SPC xAxis UCA bushing longevity/performance

Looking for feedback on the SPC xAxis UCA bushings from people that have used them. Searching the forums I'm not seeing many reports for how they have held up, nor am I seeing many reports on if they squeak, clunk, break, etc. Want to see what the TacomaWorld hive mind thinks of them now that they have been out for a few years. Thoughts? Comments?

Reason I'm asking:

1. SPC arms are a popular item, however their Spec Ride bushings seem to have been not so good and they have had "bad batches" of bushings in the past.
2. A replacement set of these xAxis bushings (25030) are currently ~$275 doll hairs which frankly is a considerable chunk of change. Replacement SPC ball joints are ~$220. Add those together and you can almost buy a new set of arms. Not cheap to rebuild which is a consideration in choosing the right UCA.
3. Debating in my head whether some special one-off wonky bushing is any better than rubber, poly, or elastomer that are used in other UCAs. I still can't make up my mind if SPC bushings and/or balljoints are brilliant or gimmicks (both on paper and real world).
4. I haven't seen many reports of issues which makes me paranoid. Either lots of people run them with no issues, or not many people run then and don't post here. Or somewhere in-between. Impossible to gauge this based on searching old posts.

Thoughts? Comments? Add your comments below!

 

I've had mine for over 2 years now and only had to replace one ball joint other then that they are great

 

I've had my Spcs for 40k miles now. Had to do the balljoints once, but I did buy them used so they had some miles on them. The axis bushings have been flawless, have zero play still, and make no noise.

 

Thanks for the responses guys. I’m going to assume only 2 replies with positive reviews and the lack of any negative press means these bushings are legit. Drank the Koolaid and ordered a set for myself to join the club. Cheers!

 

@wi_taco roughly a year on, how have these new bushings been holding up for you?

 

So far, so good. I had some popping/creaking noises when backing down my driveway apron and cutting the wheel that I thought was bushings but turned out to be the balljoint. I grease them religiously but apparently that isn't enough. After force-feeding them another hearty helping of moly lube the noises are gone. Bushings feel tight, zero complaints thus far.

 

Great writeup and follow-up on the newer axis bushings with spherical bearings.

https://adventuretaco.com/replacing-my-spc-upper-control-arms-with-spc-ucas/

 

That is and interesting write-up by a well-known TacomaWorld member, thanks. They seem to do quite a bit of wheeling too so it's a good point of data.

It's really weird because from all the things I read those early "spec ride" bushings gave a lot more problems and so did the OG ball joints or boot designs. I feel like I've read a lot of threads here now, and while there are some negative reports on the new axis bushings it doesn't seem as frequent. Early SPC arms also had failures on the arm but that seems remedied by the newer forged design.

It's still a guessing game on what the reality is here - are these common flaws with either the design or manufacturing? Are we just hearing the negative reports? How prevalent is this? Continuing to keep my ears & eyes open to watch trends.

 

You are right. Most people only bring up the topic of quality when they run into problems. The one who don't have problems, have no reason to create a post about it. But seeing how AdventureTaco wheels A LOT, it is a good reference to use when you're in the market for UCA's.

I had Camburg Uniball UCA and King coilovers/ shocks on my 5th gen 4R and while they were great, I dreaded the fact that I knew that they'd have to be serviced often. I just got a '23 Tacoma and plan to keep it simple this time around, since I have no desire to cross the Mojave desert again, but would still like to occasionally camp. I plan on upgrading my suspension with something along the lines of Bilstein 6112/ 5160 or OME as they'll get the job done. I'm in no rush yet, so I'll keep the stock TRD OR suspension for a few months as I'm still trying to buy a camper shell first, and then modify suspension as needed.

 

Adding onto this a year later, ended up going through 5 sets of balljoints in 25-30k miles after this, even with weekly greasing.

 

Whoa! That sounds annoying.

 

Swapping my spcs to jd fabs ucas was the best decision I made. Haven't had to replace a ball joint yet unlike the spcs

 

So it looks like in less than a year your opinion changed...what happened in that period? Did you have any problems with the x-axis bushings or just the SPC balljoints?

 

I had both the first generation and the newest ones on my 5th Gen 4Runner. They tend to run wide and I had to run wheel spacers because I was getting interference with 285s using the stock wheels.

 

In 2 years no rock crawling just Norma offroad use. 2 ball joint fails and when I swapped the. The bushing where shot. And at like 250 canadian rupies for a set of ball joints I'd rather replace the entire arms for something better. Plus I got the alignment I wanted with not adjustable arms.

 

Interesting, thanks for sharing your experience.

Follow-up question: How much lift do you have, which JD Fab arm specs did you choose, and what kind of caster do you have going on for alignment?

 

I have 2.5 to 2.75 inches of lift give er take. I have there .75 caster arms
My alignment numbers are 0 toe 0 camber and 3 ti 3.4 caster some where around there for the caster.

 

Perfect thanks, that's what I assumed but wanted to confirm in case anyone else decides that route in the future.

 

Hi!
I'm late to the party and this is my debut post!

I felt compelled to join in because I bought a truck with SPC's installed. Pretty happy with stuff, then one day, the squeak came. Took her to a shop (I'm learning, and live in an apartment, so can't do much by myself *hides face)
They swapped old for xaxis bushings and the new(?) maintenance free ball joints (but still told me I had to maintenance grease?)

Things were well but the squeak came back and 3,000 miles later took er back in and they did LCAs. This worked for about 5k? milesish and the squeak. returned. I've heard people say a little squeak is normal, this isn't that. It's embarrassing level squeaky creak

I decided to go to a different offroad shop, and didn't say much other than what's the source of this squeak? They told me totally worn balljoints, with play. Then when I caught them up they said the other shop must have done a bad install. Also, had noticed awhile before that it seemed like there wasn't any grease in the covers, and there was plenty gooped up at the bottom of the cover.

What the heck is going on? So, I decided the new shop could do an install of the same parts re-ordered, like an experiment I guess. Is this a terrible idea? (It's getting covered by the extended warranty thingy I bought with the truck)

Thanks for letting me hop in, if anyone is still out there........out there ...... ..... .............out there ....

 

Welcome to TW. You’ll learn a lot here!

The squeak could be from a number of things. I just have to replace my SPCs due to play in the XAxis bushings and my truck also had/has a squeak from the front. Unfortunately SPC has been know for early failures but they have a pretty good warranty program.

The maintenance free ball joints done have a zerk fitting on top, so if it isn’t there, nothing you need to worry about. If there is a zerk, it’s supposed to be greased every 5K miles.

The radiator mount is a know place of failure and for squeaking as well. If you’re certain it’s in the front. The rear leafs are also known for squeaking and sometimes that sounds like it’s from the front.

Hope this helps!