Ball joints AGAIN!!!

[WalterJ]

rjones: My Carli BJ's came in 2 days ago & scheduled for replacement tomorrow morn. by trusted shop here in Racine; Auto Excellance. The BJ's came nestled in cutout foam, including a 14 oz. tube of RedLine red moly grease, and some nicely detailed install notes and tips. It also included a 3/16" thk steel "washer" to assist pressing in the BJ's along their edge/rim.

Good luck & safe travels.

Wally J.

 

[WalterJ]

Greetings EDankievitch;



Great news. I'm getting my Carli BJ's installed tomorrow morn. I cautioned mech. to lube first. How often are you lube'g them? Using the supplied RedLine Red Moly grease?



Due to your road experiences, are using Precision re-lubable U-Joints OK in your estimation? Thanks.



Wally J.

 

[pwerwagn]

The upper have at least 3/16 of an inch side play pwerwagn... . Well her is the story I m waiting for the joints to show and getting a lil worried Im in Mi and so is the company I ordered from so I should get them in 2 days Guess again I called them today and looks like they closed the doors and left the website up Nice huh... . the company so no one else runs into this is called The Tire Club located in Crystal Mi. Beware, Anyways I got them from Napa 260-1580 and 260-1579 lifetime warranty ... which are the same joints Quad4x4 is selling... . and are grease able

Wow, really?? When did they close? I ordered a set of mcquays from the tireclub on the 23rd and got them on the 27th. So this must have been very very recent?



So you decided to do uppers and lowers then?

 

[mini14]

I ordered xrf's from tire club on the 23rd and got them the 25th.

 

[rjones]

A little update I been calling and trying to log on to check the progress of these joints and they showed up today 1 week and nobody answered the phone over there..... I order an item on eBay shipping from Ca. and recd it in three days . . Wow anyways sorry I kinda jumped the gun but not being able to make contact for a week with the Tire club raised my eye brow... I already purchased some so they will be going back. . unless anyone wants to buy them for what I paid $159. 00 Oh and yes Im doing both I'm going to double check again but pretty sure I will

 

[rjones]

Hmmm these ball joints are serrated which are better serrated or not ??

 

[EDankievitch]

I try to give the Carli Ball joints a shot of lube at each oil change (about 5,000 miles) but you'll fiind that they will not take much grease. The o ring seal is very tight fitting Carli says that you lube them when you assemble them into the truck and more lube is not needed after. All I can say is at 90,000 miles running 315-70-17 tires and backing more than my fair share of trailers around they have held up very well. No slop or play as solid just smoother than when new.

 

[rjones]

wish me luck Im changing the joints this Am not looking foward to this especially with 2 rotator cuff tears ... .....

 

[jgillott]

Best of luck. It's really not that bad of a job if you aren't in a rush. Wish you were closer. I'd be more than willing to lend a hand.

 

[rjones]

In for lunch as usual everything is rusted the bearing split so I need 1 bearing at least now . . ball joints are in lower was not bad no play but I was there changed it anyway... . working on the bad axle joint now and with these dam bad shoulders i can only swing so hard I and they aren't moving head ed back out there gonna be a long weekend... ... :{ thx for the offer jgillott... ... its only a what umm 6 hour drive :-laf

 

[Bob4x4]

Hmmm these ball joints are serrated which are better serrated or not ??

Using the serrated joints will open up the hole so you may not be able to use the

standard size joints again

 

[EDankievitch]

WalterJ I didn't see your other question I've been using Mobil Synthetic grease it seems to be as good as the grease Carli provides.

 

[rjones]

I ran into some bad luck I made the mistake of buying precision with the 351 stamp I knew there was issues but I want greasable axle joints well I ended up talking some metal off the ends which I heard is what ppl are doing but when I went to install, the caps dropped right threw the yoke wtf?? like it was reamed out the old joint I end up buying a 20 ton press to get them out. Someone hates me up there :{

 

[adnach]

