Ball joints

[TRAMPLINEMAN]

I recently changed my ball joints on my ‘14 and would like to say thank you to EMF for making a really nice product. I’ve replaced a lot of ball joints over the years and these seem to be above and beyond most others. I planned on doing a complete write up, but once I got started I totally forgot. I can’t talk bad about the factory joints tho, they lasted 130K miles on 35” tires and a lot of off road driving, which is waaaay longer than most of the other parts on this truck.

 

[zmos]

I recently changed my ball joints on my ‘14 and would like to say thank you to EMF for making a really nice product. I’ve replaced a lot of ball joints over the years and these seem to be above and beyond most others. I planned on doing a complete write up, but once I got started I totally forgot. I can’t talk bad about the factory joints tho, they lasted 130K miles on 35” tires and a lot of off road driving, which is waaaay longer than most of the other parts on this truck.

I just changed mine @ 80k....I guess I should say 80 thousand miles for or Canadian friends. Ball joints They were fine but doing a lot of work (rotors, calipers, brake lines and track bar)so decided to knock them out. I went will Carli. Those bottoms were PITA to remove. I ended up Fab’ing a tool to make it easier...Thank you YouTube. I’m glad I did them. I couldn’t tell any difference. So I could have gone a few thousand more miles. Track bar; One thing I did notice was how smoother the ride was going done the highway. The way the factory track bar is designed it binds the axle. I installed a Carli track bar. It rides better. Well Worth the money.

 

[MChessick]

FYI to those like myself that have a 2wd. Neither Carli or EMF make replacement ball joints for the 2wd. I was advised that the best of the worst are the OEM. I'm still trying to figure out why the knuckle would be different between the 2wd and 4wd. Any advice on who has the best price on OEM joints? Dealer prices seem to be all over the map as usual.
Thanks in advance.

 

[AH64ID]

I'm still trying to figure out why the knuckle would be different between the 2wd and 4wd.

I know the steering linkage is different and that could explain the knuckle/BJ differences.

 

[TRAMPLINEMAN]

Those bottoms were PITA to remove. I ended up Fab’ing a tool to make it easier...Track bar; One thing I did notice was how smoother the ride was going done the highway. The way the factory track bar is designed it binds the axle. I installed a Carli track bar. It rides better. Well Worth the money.

My drivers side went pretty good. The bottom took a little persuasion, but the top came right out. The passenger side, that was a whole different scenario. The bottom took about five hours to get out. I used every trick I had in my playbook. I broke two ½” breaker bars, cracked an impact socket and bent one of my heavy duty ball joint c clamps. The top on the passenger side popped right out.
The Carli track bar is on my list of to do things. But, that list is a mile long and seems to get longer by the day.

 

[Randomrunner12]

FYI to those like myself that have a 2wd. Neither Carli or EMF make replacement ball joints for the 2wd. I was advised that the best of the worst are the OEM. I'm still trying to figure out why the knuckle would be different between the 2wd and 4wd. Any advice on who has the best price on OEM joints? Dealer prices seem to be all over the map as usual.
Thanks in advance.

I'm right there with you. I am running the Moog problem solvers and haven't seen any issues in the last 40k miles. Next time I replace I will take measurements on the moogs and see what the difference is on the Carli or EMF. I can't see a reason that the joints would be any different except the maybe for the location where the BJ's actually sit when installed is the thickness in the materials?

 

[AEdelheit]

I'm right there with you. I am running the Moog problem solvers and haven't seen any issues in the last 40k miles. Next time I replace I will take measurements on the moogs and see what the difference is on the Carli or EMF. I can't see a reason that the joints would be any different except the maybe for the location where the BJ's actually sit when installed is the thickness in the materials?

Your truck is IFS correct? If so I cant see why the knuckles would be anywhere close to similar as its a complete different design.

The radius arm trucks use a solid axle still on there 2wd so not sure the exact difference on the BJ but there are some other differences between a 2wd and 4wd axle.

 

[Randomrunner12]

Of course the knuckles will be different but what I'm wondering is how much difference is there in thickness of where the ball joints actually mount on our control arms?

Why wouldn't the 4x4 joints not work on a 2wd? We are lighter and typically don't see much off-road? My only thinking to them not working is the mounting Location for 4x4 and 2wd has a different thickness of metal that actually holds the joints thus the joints are shorter or taller? I don't have Anyone around me that's 4x4 that I could look at and measure and I haven't had time to go check a dealer lot

 

[AEdelheit]

I suspect different taper, stud length, body diameter, body thickness are all different. You could always order the cheapest ball joint you can find online and compare but they are very precise fit so even .010" would be a problem . The upper 4wd joints also do not have the proper range of motion for IFP, the lowers may but certainly not uppers.

 

[Randomrunner12]

Yeah, these are all questions I want to get into. Someone has answers lol. If only my pocketbook had the resources to order some EMF and Carli and do some measuring and testing with.