Rednroll

Before I ever replaced a set of ball joints I read others as well as Dynatrac boost about the "rebuildable" aspects of their ball joints. Now that I've replaced my ball joints, I reached a new level of awareness that I would NEVER want to rebuild a ball joint, in now knowing that I would need to remove, rebuild and re-install parts which had already gone through the original pressing, as well as pressing removal. It really made me wonder if the people promoting the positive aspects of a rebuildable ball joint had ever replaced a set of ball joints. Now that I hear your feedback on this, that was really what I was speculating was the more likely scenario. So it's great to hear your personal experience aligns with what I was speculating based upon my recent uninstall/re-install experience.

Sorry to hear about your current install problems. You know I'm here for you and we can always share our DIY install experiences for some peer support. I'll be replacing my PCV today, should be much simpler than ball joints, but you never know.

P.S. I still need to return the ball joint press kit I rented from Advanced Auto to get my $280 deposit back. I'm wondering how that conversation is going to go on the one adapter I mushroomed trying to get my passenger side upper ball joint out. The mushroomed side of that adapter will be turned downward in the kit case when I return it, where I hope they have a life-time warranty.

karls10jk

They do have the warranty. The local store for me said not to worry about it. I guess they're making money on parts to where it justifies them allowing us to use tools and they cover the warranty.

Rednroll

Irony isn't it? While in use you don't want them to break, and they break but when you want them to break to disassemble, then they won't break. I'm amazed at how you resorted to having to use a press. I don't own a press, so this job of rebuilding DT ball joints definitely wouldn't be for me.

Did you get this wrapped up yet? Or you going to throw in the towel and get a set of TF replacements or drop some bucks on the rare parts?

This would definitely infuriate me paying that much more for the DT ball joints and getting not many miles out of them, and then going through all this B.S. for what is supposed to be a beneficial feature in them being rebuildable. I would have thrown in the towel a long time ago to cut my losses.

I'm sure DT would be happy to sell you a PR60 to help solve your DT ball joint problems.

resharp001

I was extremely pissed off Saturday night when I posted that. I kid you not.....I could not believe how hard it was to remove that joint from the stud on the driver's side lower. After my previous week's experience, I thought I'd fly through the driver's side. Last week the actual pressing the joints off/on the stud was a little learning curve, but once I found the best method, it wasn't the end of the world, but I just don't see how you could ever do it with a hammer and punch, cuz it was effort moving those joints with a 12-ton press. To exert so much pressure that the ball presses right on out of the sleeve, without even moving on the stud, is pretty amazing. I can assure you as well, I was pressing directly down....it wasn't that I was off the mark or anything. Once the sleeve was crapped out, I was left with the ball on the stud trying to figure out how to remove it with no way to hold it. Ugh.

I'd calmed down a little by Sunday morning so finished up the lower, then decided may as well do the upper even though I thought I'd be fine leaving that one alone. Well, I should have just left it alone, cuz that one ate up several hours too, caused me to hate my BJs, my jeep, and myself.

If you watch a couple YouTube vids on these rebuilds (doesn't even have to be JK specific), you'll quickly see a press is the only way that makes sense.

The pickle is this, mine were knurled (major headache), so it's not as simple as removing them and putting something else in there. RP doesn't make a knurled version (that I know of), and I also don't think TF makes a knurled version. Synergy is kinda knurled, but they're not REALLY knurls....and I'd never go back to hose POS's that set me down this stupid path to begin with. If I could press these out and install some RP, I think I would, that's how pissed I am about them. Unfortunately, I've dug my grave, and outside of swapping axles, you'll find me laying down in said grave, in a wooden box none the less, cuz my wallet is too tapped to afford a nice coffin!

Yup......I would say this, if someone were dumb like me and have knurled BJs, this is a big selling point cuz each time you press in/out of that C, you are causing major changes. In that one case rebuilding is a better option for that particular reason. HOWEVER, this rebuilding is stupid crap, and NOT better than pressing a normal non-kurled BJ in and out. I'm not saying that you can't mess up a normal BJ job, but it's much easier to do, and if you use your head you're unlikely to mess it up.

resharp001

For reference, I could change a normal set of BJs, in prob 3-4 hours max. If things went smoothly, as they should, I think one could rebuild these in close to the same time, but actually taking a little more detailed effort. That said, I think I spent at least 6 hours (or more) jacking around with the driver's side this weekend between sat night and sunday morning. Mind you, some of that time is pacing around the garage cussing and wondering out loud "now what the F am I going to do?" and "how am I going to resolve this issue". I mean, I'm glad I'm kind of an industrious person that can think outside the box.....and once I get past the initial freak out moment I can figure out some way around things. I will admit, some of the issue I had with the driver's upper was self inflicted, but still.....that door was opened, problem arose, and had to figure out how to solve the problem and move forward.

resharp001

Wasn't so interested at the moment this happened, but generally interesting to see that lining inside the joint's sleeve. Got me wondering how something like this is manufactured.

karls10jk

TF does make a knurled version, I used them to replace my Synergy knurls. A friend just did the Rare Parts but I don't recall what he pulled out, I think Synergy though. He's been through 3 sets of bj's in as many years with less than 10,000 miles.

Below are after synergy knurls....hardly any knurls IMO.

After synergy knurls.

resharp001

It's been 3 years......so maybe my memory is bad, but I recall the DT knurls being SIGNIFICANTLY more than the synergy was.

Synergy -


Teraflex knurled -


Dynatrac knurled -


Digging for pictures right now though, I know that doesn't "look" much different. I definitely recall in the moment, them being much more significant. They were also MUCH harder to install pressing in, in the sense that the knurls were not making life easy. That was after having installed 2 sets of Synergy's in a fairly short time span, so the whole experience was fresh in my head at the time. The original DT install was MUCH harder than the synergy installs had been.

I had a buddy that had just installed RP BJs not long before I bought these. Again, the reason I didn't buy RP was they didn't come knurled, and I thought I had to have knurls after the Synergy BS. Those RP joints when in like butter.

My real fear would be pulling these out, only to realize that y, nothing else is going to work....and with my luck, I'd jack up the forging in the process. I wish I could put my hands on some uninstalled DT knurled BJs to see. Pictures are so deceiving.

karls10jk

Maybe DT will send you pics? Any 4wp nearby that may have a set that you can get your hands on?? TF picture for reference, different from the stock internet pics for sure.

resharp001

This is interesting, and did not know this before -



It looks like RP makes an "oversized" version for use after knurls, and that is the. If you go to their site and hover over that RP13624 kit, it says only use if replacing knurled BJs. I sure hope that's not something I need to consider for a while....at least another 3 years and 40k miles.