XRF Ball Joints??

[TimothyLong]

Had my truck at the tire shop last week to get the tires rotated and balanced. They told me that the upper ball joints were shot. With 144K on the factory ball joints, I knew it was a matter of time before I had to replace them. Given the experience of others on here, I'm surprised/impressed they lasted this long. I plan on taking my truck in to have the front axle u-joints replaced with Precision greasables and that would definitely be the time to have all 4 ball joints replaced as well. From the research I've done, Carli or Dynatrac ball joints are definitely the way to go. The only problem is that I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to have this truck and I don't want to sink the big $$$ into those ball joints (if I don't have to). Based on what I've read on this forum and others, Moog ball joints seem to be hit or miss. I have seen some folks touting the XRF ball joints, but I haven't seen much on how well they last. Anyone have any experience with XRF ball joints?



Thanks!

 

[jhenderson]

I've got about 50,000 miles on mine. They have been fine so far, but they were a bear to press into the front end.

 

[Walcott]

Have 22,000 on mine,so far so good!

 

[TimothyLong]

Thanks, guys, for the responses!

 

[robwashu]

40k on mine and still solid

 

[Bob4x4]

I have heard they have a tendency to open up the hole somewhat so if you do ever have to replace them the next joint may not fit tight

 

[TimothyLong]

I have heard they have a tendency to open up the hole somewhat so if you do ever have to replace them the next joint may not fit tight

Hmmmm... . this seems to point back to what jhenderson posted about them being difficult to press in.

 

[jjdiesel]

Too much of a headache to do over again... go with the Dynatrac's and be done. If you wind up not keeping the truck, let the next owner know he doesn't have to worry about ball joints, should be worth something in helping the sale. If you keep the truck, your in good shape. Is it really THAT much more money? Obviously, your call, just food-for-thought. So many ball joint nightmare's out there it seems like this is one of those area's not to mess around with... too much work! HTH's

 

[TimothyLong]

Too much of a headache to do over again... go with the Dynatrac's and be done. If you wind up not keeping the truck, let the next owner know he doesn't have to worry about ball joints, should be worth something in helping the sale. If you keep the truck, your in good shape. Is it really THAT much more money? Obviously, your call, just food-for-thought. So many ball joint nightmare's out there it seems like this is one of those area's not to mess around with... too much work! HTH's

This was my initial thought, but then I saw some info about the XRF's which got me to do a little reconsidering. Since I couldn't find out a lot about wear on the XRF ball joints, I thought I'd ask around. However, I just read today that a double dip recession may be looming, so I'll more than likely be holding on to this truck for a while longer, so I'm back to leaning toward the Dynatracs. I do appreciate the sanity check though, as well as everyone else's input!

 

[AH64ID]

I haven't heard a bad thing about them yet. I know the Moog's are known to make the hole bigger, but this was the first I had heard about XRF's doing that.

As of right now I am planning on XRF's when mine fail.