SPC UCA’s w/ BP 51’s loud noise (2 Viewers)

[Climbingnut]

Hey everyone, I have some loud noise coming from my front driver side (left) wheel well. On compression, there’s a loud squawk that is very unnerving. My SPC ball joint is leaking grease, though the boot isn’t torn. Could this be a ball joint going bad, or is it likely to be the ’SpecRide’ bushings? My passenger side doesn‘t make this noise, nor is the ball joint leaking grease. I’ve tried to isolate the noise by having someone cycle the suspension and using a long steel bar to listen to both the bushings and the ball joint. I’m inclined to think that the problem is not the ball joint, but the bushings.

Before anyone suggests I take it to a mechanic or dealer for surety, I live in a small town in Angola, Africa. I am the mechanic... At least until the borders reopen and I can drive to Namibia. I’m just trying to judge if I need to DHL new ball joints over or not.

 

[BVE]

How many miles on them? Depending on miles and the toughness of the terrain you travel, you could be due for new bushings. Reading around here the last year or so I’ve seen more than a few complain about SPCs being noisy/squeaky.

 

[Climbingnut]

How many miles on them? Depending on miles and the toughness of the terrain you travel, you could be due for new bushings. Reading around here the last year or so I’ve seen more than a few complain about SPCs being noisy/squeaky.

The cruiser had roughly 17k KM’s or 10,500 miles when the SPC’s were mounted. It now has roughly 45k kms or 28k mi. I’d expect much better life from bushings than that. Also, the passenger side doesn’t squeak or make noise. The roads I travel are rough and dusty, but of the 18k miles I’ve put on it since the SPC’s were mounted, maybe a third of those have been rough off-road while towing, a third city roads and another third highway with some potholes.

 

[JohnJB]

I found that when my SPC bushings got noisy two quick shots of a silicone teflon spray on each side of the bushing shut them up for 4 to 6 months at a time. I'm sure folks have opinions about that but it worked successfully. Bushing noise and ball joint noise are different noises to my ear but if you want to rule out the bushings, you could attempt something similar.

 

[Angelo1]

I would consider upgrading your UCA’s to ICON billets. ICON system also has a o-ring sealed cover cap to keep dirt and weather elements from collecting on top of the uniball, which ultimately leads to tearing up the PTFE liner causing you to replace them prematurely. I love mine. 31k miles with no issues. I had SPC in both my previous 200’s and never liked them.

 

[blatant]

I have spc. Despite tapping the mounts and putting in zerks, keeping them lubed, clean and often, they still make a terrible racket over speed bumps, hard dips and twisting off road. They just make noise. Some folks say theirs don't, but can't see how. Even when installed to the letter, they make a racket shortly their after.

 

[4gotalot]

I had about the same miles on my SPC UCA's when they started to squeak and bark when I went over speed bumps. Installed zerks and lithium base grease. Silent for another 20k miles. Bushings were in great shape. SPC supplied grease was installed and had just dried up.

L&R ball joint leak excess grease out the bottom of the boot. Maybe I put too much grease in the ball joint zerk.

Ck the condition of the shock bushings on the top of the strut. I was also getting movement and a squeak from that location on my OME struts. R&R bushings the year before I serviced the UCA's.

 

[linuxgod]

I have spc. Despite tapping the mounts and putting in zerks, keeping them lubed, clean and often, they still make a terrible racket over speed bumps, hard dips and twisting off road. They just make noise. Some folks say theirs don't, but can't see how. Even when installed to the letter, they make a racket shortly their after.

Mine don't. Or at least I'm not terribly bothered by the very minor squeak I do get at low speed when offroad (or even positive it's the UCA ball joint, or bushings, or something else in my setup). Mine get greased every ~5k miles. I've had them for ~45k miles so far. I don't know if it's the angle (mine are set at +2), type of grease used, or just dumb luck though.

The cruiser had roughly 17k KM’s or 10,500 miles when the SPC’s were mounted. It now has roughly 45k kms or 28k mi. I’d expect much better life from bushings than that. Also, the passenger side doesn’t squeak or make noise. The roads I travel are rough and dusty, but of the 18k miles I’ve put on it since the SPC’s were mounted, maybe a third of those have been rough off-road while towing, a third city roads and another third highway with some potholes.

