Ball joints wearing out?
09-25-2015, 10:32 AM
#41
JK Enthusiast
Join Date: May 2015
Location: El Cajon, California
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I agree with killfoot just replaced my shitty stock factory ones which are not made for off roading but I got synergy way better. just put them on yesterday.
09-25-2015, 04:39 PM
#42
JK Freak
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Colorado Springs, CO
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09-25-2015, 04:57 PM
#43
JK Junkie
More Dynatrac snake oil. Right up there with a $5k D44 and $5k semi float rear D60.
09-25-2015, 05:16 PM
#44
JK Freak
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That was my assumption. Synergy replaces them if they go. Why pay 3x for ball joints that fail just as fast and require more labor and cost to repair. I'm guessing the replacement parts to rebuild aren't free either?
More Dynatrac snake oil. Right up there with a $5k D44 and $5k semi float rear D60.
More Dynatrac snake oil. Right up there with a $5k D44 and $5k semi float rear D60.
The rebuild parts are $200 and they sent half a kit so it took another week to get the other half.
09-25-2015, 06:44 PM
#45
JK Junkie
There you have it. Last as long as Synergy, cost the same as Synergy every time they wear out, and take longer to rebuild than replace. In the mean time, Synergy replaces for free. I realize you know, but I just want to highlight that you'd be $600 ahead having bought Synergy.
09-27-2015, 07:34 AM
#46
JK Freak
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There you have it. Last as long as Synergy, cost the same as Synergy every time they wear out, and take longer to rebuild than replace. In the mean time, Synergy replaces for free. I realize you know, but I just want to highlight that you'd be $600 ahead having bought Synergy.
is always good. You are spot on and I wanted to highlight my personal experience. Next time my ball joint go out I will purchase Synergy's and save 4 plus hours in labor. The part of super gluing the seal in place is what threw me... I know these will not last.
09-27-2015, 09:46 AM
#48
JK Enthusiast
I've heard good things about the teraflex BJ's too--same price as the synergy's w/ preload adjustability built in as welll--however, if my dynatracs go out, i'm throwing a kingpin in there.
10-01-2015, 04:46 AM
#49
Sponsoring Manufacturer
We’re sorry to hear the difficulties that a couple of you have had with our products. This concerns us a great deal. At Dynatrac we pride ourselves in offering the best products AND customer service to the off-road community. To that end, we’ve looked at what was said, did some testing, and have some answers that should help.
To anyone trying to reach us for help, if email or private messaging through a forum or Facebook doesn’t get you a prompt enough response, please call our tech line at 714-421-4314, during business hours, to reach someone. FB and forums are more difficult and usually take longer for us to respond to and provide tech help.
Our current suggested retail price for a rebuild kit for Dynatrac JK Heavy-Duty Ball Joints is $196. That provides the materials needed to rebuild a complete set (upper and lower, driver and passenger side) on one axle. Based on your comments, we agree this is too high. We appreciate everyone’s input on this! After reviewing our costs we are going to lower the JK rebuild kit price to $129.00. We would go lower, but all these parts are made in the USA, and as such cost more than imported parts.
As for how long it takes to rebuild an axle set, we were very surprised to see someone say 16 hours. We felt it was important to thoroughly test this to be certain of how long the job really takes. We had someone with mechanical experience rebuild them and it took 1.25 hours to do one side (upper and lower). Then we gave someone who had no mechanical experience, and never done it before, the same instructions and tools to do the job…he completed the same work one side (upper and lower) in just under 2 hours. That included removing and replacing the wheel bearing, shafts, knuckles, and cleaning of parts. Our test axle was also caked in mud. So that would be a maximum of 4 hours for a novice to do both ends of an axle, upper and lower.
There was mention of a special tool required for rebuilding our ball joints. Attached is a picture of all the tools we used, including those to remove the wheel bearing, knuckle, and axle shafts. As you can see, they are all common tools. The only thing unusual was an old used bolt, and a nail. We used these to prove that an improvised tool is quite easy to find and very effective if you are missing a punch or drift.
Someone mentioned how long it takes the glue for the new boots to dry…in our test today, it bonds in about 10 minutes, and was completely dry in 30 minutes and ready to go.
There are many things that can cause ball joints, either stock or aftermarket, to wear out at different rates. Contamination (e.g. mud/water), alignment issues, tire issues, bent housing issues, improper installation technique, and other factors that will cause a ball joint to wear out faster than expected. How much and how hard you use your JK and the severity of the off-road environment you drive in is also an obvious factor. The vast majority of our customers tell us they have many tens of thousands, and even over 100K miles, on our ball joints with no issues.
It is impossible to predict each customers experience because of all the variables in off roading. We will help anyone who has a problem, and honor the warranty if we see a defect. Even if we don’t see a defect, we will do our best to help any Dynatrac customer that feels dissatisfied. We want all Dynatrac customers to be happy and satisfied with our products. That is our policy and practice.
To anyone trying to reach us for help, if email or private messaging through a forum or Facebook doesn’t get you a prompt enough response, please call our tech line at 714-421-4314, during business hours, to reach someone. FB and forums are more difficult and usually take longer for us to respond to and provide tech help.
Our current suggested retail price for a rebuild kit for Dynatrac JK Heavy-Duty Ball Joints is $196. That provides the materials needed to rebuild a complete set (upper and lower, driver and passenger side) on one axle. Based on your comments, we agree this is too high. We appreciate everyone’s input on this! After reviewing our costs we are going to lower the JK rebuild kit price to $129.00. We would go lower, but all these parts are made in the USA, and as such cost more than imported parts.
As for how long it takes to rebuild an axle set, we were very surprised to see someone say 16 hours. We felt it was important to thoroughly test this to be certain of how long the job really takes. We had someone with mechanical experience rebuild them and it took 1.25 hours to do one side (upper and lower). Then we gave someone who had no mechanical experience, and never done it before, the same instructions and tools to do the job…he completed the same work one side (upper and lower) in just under 2 hours. That included removing and replacing the wheel bearing, shafts, knuckles, and cleaning of parts. Our test axle was also caked in mud. So that would be a maximum of 4 hours for a novice to do both ends of an axle, upper and lower.
There was mention of a special tool required for rebuilding our ball joints. Attached is a picture of all the tools we used, including those to remove the wheel bearing, knuckle, and axle shafts. As you can see, they are all common tools. The only thing unusual was an old used bolt, and a nail. We used these to prove that an improvised tool is quite easy to find and very effective if you are missing a punch or drift.
Someone mentioned how long it takes the glue for the new boots to dry…in our test today, it bonds in about 10 minutes, and was completely dry in 30 minutes and ready to go.
There are many things that can cause ball joints, either stock or aftermarket, to wear out at different rates. Contamination (e.g. mud/water), alignment issues, tire issues, bent housing issues, improper installation technique, and other factors that will cause a ball joint to wear out faster than expected. How much and how hard you use your JK and the severity of the off-road environment you drive in is also an obvious factor. The vast majority of our customers tell us they have many tens of thousands, and even over 100K miles, on our ball joints with no issues.
It is impossible to predict each customers experience because of all the variables in off roading. We will help anyone who has a problem, and honor the warranty if we see a defect. Even if we don’t see a defect, we will do our best to help any Dynatrac customer that feels dissatisfied. We want all Dynatrac customers to be happy and satisfied with our products. That is our policy and practice.
10-01-2015, 06:27 AM
#50
JK Junkie
Excellent info from Dynatrac! I have been running my Dynatrac ball joints on a D44 with heavy Nitto 37s and slabs with no issues with plenty of heavy off-road time.