Ball Joints - school me / help choose.
- Thread starter SC Maintenance
- Start date
SC,
Have you ever posted pics of the Xterra before? Would love to see what she looks like with such high mileage.
Have you ever posted pics of the Xterra before? Would love to see what she looks like with such high mileage.
For clarity, the Mevotech Supreme ball joint internals are of average quality similar to the cheapest house brand at AutoZone or O'Reilly's. It is their unique blue rubber boots that seem to completely fail in a year or two, so what you see on the '04 Ranger is typical for a Mevotech Supreme part. When new, those blue rubber boots feel stiffer/slicker than the black rubber boots found on other brands. I originally thought they might be thermoplastic boots, but now believe they are some kind of vinyl rubber blend.
They also suggest greasing every 3k miles and the boots rot away in a few years. Not worth the hassle. It's an archaic argument. Street vehicles don't need a grease able ball joint. They need a quality sealed part and live worry free
I have Mevotech Supreme control arms on my Honda Element and they have been okay for 10k miles so far. Lifetime warranty which is fine as my kid or wife and I are the labor.
Only used Sankei 555 ball joints on it though. 50k miles on one and still fine.
Mevotech Supreme is better than an off brand, I'd go them.
Only used Sankei 555 ball joints on it though. 50k miles on one and still fine.
Mevotech Supreme is better than an off brand, I'd go them.
What is light duty though? BJs are typically sized for the application so something as simple as loading up your SUV or pickup truck is medium duty for the size of the suspension they have.
Until you start driving roads with potholes you can't avoid, then your lower BJs get wrecked faster if they are the non-greaseable plastic bushing type... not so much the uppers, more often they just fail due to boot failure letting grease out and debris in.
Why despise them though? They do not need lubed with every oil change, and shouldn't be! If grease isn't leaking out, and grime isn't getting in, overfilling them is more detrimental than useful. In fact if lubed before installation, can go a very long time till they need lubed again, unless of course the boot fails and then you're in same situation as the sealed joints, except still more pothole/impact resistance.
The larger problem with them is if they aren't loaded with grease when installed, then the owner takes the vehicle to oil change places instead of DIY, and the oil change place never lubes them, and years go by, so then they're running dry.
On the other hand if the factory sealed BJs lasted 100K+ mi and your roads and loads aren't any worse now, it makes sense to get a HQ sealed BJ like the Sankei 555.
Every now and then, I'll pull the knuckle off an upper BJ and the boot hasn't been torn long, the BJ is in good shape still, no play in it, and then if you can find a replacement boot, it can make sense to just replace the boot. This is if DIY, if paying a shop to hunt down a boot then the savings is erased in their labor to do that (if they even would, many shops don't service individual components on parts) and not all applications have an easy to find boot. On an '08 Xterra, I have no idea.
Just because the boot is leaking doe not mean much IMO.
There are two camps....one camp says leave them alone, never use the grease zerk, and when they leak they are instantly bad=replace.
the other camps says just keep greasing and allow the grease to ooze out of the leaky boot..........
I am in the camp of greasing the joints.
As long as you are not in salt water of fording rivers................how much contamination gets past the slight leak in the boot, and even further, past the grease? I argue not that much if any at all.....unless the majority of the boot is ripped, and you drive on the beach....even if that was the case, if there is grease all over the joint, what else could get there and cause damage?
I say grease, grease grease, unless they are loose.
As to a replacement, as long as the Upper bushings are good, and you have the press, go with MOOG or Mevotech. The last MOOG joints I used were great.
Can't speak for what I don't work on, but all of the imports (cars and trucks) I work on -- the factory BJ's easily last 10 years/150K. I don't think I have ever replaced one before then.
So to me, there is zero place for the greaseable design.
For my trucks, I want greaseable joints. Everything gets greased with a service.
The last time I used Moog, I replaced all the frontend joints in my CRV. Not even a year later, the ball joints failed. Tie rods a few years later. Even with regular greasing. the shop I use for inspections did the replacements with Mevotech TTX never a problem since.
The last time I used Moog, I replaced all the frontend joints in my CRV. Not even a year later, the ball joints failed. Tie rods a few years later. Even with regular greasing. the shop I use for inspections did the replacements with Mevotech TTX never a problem since.
As with most arguments here, I feel like this is a function of environment.
As usual, rust is a factor. Where I live, I find that rust eventually creeps between the boot and it's crimp to the joint, as well as rust buildup on the knuckle where the boot seats. That's eventually a path for water/salt/dirt intrusion.
Because of that, I prefer greasable. The grease that leaks out of the boot keeps surfaces rust free and carries contaminants out of the joint.
As usual, rust is a factor. Where I live, I find that rust eventually creeps between the boot and it's crimp to the joint, as well as rust buildup on the knuckle where the boot seats. That's eventually a path for water/salt/dirt intrusion.
Because of that, I prefer greasable. The grease that leaks out of the boot keeps surfaces rust free and carries contaminants out of the joint.
There is no zirk. There (were) sealed.
well get some with zerks....
In the many years of maintaining my old cars I’ve never had good fortune with Moog greaseable parts. For me it’s either OEM or Sankei 555 unless nothing else is available.
Energy Suspension and Prothane sell urethane "cups" that replace sealed boots for balljoints. I have removed split/rotted balljoint boots and installed one of these cups (with a little replacement grease) and had the joint last for another decade. You can use this method to rescue a quality OEM joint if the boot goes bad.
Thank you for all the input. Given most like the SANKEI 555, I went ahead and ordered them.
Not sure when I will get to installation, but at least they will be here.
Thanks you for the guidance.
Not sure when I will get to installation, but at least they will be here.
Thanks you for the guidance.
Sankei 555 or CTR from Partsgeek. Or you could buy the CTR direct from CTR
If you still insist on Rock Auto, get the Suspensia. But the other two are better even though RA doesn't sell them.
Napa also sells CTR and 555, but at a much higher price
If you still insist on Rock Auto, get the Suspensia. But the other two are better even though RA doesn't sell them.
Napa also sells CTR and 555, but at a much higher price
I have done this to replace the awful Moog boots that rot away and they won't sell a replacement for. Not sure what they make the boots out of but it doesn't work.
But were they the old style accordion boot? On some applications, Moog has replaced that style with an integrated low profile boot that may not be as prone to rot and crack-leaks. I'm not a polymer scientist but these seem much more thick and flexible before fatiging. For example I installed a pair of these about 7 years ago and haven't had any problems yet:
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Does this also work for TREs?