I would think they should last a lot longer than 28k miles, but your roads may well be a lot worse than we see in the US.

I don't know that it's the source of your noise, but if your ball joint is leaking grease then it's going to require replacement. You might be able to drive for a bit before it starts to really need it, but if there's grease leaking out if means the boot is torn or loose and now dirt and water can get in there and wear or rust the joint. On the plus side once you replace the ball joint you'll know if the noise is from that or the bushings. (If the noise is coming from the side with the leaking ball joint, my guess is it's the joint, though the classic ball joint noise is a clunk not a squeak).

I've tried silicone spray on my bushings but it never made a difference in the minor squeak I'll hear at low speeds (10-20mph) offroad. Honestly unless you loosen the UCA bolts and grease the bushings again I don't think the silicone spray will really do much as the bushings are all pretty tight.

 

[Climbingnut]

Mine don't. Or at least I'm not terribly bothered by the very minor squeak I do get at low speed when offroad (or even positive it's the UCA ball joint, or bushings, or something else in my setup). Mine get greased every ~5k miles. I've had them for ~45k miles so far. I don't know if it's the angle (mine are set at +2), type of grease used, or just dumb luck though.


I would think they should last a lot longer than 28k miles, but your roads may well be a lot worse than we see in the US.

I don't know that it's the source of your noise, but if your ball joint is leaking grease then it's going to require replacement. You might be able to drive for a bit before it starts to really need it, but if there's grease leaking out if means the boot is torn or loose and now dirt and water can get in there and wear or rust the joint. On the plus side once you replace the ball joint you'll know if the noise is from that or the bushings. (If the noise is coming from the side with the leaking ball joint, my guess is it's the joint, though the classic ball joint noise is a clunk not a squeak).

I've tried silicone spray on my bushings but it never made a difference in the minor squeak I'll hear at low speeds (10-20mph) offroad. Honestly unless you loosen the UCA bolts and grease the bushings again I don't think the silicone spray will really do much as the bushings are all pretty tight.

I tried to remove the ball joint from the spindle to rotate it around and check for any unusual play, but that thing wasn’t going to come out of the spindle without destroying the rubber boot. I thought about removing the top nut where adjustments are made, and dropping the ball joint out that way. My main concern is messing up the alignment. Keeping the ‘key’ in the right place isn’t a problem. The sliding part is where I’m wondering if I might screw it up. When/if anyone has replaced the upper ball joint, where you able to maintain alignment or did you get it rechecked?

 

[linuxgod]

I tried to remove the ball joint from the spindle to rotate it around and check for any unusual play, but that thing wasn’t going to come out of the spindle without destroying the rubber boot. I thought about removing the top nut where adjustments are made, and dropping the ball joint out that way. My main concern is messing up the alignment. Keeping the ‘key’ in the right place isn’t a problem. The sliding part is where I’m wondering if I might screw it up. When/if anyone has replaced the upper ball joint, where you able to maintain alignment or did you get it rechecked?

if you loosen the castle nut, you should be able to separate the ball joint from the spindle by smacking the spindle with a 2# hammer. The spindle will fall out of the ball joint, no damage to the boot. A new one should come with the boot anyway though

I’m pretty sure the SPC ball joint comes out by removing the top nut. I don’t recall it sliding, per se - IIRC “sliding” is a function of how many degrees of additional caster you want, but I think it’s in fixed 1 degree increments, so it should be easy to swap a new one into the same position. That said I’m going from memory from when I installed mine 4 years ago...

 

[CharlieS]

if you loosen the castle nut, you should be able to separate the ball joint from the spindle by smacking the spindle with a 2# hammer. The spindle will fall out of the ball joint, no damage to the boot.

^This has never failed me on an UCA ball joint.

 

[Climbingnut]

Yeah, that’s what I thought. I had a few tools stolen a couple years ago by some rent-a-guards. One was my heavy hammer. Never replaced it. Now’s a good time to do so though.