I purchased new synergy HD ball joints set from Poly Performance Inc, back in march 2014
In case my ball joints wore out as people were saying factory ones do back then . Anyway i never had a problem with my factory ones till recently at 97.000 miles on my 2012 rubicon 2dr. So since the time i had bought them i read some real bad reviews on synergy ball joints wearing out very quickly . When i bought mine every one was raving about them being great , I have One bad ball joint right now upper passengers side and i got a price of $500 to install the ball joints all 4 and (2) of the spicer hd axle joints i had as well in 2014 .

But my big question is ... Should i even install them . i payed 200 for the ball joints back in 2014 but
if what im reading in reviews is true having problems with the lower joints in cases or all .
. Plus im reading you have to use their greese ? lol seriously ? i use hight temp greese but not high pressure synergy greese !!!!! is that for real too or can you just use hight temp greese and be done w/it
maybe i shouldnt put them in . ? I dont feel like paying again labor if they are poor quality ball joints . ive read a lot of issues with them being loose after a short time or worn out in short time. I know you cant go by some reviews but theres a lot of bad ones .
Maybe in 2014 they were ok ? I bought them because every one on the forum here was saying good reviews about them . But some thing changed on reviews So Should i ?
or shouldnt i get them all installed ?
(They are not knurled type they are comletely round) if synergy ever even made knurled ones ) idk
And They were clear boots style ppm8009-12 Not the newer revised ones seeing i got them in 2014 and ill add the fact i dont off road it much and when i do its just dirt roads like high tention roads or trail no dropping off rocks its my daily driver

 

Well, back in 2014 Synergy was kinda the going thing for lack of anything better. If you were buying some today I'd suggest TF instead, but you have those on hand, and you got 97k miles out of your factory ones. Rare Parts are about as good as you can do in the D30/44 axle housings, but they come at a price most aren't willing to pay. I wouldn't overly stress out about it and install them. Paying the labor for install makes it a bit harder pill to swallow, but is what it is if that is the situation your in.

The lower joints take the full load in that axle and the uppers are more for positioning and pivoting of the knuckle. I'd imagine when that knuckle comes off it will be obvious the lower one is shot. Rare Parts I believe is the only one designed to split the load with the top.

 

Why not do it yourself?? Plenty of YT videos out there.

 

well , things a rusted on seeing im in a rust belt NH . And The axle joints need to be done same time. Looks like more than i want to deal with seeing i think id have a tough time by myself. 500 for it all to be done seems worth it to me in a sence. Iknow how that chit goes , you get stuck in the middle with out the proper tools and then no way to a parts store & no way to get there seeing its a daily driver too . I know you do a better job doing it yourself , But the truth of the matter is some of the bolts are so rusted they wont even taket a socket. wich makes me think twice about doing it at home. i Dont have a torch or what id need to get those bolts out. You know. ?
But i hear what your saying otherwise. saving the labor cost. But my luck isnt that good lately and things would prob go go wrong when doing that . seeing it appears to be only one bad upper ball joint im wondering if id be better going with one new oem ball joint instead of putting in all 4 synergy's or just have them do it and least id have the new ones in and it would be easyer to replace later after those rusted bolts have been taken out. its a real dilema on what to do . the ball joint isnt flopping around but when i move tire back and forth i see the upper joint move at top of the C , like the Nut to the ball joint isnt exactly tight. So the whole ball joint moves about a 1/4" Not sure if i could even get at that nut to see if it could be tightened or not, or maybe the lower is gone and it makes it appear the top nut to the upper is loose

 

Resharp 101 : Thanks for your imput or take on it. Your pretty helpfull on the matter . it sucks because when i bought them i thought it was a upgrade for when i needed them , but now it makes me nervous to even install them if they arnt going to be a reliable part . or ill be doing them again in a short time. grrrr I wonder why every one was saying they were the best at that time. If i had known then what i know now id have saved the $ . It makes me wonder if the stock ones were a better choice if the lowers wont do the job intended

 

See what I said above.....the lowers take the full load. If the upper is looking crapped out it's cuz there's movement in the lower. I would never replace just 1 BJ....replace in pairs at the very least. I'd much rather have the Synergy BJs installed than to waste time putting OEM back in.

