail and fly off spectacularly. Seemed very dangerous. I bent the arms on the puller I used on the first side. The 2nd puller finally managed to get it off. Unfortunately, the pressure from the puller managed to flare the end of the ball joint bolt so the castellated nut was stuck. Had to cut off the bolt with a hack saw. Luckily that part was going in the trash anyways.

Still a one job, but required three worth of patience.

 

[BreckenridgeCruiser]

I found a combo of the puller to apply down pressure and a hammer do the trick... One or the other alone don't always get it loose easily.

 

[brownfox]

I just installed some of these, and they have a new version out. Instead of a standard bushing they call these new joints x-axis sealed flex joints. You have to put their special washers on the ends of the flex joints. Be careful, those can fall off and may get lost in the frame even with grease on them to hold in place like the instructions said. I lost three in the frame, but my kid was able to recover two of them. I put towels in the bottom of the arm mount openings for my second attempt.

In order to get mine in, I had to position the joints downward, and wedge them into place, then carefully slip the final washer in. The fit on the inside surfaces was very tight.

 

[brownfox]

Is anyone being charged extra for an alignment with these? The shop that just did my alignment said they had to remove the ball joints to align it. I have pictures from my install that I put them in correctly. Instructions say you can loosen the top nut and just rotate the star plate.

I haven’t picked up the cruiser yet, just got the phone call and will probably go pick it up tomorrow.

Edit. Shop said they were installed 180 degrees wrong, but that they did not flip them, so I saved the $80. Strange to me they say SPCs instructions are wrong, he agreed I had installed them according to their instructions.

 

[JADANT]

In the instructions it tells me to place the plate with the SPC logo facing outward toward the tire. Is that correct?

 

[mmm635]

In the instructions it tells me to place the plate with the SPC logo facing outward toward the tire. Is that correct?

Where does it say that in the instructions? Pay attention to the little black box on the bottom left.

The logo should be facing in for the LC/lx470 arms. The diagrams clearly show how it works and the logo side is never in the outward position with any caster/camber setting in the range. The shop in the previous post had no clue what they were doing.

https://www.spcalignment.com/instructions/25455-INS_WEB.pdf

 

[JADANT]

Apologize. I was looking at the directions for the 200 series. For the 200 series it says SPC logo should face the tire.

https://www.spcalignment.com/instructions/25490-INS_WEB.pdf

 

[nitteo]

so for the 100, is the SPC Logo out towards the tire or not? i followed it with logo facing engine and i have a bad positive camber

 

[Michael Scarn]

Newbie 2000 LX owner here!
Just purchased a pair of the SPC UCAs and plan on installing them soon.
I have a stock height 2000 LX470 with the AHC.
The instruction recommended to install the ball joint at the D position for a lifted rig, but I'm wondering which position I should use for my stock height LX?

Thank you guys so much!! And great detailed installation instruction!!

 

[abuck99]

The ball joint settings affect caster angles, as you move towards >>> "A" setting that equals increased caster correction will deliver better steering response.

Stock ride height truck>> use D or E, and then go get your alignment and see where the caster numbers are while the truck is on the rack. Ideally on your stock ride height truck shoot for 2.5 degrees ~3,0 degrees of positive caster. While on the rack, If your caster numbers are as mentioned or even slightly higher then bob's your uncle. If you're closer to the lower end of caster spec ( say like 1 degree) and the've run out of adjustment room on the frame cams, turn the ball joint to the next letter that increases caster angle.

My question would be why install aftermarket adjustable UCA on stock height truck? Completely unnecessary spend. OEM UCA are quite good up to about 1.5" of front lift allowing to maintain decent caster angles.

 

[Michael Scarn]

The ball joint settings affect caster angles, as you move towards >>> "A" setting that equals increased caster correction will deliver better steering response.

Stock ride height truck>> use D or E, and then go get your alignment and see where the caster numbers are while the truck is on the rack. Ideally on your stock ride height truck shoot for 2.5 degrees ~3,0 degrees of positive caster. While on the rack, If your caster numbers are as mentioned or even slightly higher then bob's your uncle. If you're closer to the lower end of caster spec ( say like 1 degree) and the've run out of adjustment room on the frame cams, turn the ball joint to the next letter that increases caster angle.

My question would be why install aftermarket adjustable UCA on stock height truck? Completely unnecessary spend. OEM UCA are quite good up to about 1.5" of front lift allowing to maintain decent caster angles.

Thanks for the reply!! Just the answer I’m looking for!!

well, I was really debating between OEM UCAs vs SPC. The OEM ones I found are about $320 to $350 each, vs $720 for a pair of SPC. I was also thinking maybe getting a lift kit in the future if AHC fails. Just thinking with similar price, the SPC arms gives me more potential future options. I’ve also looked into some cheaper after market parts (Moog, Mevotech, Delphi) but decided not to go for them after reading some of the threads. Thought about pressing a new ball joint, but then the arms I have now are not OEM anyways, and read on a thread that being a newbie, pressing in a ball joint might not be the best idea.....

so many options, so many questions!! Hopefully I made a good decision based on my newbie logic!!

 

[abuck99]

Fair enough- just keep in mind that aftermarket poly bushing control arms (front or rear) require more frequent maintenance ( bushing greasing & rebuilds, ball joint replacement) as such they have a shorter service life compared to oem. On stock suspension- these SPC arms ( or others) have more negatives then positives.

 

[Michael Scarn]

Fair enough- just keep in mind that aftermarket poly bushing control arms (front or rear) require more frequent maintenance ( bushing greasing & rebuilds, ball joint replacement) as such they have a shorter service life compared to oem. On stock suspension- these SPC arms ( or others) have more negatives then positives.

Yeah, I hear ya!! Thank you so much for the advice! It definitely took me a while to finally pull the trigger not to go with OEM!

 

[harshjay]

Hi,

just read through this thread, and came away with ..."don't use aftermarket uca's".....right?

I have a set of SPC uca's, and was going to remove the AHC, but now after using it, I will keep it, it's great. I am going to do a sensor lift, so any value in putting these in, or just keep them around / re-sell if I was going to go conventional suspension?

 

[yosshaa]

How did this work out for you? I have AHC and just added SPC UCA, things about doing a sensor lift to get a little more clearance on the 275/70/18's

 

[Mike6158]

How did this work out for you? I have AHC and just added SPC UCA, things about doing a sensor lift to get a little more clearance on the 275/70/18's

I don't have AHC but the SPC UCA's have been problem free. The guy that did the alignment liked them.