Slee SPC uppers suck a big one

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Mauiyotanokaoi

Joined
Nov 20, 2014
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So I'm onto my 3rd set of ball joints with these. They have lasted an avg of 5k miles ... That is ridiculously unacceptable. I replaced my stock ones thinking it was a better choice, the stockers had over 100k on them, and we're still tight. I keep discovering this because I notice uneven tread wear, bring it to alignment shop, and they show me UCA joint slop. I do wheel my truck, but that's the whole point of 'upgrading'...

I know I am not the first with this issue, and the last warranty pair I got, slew wanted a 'batch number' to see if it was covered under warranty. they were, but WTF is the deal with that? They blew out in record fashion, if they weren't the correct 'batch' than I would be screwed? AND I had to pay my own shipping. So I am awaiting a response to get my 3rd set in a year and a half. I wish I had gone with the nitro's!! They accommodate for ball joint angle at common lift heights, and at least I could go pick up tundra ball joints instead of this proprietary junk that I have to just cheese grate my tires or not drive until I get my new ones.
Rant over... Buy nitro's UCA's they are better, or at least you can get the part easy. Actually with the compensation for ride height ball angle they are superior!! Live and learn, don't make my mistake.
 
dubitup said:
YMMV.......

I've got the older SPC ball joints installed on my LC, these do not have the grease zerks. Its been 2yrs, not a single failure or issue.
Click to expand...

Do you wheel often? Just curious. I do... Not uncommon for my cruiser to see rocks and dirt at least once a week. I fish, hunt, shoot, etc and all require wheeling and with engaging lockers + airing down 4.88's etc. I have a taco crawler that I beat to a pulp and use when it's a bad trail so I'm not doing anything excessive, but definitely using the truck harder than most... Plus it's my DD.
That said i still don't think they should be blowing that fast, and they blew that quick on BenC's as well... Also my other hundy trail buddy has the nitro's and they have been holding up so far.

I understand YMMV, but 3rd set in 10k mikes is retarded...
 
I don't even blow my s***ty D44 ball joints on my dual ultimate crawler taco setup and I give that thing hell on the regular!
 
Ha, I find this funny. The only complaints I could find on the SPC ball joints having short failure time was @benc and it was due to a bad batch of joints. Hopefully he can chime in on how those replacements are holding up. It sounds like you abuse your rig pretty good, so I wouldn't be surprised with the short life your seeing. Have you tried talking to SPC directly? I know people in the 4Runner crowd, the tacoma crowd, and the land cruiser crowd who have nothing but good things to say about the SPCs. Not trying to say that its your fault here, but maybe theres a factor on your rig or driving manners that is leading to short life. I put almost 100k on my 4Runner SPCs and they were still tight when I sold them. Plus comparing a D44 balljoint to an IFS balljoint is not a good comparison, completely different type of ball joint.

And if your really unhappy with them, tear them out and post them up in the classifieds. Im sure they'll be gone in a day or two. Then buy the nitros, but don't come complaining if those joints start going out fast too.
 
Upon further thought that was also with stock size tires... For what it's worth
 
DirtDawg said:
Ha, I find this funny. The only complaints I could find on the SPC ball joints having short failure time was @benc and it was due to a bad batch of joints. Hopefully he can chime in on how those replacements are holding up. It sounds like you abuse your rig pretty good, so I wouldn't be surprised with the short life your seeing. Have you tried talking to SPC directly? I know people in the 4Runner crowd, the tacoma crowd, and the land cruiser crowd who have nothing but good things to say about the SPCs. Not trying to say that its your fault here, but maybe theres a factor on your rig or driving manners that is leading to short life. I put almost 100k on my 4Runner SPCs and they were still tight when I sold them. Plus comparing a D44 balljoint to an IFS balljoint is not a good comparison, completely different type of ball joint.

And if your really unhappy with them, tear them out and post them up in the classifieds. Im sure they'll be gone in a day or two. Then buy the nitros, but don't come complaining if those joints start going out fast too.
Click to expand...
I would be the first to agree that I wheel hard in the regular, and I understand the comparison to a D44 is relatively unfair BUT that IS the weak point and an part that is way under-engineered for how I run my taco vs a part engineered as able to handle the weight of my rig. The lifespan I am getting out of these is not acceptable either way... It should at least be relative to other 'stock' components lifespan...
I shouldn't be replacing an 'upgraded' part 5x faster than the rest of my stock ifs components. If I was really beating my rig that bad other s*** would be breaking.
As for the bad batch.... I think the whole batch is bad because these last ones that bit the dust are just as bad as the first.
And since they acknowledge the problem themselves also tells me that it's not my wheeling... I mean that's what the friggin thing is meant for.
 
