Ball Joints - school me / help choose.

[Chris142]

I put moog made in USA ball joints in our FJ about 30k ago. I grease them often. At least every 5k if not more often.

The pass side lower basically exploded internally with about 20k on it. Replaced it with a trw through work.

Now the DR lower is shot. Not as bad as the other was but has way too much play in it. I had work order me another trw for that side and will install it this week

 

[The Critic]

When the boot fails, if you don't notice right away, grime probably got inside. With a greaseable BJ you can much more easily attempt to flush that dirty grease out and re-boot the BJ.

Plus with a non-greaseable, if it used a silicone grease, you can't even flush it out by agitating it in a petroleum solvent.

What's your point? The boots are not sold separately so busted boot = new ball joint.

 

[Dave9]

What's your point? The boots are not sold separately so busted boot = new ball joint.

Energy Suspension/Protane sells some. They're also on Amazon, Summit Racing et al. under various brands. The trick is figuring out dimensions. Some sellers state them and some don't. Some sellers have a "fits these vehicles" feature like a few auto parts stores including Autozone. Would I trust that fits these vehicles feature? No, but at least they're local so you can measure dimensions. We all have calipers, don't we?

Besides, it still comes back to potholes too. I've had potholes wreck BJs before the boot failed. My point is both types exist in the market because both types have their merits, including for cars, not just heavy duty truck and off-road apps.

 

[The Critic]

Energy Suspension/Protane sells some. They're also on Amazon, Summit Racing et al. under various brands. The trick is figuring out dimensions. Some sellers state them and some don't. Some sellers have a "fits these vehicles" feature like a few auto parts stores including Autozone. Would I trust that fits these vehicles feature? No, but at least they're local so you can measure dimensions. We all have calipers, don't we?

That’s a lot of trouble for saving some 15 yr old ball joints that cost $50-100.

 

[Dave9]

That’s a lot of trouble for saving some 15 yr old ball joints that cost $50-100.

How so? You have to gain access to it either way, then easily measured, and anything I can do sitting in front of a computer is not much trouble compared to actually doing the work. Who stated they were 15 years old? Maybe, but a lot of complaints are that they didn't last anywhere near that long. I am wondering what your point is, why is having a choice a bad thing?

The only argument that pans out for me is get the polymer sealed BJs because you're putting them on someone else's vehicle, that you assume won't lube them and won't tell their oil change place to lube them either. That's a fair argument, but the same could be said about lifetime transmission and other fluids, which aren't really. Maintaining a metal part is better than letting something made of plastic degrade, if you're willing to bother. Many people are. Again it's about choices.