$500 probably isn't too far off from being fair. Maybe a little high for BJs and 2 u-joints, but having to deal with bolts in that condition could turn into a nightmare as you note.

 

Yeh. I know your right . i have to get it inspected by end of the month and my appointment for the replacement of joints is on the 26th
ill prob have not much choice but to put them in and hope they do ok . But i wish id have known the info back when i ordered them lol
like you had said in a prior thread i saw . its not about getting a replacement part from synergy its more of the hassle of the job later again
but i cant just keep driving it with bad ball joints now . and i guess its better than nothing . i hope it dosent screw it all up using these synergy ones i have . but ill just have to know whats in store for me later i guess .& hope it holds me over for a while . I mean every one said the oem ones are trash but i did get 97,000 out of them so you never know untill you just see how it works out for the one who drives it . Maybe ill have decent luck and find out they work ok for a while IDK
But i think your correct at the time there wasnt any compitition on the market besides a few others that were prob not so great either . Thanks for the advise . It helps kill my pain LOL

 

Things to keep in mind is that everyone has different use. You have a lot of people that put those in that were going out doing a lot of wheelin, with larger tires. You have people that put them in and maybe somewhere along the way had some DW issues that prematurely wore everything else. You also need to keep in mind that people with problems squawk a lot and people with no problems don't. There's just a lot of X factors. I don't say any of that to reiterate they're the bee's knees of BJs or anything, but it's really easy to get siked out about something. I've seen some folks, such as yourself, that got a lot of life out of factory BJs. That doesn't change my opinion about factory BJs, but again, we all have different uses and different stresses on our jeeps. I have a buddy that wheels the same things I do. He's running 37s now and he's had those BJs since '14 with about 50k miles on his jeep now with no issues (doesn't drive much). My personal luck was not as good, even with 35s back at the time. I really tend to think you'll be ok. Might just pull em out and inspect them before going to install. My first warrantied set was crap right out of the box.

 

Yeh i got them from poly performance inc. back in the day . I just E maild them for advise . They look good out of the box . not knurled ones from what i see
They appear quality , But appearence dosent mean much . I didnt get them off amazon or e bay . Not that you cant get good or bad things from those sites . I just never bought anything like that from a site like them due to lack of knowing what your actually going to recieve in the box or if they were flawed in some way .
Ill go ahead and have them put in at this point i think . and just know if i have issues ,i guess i wont be the first and know what might happen in the future i suppose.
I really dont have the cash flow to invest again in ball joint set and just toss these in trash. if you know what i mean . I may find myself wishing i did i suppose if i start having issues soon after though . But seeing my time situation at hand , getting my sticker and what not . Im kind of in a do or dont type situation . I can either install these or increase my bill by a lot more i guess . And i dont really have the cash right now . Its not like you get a good reasonably priced part option at this point . It used to be you went to the parts store and just got it done for a decent price . But today Things are not built the way they made things years ago . And People didnt off road like they do today as a hobby . Now they all know this and clean up on the aftermarket items good or bad. Bottom line is ill just put them in and keep my fingers crossed, knowing what i know now. maybe if i have a issue in the near future with them ill at least have the the old ones that have rusted hard to remove bolts out. And the spicer hd axle joints will be in place . Seeing they are still the factory ones and sure to be toast if not already . Having those done in a shop seems worth the cost alone . seeing i have no vise or tools to really tackle them agressively . Ledgepack driveway isnt the type of place you want to deal with all that on your knees . only to find out you cant get the chit apart and it always rains on these type days you start to do something like that . Then your on knees in rain with stones digging into your bones and hands all greesy and bleeding from some unknown finger covered in old greese while the phone is ringing off the hook . wondering where you are 9 hours later

 

Totally understand.. I can't count how many times I've said " I should have fucking paid somebody to do this shit"