SPC upper ball joint - DESIGN UPDATE and Part number

So when I was having my wheels installed, the tech showed me that my upper ball joints were worn. They have about 50K miles on them. I called SPC today to discuss this since the site shows 3 variations of the ball joints that may arrive with the control arms depending on where they ship from and how old the stock is.

1- original ball joint with zerk fitting
2- sealed and maintenance free ball joint without zerk fitting
3- sealed maintenance free ball joint with all black housing

He said that the joint failures that they are seeing is due to lack of grease and them not being serviced regularly. They were redesigned to create option #2 making them maintenance free. States that perform vehicle inspections had issues with the internal springs which led to design #3. The black housing joint is OEM style in design and is the only one in production. The other 2 designs have been discontinued.

The part # is SPC 35102. Slee Offroad currently has them in stock. Installation instructions are attached as well. There is a higher torque value than what the previous joints required.

https://www.spcalignment.com/index....part_description&pid=35102&Submit_form=Submit

 

@ColoradoTJ @T-Rex266 Possible sticky for this one? Thanks.

 

$218 for both or one? My uniball uppers are 50k+ miles and still goin strong. I have the replacement unis ready and waiting but don't need to do the swap yet. I use tri-flow on them after every wash.

 

They are $174 for both from places like Slee, Toytec, etc. I just linked the SPC site as it shows the details of the new design.

 

SPC has been on this train forever. Bad ball joints and then blaming it on consumers using the wrong grease. It's always everyone else's fault and no reasoning as why other brands don't have the same issues.

Unfortunately I've gone through this with them on two vehicles. Their bushings are known to fail as well and they even had cracking of their welds and upper control arms failing.

 

I just replaced my Ball Joints recently 40K miles. All the other joints on my rig are in good condition! Common SPC, get yer poo together! I hear a lot of people are having troubles with these joints in all makes and models. Nothing worse than a bad joint.

 

Have had mine on for 40k now, no signs of issues with my ballpoints at all. Greased 10-12
pumps of molybdenum every 5k oil change.

Can of brake cleaner and a tooth brush cleans it up nicely.