bghunter2

Ok I know the factory ball joints are not that good from everything I read. However I need to replace mine. The jeep spends 100% of the time on the road. I am not sure if it is worth the money to spend on some of the higher priced replacement ball joints, such as teraflex rugged ridge etc. What do you guys think considering this jeep spends all its time on pavement.

Mark Doiron

Really, on road or not doesn't really matter. The problem is the plastic in the OEM ball joints. Turning your steering wheel as you drive is going to cause wear on that plastic. If you're looking at replacing your Jeep in the next couple years, then probably the OEM will last. If not, really recommend replace at least with the cheaper of the better brands out there. Of course, then you get the hassle of greasing every 3K miles or so. And if you're not going to commit to that, then definitely do NOT get any aftermarket BJs that require greasing--stick with OEM or Crowns or such.

Morris4x4Center

If it helps, we carry many brands of ball joints for the JKs-
Jeep Wrangler JK & Unlimited Suspension Parts 2007-2010 at Morris 4x4 Center

Typically (on any vehicle with ball joints) the bottoms go first because they support more weight (than the tops would).

They wear out on any vehicle, so it's not a Jeep specific proplem. :-)

Quality ball joints normally do not use plastic parts as mentioned in the above post (good advice there as well :-)




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bghunter2

Thank you for the help guys. I don't see myself getting rid of the jeep anytime soon, it is a 2007 with only 28, 000 miles so as you can see we dont drive it much. It just kills me that everything is still stock and ball joint went. I bought an extended warranty, but they wont replace as "they are within specs" but they are shot to hell.

bghunter2

I just read this again, and just to confirm, you would suggest aftermarket only if I am willing to grease ball joints every 3000, otherwise stick with a cheaper ball joint.

horrocks007

My shop recommended synergy ball joints, and I have those. Not sure about how greasing them though. I would think your good for a long time before injecting more grease in there. But your local oil change place should be able to shoot grease in the fittings if you want them too.

I grease gun and all the parts is about 15$ and it's easy to do.

spicoli

I got synergy ball joints. I just did them when I got axles sleeves and C gussets which those 2 things are highly recommend if you're going to a larger tire size. Things like that aren't as exciting to do as lifts, bumpers, etc. but are very important to increase reliability and help prevent breakages on the trail.

azxr

Here is a thread from a month ago on the same topic.

https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/modi...joints-317397/

Mark Doiron

Unless you can find a ball joint that is permanently greased, if one exists, you'll need to grease yours or have them greased. The problem is that a "permanently" greased item is built differently than one you need to grease regularly. They have a seal that keeps the grease in and water and muck out. You wouldn't want to grease them because there's nowhere for the excess grease to go except to damage that seal. Greasable joints may have a seal, but it's loose fitting to let excess grease escape. General rule of thumb in the past was to grease every oil change--every 3K miles in the old days. I'm not saying that if you go 6K miles between oil changes that you'll have a BJ fail. But, if you don't ever grease them, you'll quickly be running metal on metal. And that isn't going to give you any better service life than metal on plastic on metal.

And the problem I have with letting someone else grease your rig, is a lot of greasable joints stop accepting grease. It is usually the grease fitting has become stopped up with muck and grime. You've got to take it off, clean it up, put it back on, then continue. So, you're the pimple-faced teen at a fast lube place and one of the four fittings on those fancy ball joints isn't taking grease. You can tell because there's grease spitting out, but not actually entering the joint. So, what do you do? Fix it? Tell the owner? Or just pretend it was properly greased because, heck, yeah, look at all that grease all over the place!?

jeepmojo

i saw grease go in the fitting / would you like fries with that