MJS_Jeep_888

So, if I understand you right, you're saying that greasable ball joints would last way longer... but are you sure that rust is the culprit in our ball joints? If it is, wouldn't that be covered under the rust portion of the warranty? (assuming that they go bad while that's still in effect)

RedneckJeep

You're kiddin, right? I don't know of a dealer that wouldn't use the "you took it off road" pitch to get outta that one. ...and no, I'm not 100% certain this is the problem with the Jeep ball joints........but have you any idea how many GM non servicable ball joints I've changed? You know what? Neither do I. I would bet a whole dollar that's what the problem is, though. ...and no, I don't think if they had grease fittings they'd last longer. I think if they had them and people USED them they would last longer.

MJS_Jeep_888

Not sure if it sounded like I was calling you out, but I wasn't - I'm here to learn.

RedneckJeep

No, no....I didn't mean to sound like I thought that. Not at all. I'm just layin it out there. These things can't pick up tone of voice yet. I'm in complete agreement that there HAS to be a reason for the failures. I just don't think that it's a defective part. If it was, there would be WAY more than there are. There has to be a common denominator, and I think water from going off road is it. That of course, and the lack of a grease fitting.....which I guess is SORTA a defective part. But you'd never get an admission on that. Under normal "pavement" (although boring) circumstances, I'm not sure the ball joints would not have a normal service life. Of course, that's just my opinion.....which is pretty much worthless.

chuck45

Your last sentance is the key. I just dropped my driveshafts off at a driveline repair shop to have them checked for straightnesss and balanced at 75-80 mph. I had got into some serious rock buggy terrain rescuing a friend who snapped his tie rod in two and spun his front axle gears. I picked up a rougnhness after that that I attribute to DS damage. At any rate when I gave them to the owner of the DS shop I also gave him two ujoints to throw in my front shaft. He asked why as mine felt tight. I told him the new ones had grease fittings in the caps and that it was imposible to get to the needle fitting on the yoke of the current ones without dropping my skid plates. He said, hell, nobody ever greases them anymore anyway. He said these "young punks at the quickie lube places wouldn't know a grease zerk if they accidentally discovered one". Does the stock JK have a single grease zerk on it anywhere?

I was doing a bit of driveline research and came across the statement - I think on Pirate - that the longest lasting of the Spicer UJoints was the permanent non-greasable one. It was designed not to be greased and lasted better under those conditions. I certainly think a greasable joint that was actually greased would do far better than the non-greasable ujoints or ball joints.

The factory knows that most of the initial buyers aren't going to use them hard off road and that many will never see off road use. Most buyers aren't like most on this list who do their own maintainance and will happily grease a zerk. There has been a massive move afoot to reduce maintainance requirements of cars. A few years ago I had a mint, one previous owner, 40k mile 61 Tbird. The 3k, 6k, 12k and 24k maintance requirements on that car would blow people minds today. So maybe for the general populace they're doing the right thing.

I agree that contamination from water, and probably mud too, is likey the issue and that greasing acts more as a flush than anything else. On the other hand maybe there are secondary or tertiary causes and the gussets can help there. So if you do a write-up on installing zerks I'll be interested in how you did it.

WilliamAWebb

I have this same problem, had my jeep for a little over a year (11,924 miles to be exact) and I have had a bad ball joint for the last 1500 miles. It is clinking and driving me crazy. Anybody know of any fixes besides taking it the dealer. I don't want to take it there and they charge me 600 dollars to replace it. If i do end up taking it there, I will make sure I put the stock tires on first, maybe that will help them cover it under the warranty, if not some shouting might be in order.

RedneckJeep

I would try to get them to warranty it.

mkjeep

It drives me nuts with the lack of zerks on the jk's. I was six years old and had to grease all the fittings on my grandfathers motor grader , a D-6 and D-7 dozer, and a Dragline. Thats a helluve allotta grease fittings. But thats one of many things he taught me, the life of your equipment depends on this grease. If you don't grease it, it'll break and grease is alot cheaper than parts. I remeber filling the grease guns outta five gallon buckets of grease. When I started getting my own, the little tubes of grease you buy seemed odd to me.

JackMac4

So trying to steer this thread back on track - anyone heard of any good ball joints come out yet? I need a set before long to get my camber back in spec.

sport-atv

anyone making aftermarket balljoints yet?