Moog ball joints bad this fast?

TonyViv

Member
If you look back I had a load of drama last December with DW... long story short local off road shop did C gussets and Moog ball joints for me. Been driving great ever since, until yesterday. Hit a bump with drivers tire the shimmy is back, its like a mini DW, the SS is probably saving me. I got under and checked everything but the ball joints( I missed it checking them last year) and TB and all seem fine. This is so exactly like before, It really has me thinking ball joints again. Of course they have a lifetime warranty but the labor is 90 days.

Anyone think less than a year and 12k miles with 98% on road use they could possibly go bad that fast???

Tony
 

TonyViv

Member
So I got 30k or so out of the factory before they gave me problems... and now were buying aftermarket supposed "upgrades" and we cant get better than factory out of them?
 

Strodinator

Caught the Bug
I've had hit or miss with ball joints. I've seen moog ones last for 5k or 50k. I've never done them on my TJ and I've put 14k miles on them since I bought it. I wouldn't think it's out of the ordinary but I also can't imagine them charging you for more than an hour or two for labor if they do good work.

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J

JKDream

Guest
My lower synergy’s went about that fast. Around 10-15k or so on them with 37s


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Same except I had worn lowers and uppers. Got 10,000kms out of them.
Everyone barks at the price of Dynatracs - yet they're the only ones that actually last.
 

TonyViv

Member
Just get the Dynatracs and forget about them!


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That's what Im thinking, one more labor charge and they would be paid for...
Has anyone worn out and had to rebuild a set of pro steers yet?

Anyone have experience with the rare parts version with the top joint that carries part of the load?
 

BaddestCross

Active Member
That's what Im thinking, one more labor charge and they would be paid for...
Has anyone worn out and had to rebuild a set of pro steers yet?

Anyone have experience with the rare parts version with the top joint that carries part of the load?
I've been running them for a few months but not long enough to tell you if they're as good as Dynatrac. In theory, they should be better but I guess we'll find out. I can tell you that they're beefy as hell and the Jeep drives great with them on there, but my factory joints were so bad that just about anything would've been an improvement in that regard. 😂



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Clutch

Caught the Bug
I've been running them for a few months but not long enough to tell you if they're as good as Dynatrac. In theory, they should be better but I guess we'll find out. I can tell you that they're beefy as hell and the Jeep drives great with them on there, but my factory joints were so bad that just about anything would've been an improvement in that regard. [emoji23]



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Why better in theory?


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J

JKDream

Guest
Supposedly the top ball joint carries and takes 20% of the load off the bottom ball joint.
I don't see this actually working - nor having any benefit over a standard balljoint. The reason why Dynatracs last so long is because of the spherical bearing inside of the joint. It allows side to side movement on both balljoints stopping them from binding against eachother - which wears them. A balljoint is designed to take the load of a vehicle. Seems like a gimmick to me, an expensive one at that.

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TonyViv

Member
I don't see this actually working - nor having any benefit over a standard balljoint. The reason why Dynatracs last so long is because of the spherical bearing inside of the joint. It allows side to side movement on both balljoints stopping them from binding against eachother - which wears them. A balljoint is designed to take the load of a vehicle. Seems like a gimmick to me, an expensive one at that.

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That's why I said supposedly >..... :)~ what do I know
 

BaddestCross

Active Member
The RPs have a tapered roller bearing in the upper and spherical in the lower. Both joints allow for side-to-side movement. The supposed benefit of the RP joints is to take some of the load off the lower joints when stressed (such as hitting potholes, rocks, etc).

Like I said, the theory seems sound, but no one here has used them so I figured I'd be the guinea pig. Other forums have some folks that have ran them for awhile with no failures, but most of the info on the web is marketing or by people that were given the joints to be "testers" so I take their reviews with a grain of salt.

I got the Skyjacker-branded joints for not a whole lot more than the ProSteers and decided I'd give them a try. So far, so good, but like I said, it's only been a few months.

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TonyViv

Member
Update..... Took it to the shop that did the install ball joints had no play. Turned out the rancho steering stabilizer that was installed at the same time was seized up. Took everything to compress and open it (who would have thought) replaced it under warranty and is driving fine.

The bad side.... my passenger side unit bearing has a small amount of play and they say I could use a new tie rod soon as well, it flops but not much in the way of up/down play. I also have an axle seal leak up front on the drivers side.

Ill start a new thread looking on how to fix the seal..I have no idea how.. the unit bearing looks reasonable enough to fix...

Tony
 
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BaddestCross

Active Member
Update..... Took it to the shop that did the install ball joints had no play. Turned out the rancho steering stabilizer that was installed at the same time was seized up. Took everything to compress and open it (who would have thought) replaced it under warranty and is driving fine.

The bad side.... my passenger side unit bearing has a small amount of play and they say I could use a new tie rod soon as well, it flops but not much in the way of up/down play. I also have an axle seal leak up front on the drivers side.

Ill start a new thread looking on how to fix the seal..I have no idea how.. the unit bearing looks reasonable enough to fix...

Tony
Glad you're on the right track. 👍

--
Build Thread - Adventures of Fiona - https://wayalife.com/showthread.php?t=47407
 

hinrichs

Caught the Bug
Update..... Took it to the shop that did the install ball joints had no play. Turned out the rancho steering stabilizer that was installed at the same time was seized up. Took everything to compress and open it (who would have thought) replaced it under warranty and is driving fine.

The bad side.... my passenger side unit bearing has a small amount of play and they say I could use a new tie rod soon as well, it flops but not much in the way of up/down play. I also have an axle seal leak up front on the drivers side.

Ill start a new thread looking on how to fix the seal..I have no idea how.. the unit bearing looks reasonable enough to fix...

Tony

When you start looking into the seal, it looks like a scary job. I just did both sides on mine, and its really not that bad. Took me about 2-3 hours at the most. If you are going to replace unit bearings, this would be the time since you will have the front end apart. If you take your time, are decent with tools and keep everything organized on how it came out, its not a bad job. It is weird to see your front gear set sitting in front of you out of the pumpkin. For me the worst part was making an extension long enough to be able to drive out the old seals, and get the new ones installed.
 
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