SPC Ball Joint Failure

[TremorKaos]

FYI - The newer SPC UCAs now come with the sealed ball joints...part numbers have changed, UCA PN#35106 that fits our trucks & uses the sealed unit, has superseded PN#25685.

I can confirm that I do have the older PN#25685 UCA on the truck with the older greaseable ball joint.

Also, the timeline posted by @Moe7 tracks with my purchasing the kit in November 2023.

 

[SpaceWhiteF150]

After more digging and talking with y’all I can confirm fit of the icon tubular arms running 285/75/18 tires on stock rims and no issues with clearance on the UCA!

So ICON tubular upper control arms are a go for factory wheels! If you have a 12.5 or 305 tire you might experience clearance issues. Thanks @metallikatz3 for confirming!

We have tons of icon ucas in stock ready to ship, I will pass along a forum discount to anyone who wants a set! Just shoot me a pm.

 

[Tremgineer]

@SpaceWhiteF150 what is your store?

 

[SpaceWhiteF150]

@SpaceWhiteF150 what is your store?

I’m a partnered with Hammer Performance, the site is hpbuilt.com. For the discounts everything will be done through a custom invoice! Just shoot me a pm with what you are looking for.

 

[Tremgineer]

I’m a partnered with Hammer Performance, the site is hpbuilt.com. For the discounts everything will be done through a custom invoice! Just shoot me a pm with what you are looking for.

Great, this is a nice option!

 

[StormTremor]

After more digging and talking with y’all I can confirm fit of the icon tubular arms running 285/75/18 tires on stock rims and no issues with clearance on the UCA!

So ICON tubular upper control arms are a go for factory wheels! If you have a 12.5 or 305 tire you might experience clearance issues. Thanks @metallikatz3 for confirming!

We have tons of icon ucas in stock ready to ship, I will pass along a forum discount to anyone who wants a set! Just shoot me a pm.

I'm on stock UCAs with no current complaints, but for future reference, would these fit stock Raptor wheels and tires? My guess is probably not bc of the 315/70/17 tires?

 

[SpaceWhiteF150]

I'm on stock UCAs with no current complaints, but for future reference, would these fit stock Raptor wheels and tires? My guess is probably not bc of the 315/70/17 tires?

Not 100% sure without trying, the raptor wheels are plus 34. I would say that paired with the 315s would lead to clearance issues.

 

[AMET]

Not 100% sure without trying, the raptor wheels are plus 34. I would say that paired with the 315s would lead to clearance issues.

will 100% lead to clearance issues, main reason for going with SPC is the clearance, i have roughly 1/2" between tire and SCP UCA, also some Tubular arms will interfere with the actual coil overs. I'm running 315/70/r17 raptor beadlock takeoffs.

No issues with my SPC kit yet but i only have 5000km on them

 

[PYLDRVR]

I've pinged a couple shops about installing the Icon tubulars and one reached out to their Icon rep and Icon is being pretty cagey about the whole thing. Apparently the amount of tire and wheel combinations Ford offers makes it impossible to confirm OE setups and they recommend after market wheels - make of that what you will. I'll admit to being a little leary because I don't want to pay a shop to do an install just to find out the arms contact the rim or the coils....decisions, decisions.

 

[SpaceWhiteF150]

I've pinged a couple shops about installing the Icon tubulars and one reached out to their Icon rep and Icon is being pretty cagey about the whole thing. Apparently the amount of tire and wheel combinations Ford offers makes it impossible to confirm OE setups and they recommend after market wheels - make of that what you will. I'll admit to being a little leary because I don't want to pay a shop to do an install just to find out the arms contact the rim or the coils....decisions, decisions.

I had a similar conversation with our rep. He said the most positive offset you can have is +6, which I know is incorrect because we have done plenty of method builds with +18 wheels and my personal truck with +12 wheels. The only way to be certain on fitment is to test.

We have a confirmed fitment on a factory wheel with a 285/75R18 tire.

I original deal still stands, every set will be discounted.

 

[zimm]

I heard back from Kevin @ Halo lifts. He said he's never heard of an SPC failure and was reaching out to SPC to see if there are any others.

Maybe it was just a freak one off incident. Could have been defective, or maybe it was damaged by something the owner did to it, like hitting a huge pothole or something.

Unless it's a trend of failures, I'm going to keep running mine. Seems silly to drop $800 on another set of arms, pay for another alignment, if it's not a wide spread or common problem.

 

[Escape Hatch]

I heard back from Kevin @ Halo lifts. He said he's never heard of an SPC failure and was reaching out to SPC to see if there are any others.

Maybe it was just a freak one off incident. Could have been defective, or maybe it was damaged by something the owner did to it, like hitting a huge pothole or something.

Unless it's a trend of failures, I'm going to keep running mine. Seems silly to drop $800 on another set of arms, pay for another alignment, if it's not a wide spread or common problem.

Until it snaps going 70 on the interstate.... new fear unlocked.

 

[MacHugh]

I'd say Google 'SPC ball joint failure' and decide for yourself. There are many easy to find examples, lot of Toyota guys ran them it seems for yrs, the fact they have 3 different ball joint designs in as many yrs is also unsettling.
I get it, didn't want to spend another grand either but I am with @Escape Hatch on new fear and OP being lucky this wasn't at speed - I'm not going to wait and find out.

 

[Moe7]

I couldn't find examples of failures with the updated design. The first 2 designs are actually the same, just one does not have the grease zerk; my read is that the former design needed the maintenance via the zerk and should not have been sealed.

I ended up confident enough in what I found/heard to buy the updated ball joints and roll with the setup. I'll certainly report back in a year or so if anything seems abnormal.

 

[GHawk16]

I ran SPC on my Toyota 4Runner for YEARS and never once had an issue with mine. That was back in 2016-2018 on the old style. And I beat the living crap out of that rig. When I bought my Halo kit I did find out after buying it, but before installing, that SPC had updated the joints. Halo swapped them out for the new ones, no charge. I haven't had any issues yet, but I've only had them on roughly 12K miles. But I'm definitely keeping a close eye on play with them.

But someone mentioned in an earlier thread about changing designs for something with a known issue. Guess what, Icon did the same thing. I had the top of the line Icon suspension on my 4Runner after I replaced my Toytec/SPC system as I wanted the "coolest" new thing. I went with their tubular UCA's. But they had top hat issues and both of mine broke and they wouldn't even warranty them. Icon's customer service was the worst and I still hear horror stories. I will never support that company again. So just keep that in mind that even Icon isn't perfect.

I will say, it does SUCK what happened to the original poster. I would have those things off my truck and OEM back on in no time. Not sure if other UCA manufactures will fit. BDS maybe? Total Chaos?