Uca advice please.

[Jmivorm]

Hi all. I just ordered a set of fox coilovers and rear shocks from accutune. While i wait for those I was pondering uca’s. I have a new set of spc and a new set of arb/ome upper control arms. Ive been concerned about the spc squeak, but dont know if the arb have enough real world mileage to know if they will be better.
i am installing 2721 rear springs from a ome kit i bought with the spc uca’s and never installed 2 years ago. I will then level the truck with the front coilovers, if that matters.
Thanks in advance for the advice.

 

[Lester did that]

I am running the SPC uca's with the Emu set up. No squeaks at all. They have been serving me well for 2 years now no complaints. If your going past 2" on a suspension lift your going to need the adjustable uca's to be able to get the alignment perfect. Every 4x4 mechanic in my area swore by the SPC's because it makes the alignment doable even with large lifts. And they are solid. ARB uca's are solid as well but a little more difficult to work with. Both quality products but in the end the SPC's are very easy to manipulate to get the numbers and long term they tend to hold the alignment longer than other UCA's.

 

[kcjaz]

I have SPCs with BP-51 setup for almost two years. No squeaks. I didn’t know SPC squeak was a thing.

 

[Jmivorm]

I have SPCs with BP-51 setup for almost two years. No squeaks. I didn’t know SPC squeak was a thing.

SPC A Arm Squeak - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/spc-a-arm-squeak.1210926/

 

[bloc]

IMO it is possible to have too much adjustability, and a few members have posted having issues with the adjustable ball joint on SPC uppers. If you aren’t going really far with lift, they may offer more features than you need.

I was an early adopter of the OME arms and love them, about a year in. Camber/caster adjusters were right near the middle with a little over 2” lift. No squeaks or issues. I agree collectively we need more miles on them but signs are good so far.

 

[Climbingnut]

IMO, your main issue with SPC UCA’s is going to be bushing maintenance. You have to pull the arms off in order to regrease the sleeves. There’s no way around that. I’ve yet to install my new bushings, but I’m starting to think that the SPC “squeak” may actually be the aftermarket suspension people have. The spherical bushing on the shock mount on the LCA gets hammered with water, dirt, salt, mud, etc, and can start to squeak too. My BP-51’s are definitely squeaking down there. Most people using SPC’s are doing so because of their aftermarket suspension lift. I think I’d still be inclined to try OME if I had them with me, just to do something different, see how long they last.

 

[bloc]

IMO, your main issue with SPC UCA’s is going to be bushing maintenance. You have to pull the arms off in order to regrease the sleeves. There’s no way around that. I’ve yet to install my new bushings, but I’m starting to think that the SPC “squeak” may actually be the aftermarket suspension people have. The spherical bushing on the shock mount on the LCA gets hammered with water, dirt, salt, mud, etc, and can start to squeak too. My BP-51’s are definitely squeaking down there. Most people using SPC’s are doing so because of their aftermarket suspension lift. I think I’d still be inclined to try OME if I had them with me, just to do something different, see how long they last.

I see your point but the same poly bushings in performance on-road applications without spherical ends are notorious for squeaking. My experience with that was enough for me to rule out ever running that bushing design again.

Frankly I’m surprised these ARBs have remained as silent as they are.. I just don’t understand what magic they use in there.. but so far it is effective.

 

[Climbingnut]

I’ll see soon when I do some major work on my UCA’s. I’ll have the BP51’s rebuilt when the borders reopen and I can drive to South Africa to have it done. Will be nice to have a suspension that doesn’t squeak again… If I ever do replace the SPC’s, I’ve also considered some of the non-poly options out there. Then again, for my application, there’s no guarantee on the life of the rubber bushings either.

OP, you’ve got two options, I think I’d put my money on trying the OME ones if you don’t need any crazy adjustments. If you don’t like them, pulling them off to swap out with the SPC’s isn’t the most difficult of things to do at home.

 

[UPR LC]

I installed a set of the OME / ARB UCA's a few weeks ago with OME suspension. Easy install and quiet. About 500 miles on them so far (no rain and very little off road) and they are as good as original, no squeaks.

I previously had Total Chaos Fab UCAs and LCAs on a built tacoma and they squeaked like crazy, greased all the time, nothing would stop the squeak. For that truck, I did not care but for the cruiser I wanted quiet and functional without the hassle of cleaning and lubing spherical bearings and poly bushings.

Time will tell, but I am very happy with the fit and finish of the OME UCAs so far.