Balljoint

[Wayne M.]

Maybe they didnt sock down a tie rod? Don’t just take it back, TOW it back. Make them pay for the ride.

 

[fitz011]

Anyone know what happened to Moog? They used to be considered vastly superior to OEM but I
keep seeing more & more complaints about them. Did some Chinese co buy them out for their
good name & now sell **** parts (like so many others in the US)?

 

[Wayne M.]

Anyone know what happened to Moog? They used to be considered vastly superior to OEM but I
keep seeing more & more complaints about them. Did some Chinese co buy them out for their
good name & now sell **** parts (like so many others in the US)?

I assume that they’ve fallen victim of modern manufacturing and beancounting practices. Surely if not for botique companies like Carli and Dynatrac, we would be in trouble. I wrecked a set of moogs in 18 months.

 

[Jim W]

I have 3 years and 38,000 miles on my set of Moog ball joints. I do grease them every 5,000 miles and have checked them for end play when I rotate tires, so far so good..

 

[EDankievitch]

Just watched a cool Video on Utube about ball joints any one ever hear of EMF brand they got a fair review.

 

[crazy jerry]

i wouldnt pay a penny for moogs. emf look good

 

[Ereynolds72]

So...I'm gonna jump in here on this thread as it seem a few guys are watching it. This past spring I had 4Wheel parts in Nashville align my truck. He informed me then that my passenger side upper was bad. I was expecting this eventually as it had over 260,000 miles on the factory ball joints and I wanted to replace them all at the same time. I asked if they would go ahead and align it and they did. I have since replaced all (4) ball joints with Moog joints (can't spend $800 on ball joints right now). The installation went well and I've taken it to two shops trying to get it aligned. The first told me they won't align to anything but factory specs and the second told me all (4) ball joints were bad and the tech won't align it. I told him not to touch it...I'll be there in a few minutes to pick it up.

When I got there I informed him that I just replaced them; that's why I'm here trying to get an alignment. I asked him why he thought the joints were bad? He said that when they jacked it up and put a prybar under the tire, they could see some up-and-down movement in the joint. I told him that that was normal and he said well, this seemed excessive. I wasn't going to argue with them. I just asked for my keys and left.

Am I wrong that some movement vertically is normal? What does this sound like to you?

….and yes, my truck went almost to 270k on the original ball joints. Still have the original wheel bearing assy too. I have the spares just in case.

truck is a 2010 2500 Mega-cab 4x4, CTD 68RFE, with KORE Recon Suspension, Carli Control Arms, LT295/65r20 ATs, Smarty Delete....

 

[JR]

I wouldn't expect much if any vertical movement out of brand new ball joints. I've replaced a few sets in these trucks (gen 2) over the years and they were initially so tight the truck wanted to follow the ruts in the road for the first several miles until they broke in.

 

[EDankievitch]

With No Load on the Ball joint there will be some up and down movement. Where you don't want to see movement is side to side. You want the knuckle to stay in place and not change the caster/ Camber angles. Camber is the angle that causes pulling to one side or the other. Caster straighten out the wheel after you've made a turn. To put it in simple terms. If you have too much Caster you will be fighting the truck as it tries to follow the crown of the road. The truck will want to roll down hill. In other words a high crowned road your truck in right lane it will pull to the right left lane it will pull to the left. The more caster you have the more "pull" you will have down the "hill" away from the center of the road.
Now back to your truck with Moog Ball Joints and having a steering steering issues. First you do not have any adjustment for Camber unless the shop installed the Moog adjustable ball joints. The only adjustments the factory axle has is caster and toe in. Most of our trucks come out of the factory with way too much caster. And if you install a leveling kit on the older 5 link front end you will add to the caster angle. A leveling kit on the 3 link front end will remove caster angle. I doubt your issue is an adjustment problem Caster or camber. Most shops screw up the amount of toe in which will eat up tires and can cause the dreaded "Death Wobble" . I don't think you have that issue by your writing. I'm willing to bet the Moog ball joints are in fact binding. I had this a few times with Moog units they can't handle the extra weight of the diesel engine and will bind. I hate to say it but I would start with another brand XRF or EMF or Carli and go from there.