O. K. I've been lurking & reading. 2005 just turned 110k mi and had little play in drivers side ball joints and some play in the driver side wheel bearing. I bought this truck out of Texas 2 years ago w/50K on it... is set up to tow. I put a plow on it and tow a 7 ton trailer regularly so its now living the "HARSH" New England life. I'd been mulling over doing the front end proactively but a sudden axle joint failure caused me to have to do the work ASAP. I've always hated the no locking hub design sooo I went with EMS spin free kit, did the ball joints with Moog, used spicer axle joints. Aside from it taking me 4 HOURS PER SIDE to tear it down the whole install went smoothly. I got over 100K on Moog in my 96 2500. I looked at the Carli and its probably the way to go. I just couldn't swing it this time. I've driven the truck 150 mi so far and what a huge difference with the hubs its so smooth. However i ABSOLUTELY HATE the way the front axle/hub assembly sticks out. Oh well guess you can't have everything... . Oh yea the best part. . my wife unknowingly bought the parts for me... HAHA... used her credit card for the spin free kit!! I've got 30 days to come up w/an excuse!

____________________________

05 3500 4X4 6spd Quad cab, SB, air bags, 8'6" plow

 

[Mark31]

O. K. I've been lurking & reading. 2005 just turned 110k mi and had little play in drivers side ball joints and some play in the driver side wheel bearing. I bought this truck out of Texas 2 years ago w/50K on it... is set up to tow. I put a plow on it and tow a 7 ton trailer regularly so its now living the "HARSH" New England life. I'd been mulling over doing the front end proactively but a sudden axle joint failure caused me to have to do the work ASAP. I've always hated the no locking hub design sooo I went with EMS spin free kit, did the ball joints with Moog, used spicer axle joints. Aside from it taking me 4 HOURS PER SIDE to tear it down the whole install went smoothly. I got over 100K on Moog in my 96 2500. I looked at the Carli and its probably the way to go. I just couldn't swing it this time. I've driven the truck 150 mi so far and what a huge difference with the hubs its so smooth. However i ABSOLUTELY HATE the way the front axle/hub assembly sticks out. Oh well guess you can't have everything... . Oh yea the best part. . my wife unknowingly bought the parts for me... HAHA... used her credit card for the spin free kit!! I've got 30 days to come up w/an excuse!

____________________________

05 3500 4X4 6spd Quad cab, SB, air bags, 8'6" plow

Move over, Rover!

 

[pwerwagn]

Haha awesome!! I'm sure u can think of a great excuse in 30 days!!

I'm so glad all the trucks I get to work on are west coast. A buddy and I did ball joints on an 06 Saturday. From tires on the shop floor to tires on the shop floor in 2hrs 8 minutes. Not too shabby.

 

[EDankievitch]

West coast trucks... . Ha! Your missing out on all the fun us guys in the road salt rust belt have. We get to use torches and huge hammers, Fire the smell of hot steel burning grease and flesh yea way cool! Nothing like it..... Makes ya a real man... . LOl

 

[Herman8r]

Question regarding BJ inspection & Hub / Bearing inspection. Question is how do I inspect these? I have had the BJs & Tie rods replaced at 88,500 (a local shop did it--Moog Parts)
Now at 130,000 the tie rods are shot. I am going to install the new 2008. 5+ linkage from Source Automotive (referal from BOB 4x4). I have no problem with replacing the tie rods--but I've never inspected or changed the knuckles, hubs, BJ's. What is the method for testing these?
Thanks, HJR

 

[SteveGormley]

OK, my turn to admitting to lurking: I am a new diesel owner of a 2006 dodge quad cab short box 2500 4 X4 with 50K on it; decided to upgrade from gas 1/2 to to pull a fifth wheel. I have the dreaded death wobble and it happened with the wife in the truck doing 70+ on the e-way... fun fun. I have read through here and the buyers guide and for any and all answers to a fix but am pretty confused. Kinda of going through info overload I guess. Mine is more of a severe wheel hope than a wobble, up and down uncontrollable shake, no side to side movements. Looking under the truck it seems the previous owner had upgraded to the 2009 steering linkage and there are dual staring stabilizers. Ball joints seem tight but its been so cold I have not had a good chance to get under the truck for a complete inspection. There is a 2" body lift with front end leveler and I have 31" tires. I guess what I'm asking is, is this server wheel hop more to do with the shocks or steering linkage. I cant see that the shocks would be worn out at 50K and there is no bounce whit normal driving.

 

[Regcabguy]

Hopefully,no BFG's on the truck. The Dodge's just don't seem to care for them. Make absolutely sure of your tire balance. The one time I got it was from a reputable tire store. It must have been the guy's last day as he sabotaged them to the tune of 4ozs off!