Ball Joints Toast on an 03 4x4

[rbattelle]

I believe Moog adjustable uppers have been around for at least a year, maybe longer. We've been waiting on the lowers for some time.



Ryan

 

[ACoffel]

Ball joints suck. Heavy truck like these should have kingpins!



Andy

I could not agree more !! I think as long as ball joints are used on these

trucks, problems will persist, although a quality aftermarket GREASABLE u-joint

could extend the life a bit. I wish they still had kingpins like they did back when there were real trucks (king pin DANA 60s + NP205s).

I think the guys with the bigger tires are always going to have problems,

because the ball joints and especially poor quality ones are simply not up

to the task. They are very marginal for the stock 265s, so throwing on 315s

is asking for trouble with this arrangement.

I hope no one thinks this problem can be fixed by swapping to the SD or

Durajunk because the SDs have the same ball joint and wheel bearing failure

and the Durajunks have both of these problems coupled with a pansy ??? ifs.

 

[ACoffel]

1/2 ton trucks are for women,unless it has a viper in it.

I second that !!!!

 

[ACoffel]

Isnt 1/2 ton truck an OXYMORON

kinda like military intelligence :-laf

That (1/2 ton truck= oxymoron) is a VERY GOOD POINT !!

 

[ACoffel]

AAM should have used KingPins... I'm wondering if there is a way to upgrade the knuckles with a www.highclearance.com king pin knuckle off a Dana 60... I need to check them before my 36 thousand miles is up because DC does not cover ball joints after the initial 3/36000... even though they are part of the front axle housing... pure BS!



Randy

I suppose if someone had the funds, time, and ambition, they could do a complete swap of the inner C using the DEDENBEAR parts, although I'm

not sure of how the AAM 9. 25 axle tube dia. compares to the Dana 60 these

parts were intended for. If the DEDENBEAR inner C could be adapted, one could then also use the DEDENBEAR steering knuckle and have the stronger

(IMHO) kingpin setup or if ones pockets are really deep, they could just get a custom DYNATRAC dana 60 built.

As I've stated many times, at least we don't have WIMPY ifs !!

 

[Cummins Cowboy]

what would happen if you drilled and tapped your OEM joints for zerks

 

[ACoffel]

what would happen if you drilled and tapped your OEM joints for zerks

I have considered this myself. Having a little metal from the drilling mixed in

with the grease couldn't be any worse than no grease at all.