 

[Ozymandias]

I had nothing but problems with the moogs, they had binding from day 1 and never losen up, with them the truck never wanted to track right, i had always to guide him.
Installed the carlis and from first mile the truck was in shape like from the factory.
Binding Balljoints are the Key.

 

[crazy jerry]

14+ trucks may have a slight amount of up and down play in the knuckle according to the service manual. previous year trucks have the same knuckle and joint design so they are likely to have play also. alot of shops dont know this and thinks the joints need replaced but they dont

since you cant drop $800 on emf, i would go back to factory joints if theyre in your budget

 

[jray]

I have used both Carlie's and Dyna-Trac's on the front end of a 2003 Dodge 3500. The Carlie's caused a strange steering anomaly where the truck wandered from day one of installation. The Dyna-trac's solved the wandering issue and the bonus is they can be rebuilt on the truck. When the time comes the new truck will get Dyna-trac's.

 

[Wayne M.]

My vote is Dyna.

 

[Ozymandias]

My vote is Dyna.

not for me, the lower balljoint is horrible to grease, real bad design. Rest is ok.

 

[Ozymandias]

I have used both Carlie's and Dyna-Trac's on the front end of a 2003 Dodge 3500. The Carlie's caused a strange steering anomaly where the truck wandered from day one of installation. The Dyna-trac's solved the wandering issue and the bonus is they can be rebuilt on the truck. When the time comes the new truck will get Dyna-trac's.

from which series, or year, have your Carlis been?
I heard that they had some problems in the early days.
mine are from 2015 and don't have the slightest problems with them for now 50000M.
zero play, no binding, knuckle turns with a slight finger tip.
couldn't be happier.
sad to hear others that have had problems.

 

[Wayne M.]

not for me, the lower balljoint is horrible to grease, real bad design. Rest is ok.

I don’t have an issue. I have a rubber tip greaser, and it works fine. You don’t want to overdo it with those Teflon seals anyway. I thought they were a good compromise, and I got a great discount on them.

 

[jray]

from which series, or year, have your Carlis been?
I heard that they had some problems in the early days.
mine are from 2015 and don't have the slightest problems with them for now 50000M.
zero play, no binding, knuckle turns with a slight finger tip.
couldn't be happier.
sad to hear others that have had problems.

I bought the Carlie’s in 2013 or 2014. They weren’t installed until 2015. The installer an off-road drivetrain shop couldn’t explain the wandering issue and double checked the alignment. They also suggested that maybe I’d get use to it. Huh?

I’m pretty sure I got some bad ones. Truck was never right until putting the Dyna Trac’s in.

 

[jhenderson]

14+ trucks may have a slight amount of up and down play in the knuckle according to the service manual. previous year trucks have the same knuckle and joint design so they are likely to have play also. alot of shops dont know this and thinks the joints need replaced but they dont

since you cant drop $800 on emf, i would go back to factory joints if theyre in your budget

The problem is how much is “ a little” ? Without a set amount it’s in the eye of the beholder. When I was employed as a front end tech there were 2 different criteria. One for safety, and one for alignment. At the time the GM safety spec was .090. Has anyone here actually measured a ball joint that had 090 play? That amount looks like the ball will fall out of the socket. It still passed safety inspection. Alignment specs from Hunter in that same era allowed for . 035 play. That was still a whole lot more than the naked eye would lead you to believe was tolerable.

 

[Wayne M.]

In a New York State vehicle inspection, you cannot single out ball joint looseness for a failure.

 

[Dan_69GTX]

In VA it is 1/4" play. I've had way to many folks come to me asking for ball joint replacement due to failed inspection, when it was really just tighten the front bearings, or replace front bearing assy.