sallyman1

do we need offset or adjustable top ball joints for our trucks? or just stick oem stock non adjustable ones in?ii wanna get xrf ball joints.

04 Diesel

I put Napa ball joints on mine and they are not adjustable but they are greaseable, made in the USA.

tajinate

the stock ones should work fine, but I was just told last week that the adjustable ones are the way to go when I had my truck aligned, they said you can get the alignment closer with them. He also said the new ball joints are all adjustable from what they have seen, they use MOOG's when they do them just for reference.

tajinate

I am in need of replacing my NAPA ones again, 3rd time now in 35K miles. That is starting to get old, probably gonna check out a set of MOOG's or XRF's this time around. Only your uppers are greasable once they are on, correct? Without taking the axle out and uncapping the bottom one that is.

Lost Lake

Good idea going with Moogs..... NOT!

Do a search.

tajinate

Done plenty of searching, some people like em, some don't, just that simple. I just posted a thread about them elsewhere. The shop that I talked with said they use them all the time, most of the "problems" with them are from improper installation, mainly over tightening the nuts on the studs past the torque specs, even just slightly. 67K miles, how many have you went through? My OEM set lasted me to 94K miles most of them with bigger tires and for sure a greater offset since 72K miles.

rogers259

Wow.... 3rd time replacing ball joints in 35k???

Do NOT install Moog ball joints! Go run a search and find Sages post/report on Moog Ball joints. Instead of useing Moog get the Carli Ball joints and forget about them.

Having to replace the BJ 1x is painful/expensive enough...let alone 3x!!!

Lost Lake

We have experts on this forum who have cut apart the Moog ball joint and shown us how the design is faulty. We have dozens of guys on here who have installed the Moogs and turned their truck into a death trap. If you want to believe one shop who says they install them and don't have a problem I wish you luck.

I am on factory bj's yet. Oversized tires since 7,000 miles. Farm fields, washboard gravel roads, not a problem. Local shop here installs XRF's and when I need bj's that's what I'll use, because all the good folks here have gone through the pain and suffering already and advised me to stay away from Moog.

tajinate

I agree with you on the Moog's, my ball joints are currently on thier way out of service on me again, but I won't be using Moog's because of all the crap I read about them. I was just saying that is what they told me, and maybe it's just the ones they make for Dodge's too, I don't really know. I will be putting together a little extra dough for the XRF's this time. My 20x12 wheels have a -50 offset so they load up the ball joints pretty good with 35x13.50's. I just want something to last me this time, the Napa ones are scrap within a year. Luckily the set I have now was free because the first set was crapped within in a year. I don't want to spend or have the money to spend on a set of Carli's, so I want to try the XRF's since I had read that was what Carli recommended if you can't/don't want to pay for his. I need to do something soon as my truck is already at the "death trap" level when it gets a good bump in the front end.

dodgediesel

Back to the topic, do we need adjustable ball joints??

Sevir

i think tajinate answered your question

I dont believe yall on the XRF ball joints.
1. i just tried to call them because i need all 4 ball joints replaced. called all 3 of their numbers (both 1-877, and local numbers) just rings and rings. Tried for 30 mins.
2. They web page is junk, you have to referance moog PN's to find theirs. Are they not good enough to have their own search engine? then i have to scroll down thousands of parts to find the one i am looking for.
3. tech info - blank page
4. packageing page - has a baby sleeping, *** does that have to do with auto parts. i would rather see a chick in a bikini. either or, both pictures make me NOT want to buy their parts.

this looks like shady company to me, there is no information on warranty of their parts other then their title of "million mile warranty"

dodgediesel

So regular XRF upeer and lower ball joints will get my 6" BDS lifted truck right to factory specs???

Skyd Ram

To answer the original poster's question, I would not use adjustable ball joints. They are the only thing that are worse than the regular Moog joints. Generally the only reason for adjustables would be to correct camber. Since we have a straight front axle, the only thing that could cause camber to be out of spec far enough would be a bent axle. At this point alignment wouldn't be your worse problem.

And some general info about the better ball joints on the market:
XRF's are built in Asia where the tolerances are not always the best. There have been a few guys that couldn't get them pressed into the bores without freezing them and heating up the "C"'s.

The Carli's are machined by an aerospace compant here in the US and Dynatrac does most of their stuff in house in California.

And for Clarification, Sage Carli recommends McQuay Norris joints for those who can't afford the Carli's. This is as of today. Alot of these companies like Moog and Dodge's oem supplier have had many changes in the manufacturing tolerances and country of origin so please take that receommendation with a grain of salt.

Fisherguy

Generally no unless your diff is bent, but really only your alignment shop can answer that question.

pullin hard

take a look at the adjustables, they are wimpy, you loose half the meat.
second, you don't need them, save the extra bucks they cost and get real joints.
for the guy that said over tightening the nuts past spec....i don't understand how that could be done, the ball joint has a tapered shaft that fits into a tapered hole, it goes so far then has to stop when seated, can't go any further. am i missing something here?