Sponsored

Best ball joints out there

plex

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 25, 2018
Threads
87
Messages
1,185
Reaction score
1,746
Location
Cincinnati, OH
Vehicle(s)
2018 JLUR
Occupation
Weekend keyboard mechanic and beer drinker
Vehicle Showcase
1
There is nothing wrong about my stock ball joints at this point, but I plan to pull my axle shaft for an RCV, so figure since I am going to take off knuckles and everything, I may just upgrade the ball joints at the same time.

So far it seems the only two options are Dynatrac and Spicer? Price tag on Dynatrac seems a little high, and their rebuildable design is not very appealing. There are some mixed reviews about the Spicer ones (essentially the same as UD44 ones).

When will Synergy mfg come out with their ball joints?
Sponsored

 

wibornz

Well-Known Member
First Name
Ted
Joined
Aug 3, 2018
Threads
157
Messages
9,795
Reaction score
49,899
Location
lansing, Mi.
Vehicle(s)
JL Unlimited Rubicon
Occupation
Retired from Corrections....I have stories.
I have added RCV front axles and Dynatrac Ball joints to three JLURs in the last two months. It is about a three hour job and pretty easy to do. I went with the Dynatrac as I though they were the strongest and were rebuildable. All of our JLURs ball joints were shot at 40,000+ miles. Note all of them have ran 37 on bead locks since new.
 

DadJokes

Well-Known Member
First Name
Daniel
Joined
Oct 22, 2019
Threads
75
Messages
2,496
Reaction score
2,119
Location
Indiana
Website
www.youtube.com
Vehicle(s)
Sahara
I have added RCV front axles and Dynatrac Ball joints to three JLURs in the last two months. It is about a three hour job and pretty easy to do. I went with the Dynatrac as I though they were the strongest and were rebuildable. All of our JLURs ball joints were shot at 40,000+ miles. Note all of them have ran 37 on bead locks since new.
I just switched from the stock 32’s to 295’s and 99% of the miles have been on road so far. Build in progress. Taking a trip out west this Summer with a fair amount of easy to moderate trails in WY, MT, ID. I have 33k miles now. Would you guess I will be good to wait and make this a winter project?
 

Roky

Well-Known Member
First Name
Roky
Joined
Oct 4, 2018
Threads
45
Messages
8,919
Reaction score
24,047
Location
Florida
Vehicle(s)
2018 JLUR
Build Thread
Link
Vehicle Showcase
1
There is nothing wrong about my stock ball joints at this point, but I plan to pull my axle shaft for an RCV, so figure since I am going to take off knuckles and everything, I may just upgrade the ball joints at the same time.

So far it seems the only two options are Dynatrac and Spicer? Price tag on Dynatrac seems a little high, and their rebuildable design is not very appealing. There are some mixed reviews about the Spicer ones (essentially the same as UD44 ones).

When will Synergy mfg come out with their ball joints?
Dynatracs without question.
 

Sponsored

MarkY3130

Well-Known Member
First Name
Mark
Joined
Mar 27, 2018
Threads
19
Messages
1,136
Reaction score
1,329
Location
Denver
Vehicle(s)
2019 JLUR
Vehicle Showcase
1
There is nothing wrong about my stock ball joints at this point, but I plan to pull my axle shaft for an RCV, so figure since I am going to take off knuckles and everything, I may just upgrade the ball joints at the same time.

So far it seems the only two options are Dynatrac and Spicer? Price tag on Dynatrac seems a little high, and their rebuildable design is not very appealing. There are some mixed reviews about the Spicer ones (essentially the same as UD44 ones).

When will Synergy mfg come out with their ball joints?
I haven't replaced ball joints yet (27,000 miles, 12k on 35's, 15k on 37's/beadlocks) but wanted to comment on the install of RCV's. I installed RCV's without removing the knuckles. I completely agree that if you wanted to do ball joints as well that it is a convenient time to do it. However, you can do the RCV's without removing the knuckle pretty easily if you wanted to punt the ball joints to a future date.
 
Last edited:

wibornz

Well-Known Member
First Name
Ted
Joined
Aug 3, 2018
Threads
157
Messages
9,795
Reaction score
49,899
Location
lansing, Mi.
Vehicle(s)
JL Unlimited Rubicon
Occupation
Retired from Corrections....I have stories.
I just switched from the stock 32’s to 295’s and 99% of the miles have been on road so far. Build in progress. Taking a trip out west this Summer with a fair amount of easy to moderate trails in WY, MT, ID. I have 33k miles now. Would you guess I will be good to wait and make this a winter project?
If you are not experiencing any problems yet, keep driving with the stock ones. I had about 45,000 miles on mine when I switched to the Dynatrac ball joints.

It should also be noted, that we all wheel a lot. So others may get more mileage out of their ball joints.
 
