yj_guy_007

I've already had to replace my left ball joints, about $600 parts and labor with OEM equipment. Now my right side is going out, and so far no luck on anything aftermarket

chuck45

I think this is something that we are going to have to learn to do ourselves. 600.00 is just too damn much money - for only one ball joint. I just swapped axle shafts, which was no big deal, which gives easy access to the ball joints.

I've got 35's and ORE C gussets. About 5,000 of my miles have been off road and my ball joints are tight. I don't know if the gussets are helping; but they may.

nangulator

I am getting the ORE c gusset as a v-day present, this is the problem causing everyones BJs to wear out, not a poordesign on chryslers part. They just can't handle the added stress of 35s and the C opens up and wastes the balljoint in the procsess

MJS_Jeep_888

The last thing ANY of us want is for our BJs to wear out.

MOWrangler

Heck... I've been married 8 years. My BJ wore out about 7 years, 11 months ago.

kafka1983

A little viagra will fix you right up.

chuck45

It's hard to say right now that that is the cause. But if those of us with 35's and gussets don't have ball joint problems and those with 35's and no gusets do it will become conventional wisdom I guess.

I still wish the damn things were greasable. On a street only vehicle I know the greaseless ball joints and ujoints do ok. But for our use we need to be able to flush them out with fresh grease after running trails.

Hellbound13

I have only been off road once in 15,000 miles and it was MILD off roading and all my ball joints were bad and needed to be replaced at 12,000 miles. Same thing with the tie rod. I am also running stock sizes tires and no lift. Why Jeep did not make the suspension greaseable is beyond me and a HUGE oversight.

RedneckJeep

I think you may have misunderstood my post. I was merely saying that until someone makes a ball joint with a grease fitting, it will be worthless. Even if it's Moog. To answer your question, yes, I have installed fittings in MANY a ball joint that was factory sealed. Zerk fittings are self tapping. As for worrying about metal shavings, that's easy to compensate for. Simple fill the flutes of the drill bit with wheel bearing grease. That will solve the problem of metal shavings escaping. It may be necessare to tap the ball joints if the metal caps are really thick, but that's not hard to do, either. Just have an appropriate size tap on hand and be prepared just in case. I haven't added fittings to mine yet, but I plan to soon. If I get around to it before any of yall, I'll do a write up on it.

RedneckJeep

I tend to agree. Chevrolet had a massive campaign in the late eighties and early ninties to eliminate all non-servicable ball joints in the then new body style Chevrolet and GMC trucks. In fact, if you have a 1988- about 1993 C or K truck, your ball joints are still covered by a life long TSB and campaign. You can go in and get them replaced for free. No mileage or age limitation. The TSB was about "moisture contaminated ball joints". What happens is moisture contamination. Since the ball joints don't have grease fittings, there's no way to pump new grease in and the old contaminated grease out. So the grease that's contaminated with moisture causes the ball joint to rust. The rust acts as an abrasive (because that's what it is) and very quickly destroys the ball joint. If they had grease fittings, the problem would be solved. At least for those of us who would actually USE the grease fittings.