I wouldn't mind it that bad if I could go down the st and buy replacement joints... At least I could have spares and anticipate the problem. But like I also said I wheel with my buddy who has nitro's and his aren't all flopping around within an oil change
 
I haven't even blown out my stock steering rack yet...
 
HELL NAW, this garage queen only gets driven on Sundays in 80F weather or better. I don't even Mall crawl.

You've done a lot of explaining in this thread to justify your rant. To me it seems you are hard on your vehicles, not necessary a bad thing, I have dont it many times. I don't see why complain when you have failures that seem to be caused by your hard driving. I would expect that jumping my 100 series like it was a built pre-runner, that I'm going to find a failure point in the suspension. You should understand this as it seems that you've built/broke and fixed your rigs.

FWIW, I've done my far share of car modding and have experienced many failures, chasing weak points down steam...Like the Stg3+ A4 I built. bolted the kit on did custom tune, found out CV's didn't like have the clutch dropped on them, upgraded and fix that problem, then flywheel/Clutch was next failure point....then finally the transmission itself was weak, I went thru (2) 2.8 5-spd in 4 months, so I had a fully built 01E 6-spd with hardened gears etc...problems solved in the drive line....then the udibody started to separate from the strut towers....etc....etc....

Point being, if you are gonna play, you are gonna have to pay at some point. If you are unhappy with a product given your intended use, count your losses, move on....or pioneer and work with somebody to fab you something.


Mauiyotanokaoi said:
Do you wheel often? Just curious. I do... Not uncommon for my cruiser to see rocks and dirt at least once a week. I fish, hunt, shoot, etc and all require wheeling and with engaging lockers + airing down 4.88's etc. I have a taco crawler that I beat to a pulp and use when it's a bad trail so I'm not doing anything excessive, but definitely using the truck harder than most... Plus it's my DD.
That said i still don't think they should be blowing that fast, and they blew that quick on BenC's as well... Also my other hundy trail buddy has the nitro's and they have been holding up so far.

I understand YMMV, but 3rd set in 10k mikes is retarded...
Click to expand...
 
As for the sas... It'll be here. I'm in the middle of a 4.7swap into my Tacoma :D, in which the 3rz we put in my buddies 3rd gen yota. I agree that parts will fail, but if they fail within an oil change AND I can't get the defective part right down the road than said part sucks compared to one that is readily available and lasts longer...
I'm ok with breaking parts, I do it all the time. I'm not ok with a part that is supposed to be an upgrade that has a shorter lifetime than a stock one. My other buddies LX has stock uppers, same lift as mine. He is loaded and rallies the s*** out if his all the time (lives 6miles down a washboard rd for starters) and his are tighter than mine after 10k miles and beating the crap out of it...
 
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I am not sure why people think the spc ucas are an "upgrade." You are taking an incredibly reliable vehicle, lifting it, then need to swap out the ucas to get a better alignment...but are not replacing them with oem parts. SPC is not OEM quality. Not even close.

I also think there is plenty of documentation asserting the idea that these ucas are not reliable. And this is coming from someone who lifted her 4runner, was disgusted with the ride quality, and had these same ucas installed (after reading horror stories!).

This is one of the things holding me back from lifting the Cruiser. I don't think I'll be happy with the alignment specs post-lift, but I don't want to start bolting on lesser quality parts, which ultimately make the vehicle less reliable. It's always a trade-off.

You're right in that it is crazy that they don't make it to the next oil change, but I will tell you I had mine rebuilt after 20k. To some extent I think it's about managing expectations...you are not dealing with Toyota parts.
 
I am quite disappointed with my SPC uppers. Both of my ball joints currently have play and are the ones without the grease zerks, maybe I should see if I could get an updated set under warranty. I also had to replace the bushings as they ovaled out. The worst part is my nice K02's are now cheese grated too! They look like a nice arm but they do not hold up at all, not even on my pavement queen.
 
DirtDawg said:
Then buy the nitros, but don't come complaining if those joints start going out fast too.
Click to expand...
The Nitro uppers use Tundra ball joints. Arrived with Moog's installed (w/ zerks). OEM quality - except for the PU bushings. Replacements available everywhere.
IMG_0405.webp
IMG_0406.webp
 
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Wow after hearing everyone I'm guessing that SPC's quality has gone down. Thats a shame because the set I put on my 4R lasted forever. @SHREDwagon so technically the balljoint on the nitros could be replaced with an OEM tundra bj? If so thats the route I'm going to go on my cruiser.

Edit: for some reason I thought the nitros came with the exposed heim-like balljoint. If they are true tundra BJs I retract my earlier statement.
 
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