OP
OP
plex

plex

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 25, 2018
Threads
87
Messages
1,185
Reaction score
1,746
Location
Cincinnati, OH
Vehicle(s)
2018 JLUR
Occupation
Weekend keyboard mechanic and beer drinker
Vehicle Showcase
1
I haven't replaced ball joints yet (27,000 miles, 12k on 35's, 15k on 37's/beadlocks) but wanted to comment on the install of RCV's. I installed RCV's without removing the knuckles. I completely agree that if you wanted to do ball joints as well that it is a convenient time to do it. However, you can do the RCV's without removing the knuckle pretty easily if you wanted to punt the ball joints to a future date.
I am actually gonna do ball joints, RCV, Powerstop brake rotor, tierod at the same time, so pretty much disassembling everything in that area.
 

wibornz

Well-Known Member
First Name
Ted
Joined
Aug 3, 2018
Threads
157
Messages
9,795
Reaction score
49,899
Location
lansing, Mi.
Vehicle(s)
JL Unlimited Rubicon
Occupation
Retired from Corrections....I have stories.
I am actually gonna do ball joints, RCV, Powerstop brake rotor, tierod at the same time, so pretty much disassembling everything in that area.
Well get it done. It is not a hard job. I had a hard time getting the carrier to separate from my ball joints. Used a sawzaw to cut the stems and then pounded them out with a hammer. It took two new blades to cut the stems and about 10 minutes to cut them.
 

Headbarcode

Well-Known Member
First Name
Mike
Joined
Aug 16, 2018
Threads
26
Messages
7,782
Reaction score
17,829
Location
LI, New York
Vehicle(s)
2019 JLUR Stingray 2.0 turbo
Vehicle Showcase
1
I am actually gonna do ball joints, RCV, Powerstop brake rotor, tierod at the same time, so pretty much disassembling everything in that area.
I did the PowerStop Z36 pads and rotors a while back. Not a huge improvement in stopping power, but noticeable during those emergency stops to avoid others stupidity.

I'm also waiting for a free day to install a set of rcv 2-piece axle shafts and outer seals, dynatrac ball joints, Reid racing knuckles, and rpm performance aluminum tie rod and drag link.

The dynatrac ball joints being of a rebuildable design is a good thing. The other option is having to keep pressing new sets in over the Jeeps lifespan. A press fit will always lose strength with every consecutive press, which will eventually lead to failure of the parent bore. Another vote for Dynatrac ball joints above all others.

Good luck with the front end refresh, and looking forward to reading about how you made out.
 

Sponsored

mandrew

Well-Known Member
First Name
Andrew
Joined
Jan 2, 2018
Threads
0
Messages
122
Reaction score
47
Location
GA
Vehicle(s)
Wrangler JL
Another vote for Dynatracs. They are heady-duty and rebuildable.
 

Headbarcode

Well-Known Member
First Name
Mike
Joined
Aug 16, 2018
Threads
26
Messages
7,782
Reaction score
17,829
Location
LI, New York
Vehicle(s)
2019 JLUR Stingray 2.0 turbo
Vehicle Showcase
1
Anyone tried the Apex Chassis ball joints? They look to be quality, at $300 for a set of 4. I demolished one of my stock ones today, and am trying to get going again without spending a fortune.

Jeep Wrangler JL Best ball joints out there 6A35B785-0851-47A9-BC8B-5540E2EF3483
Amongst other things, I was the in house machinist in the family business of truck and heavy equipment repair. We have a manual mill and lathe that I could control accuracy down to .0005". Press fits were one of the most common functions I performed.

I highly recommend you to ensure that those 2 bores are perfectly symmetrical before pressing in a new set. If there is any egging, the new ball joint housings will prematurely fail and could worsen the damage to those bores. At the very least, measure them both with a dial caliper. Check the top and bottom of each bore, both front to back and side to side for any differences. If there's any sign of the bores not being true, you'll want to get a set of ball joints that are knurled.
 

Renegade

Well-Known Member
First Name
Zac
Joined
Sep 11, 2017
Threads
4
Messages
396
Reaction score
536
Location
Signal Mountain, TN
Vehicle(s)
‘20 JT
Amongst other things, I was the in house machinist in the family business of truck and heavy equipment repair. We have a manual mill and lathe that I could control accuracy down to .0005". Press fits were one of the most common functions I performed.

I highly recommend you to ensure that those 2 bores are perfectly symmetrical before pressing in a new set. If there is any egging, the new ball joint housings will prematurely fail and could worsen the damage to those bores. At the very least, measure them both with a dial caliper. Check the top and bottom of each bore, both front to back and side to side for any differences. If there's any sign of the bores not being true, you'll want to get a set of ball joints that are knurled.
Thanks for that info. I will put a dial caliper on them when I do the repair. I was able to press these back in on the trail and ease home (with the top joint nut barely holding onto the broken stud). The holes seemed to be true. There wasn't any speed involved with the break, just a bad sequence of events trying to get the Jeep un-wedged from a couple of rocks, and out from in front of a tree.
 

The Last Cowboy

Well-Known Member
First Name
Joe
Joined
Jul 2, 2020
Threads
23
Messages
5,431
Reaction score
10,636
Location
San Antonio, TX
Vehicle(s)
2020 JL Willys 2 door
Occupation
Wandering Vaquero
Now might be a good tome to replace those aluminum knuckles too. No extra work as long as you’re that far into it.
Sponsored

 
 



Top