balljoint recommendations.

[shenrie]

may have misdiagnosed the slop I have in my front end assuming it was the unit/hub bearings. will get it up on a lift this weekend and confirm, but in the meantime, looking for recommendations on replacement ball joints.

moog comes highly recommended from a good friend/shop owner that knows the f350's very well, but most of the fseries trucks don't weight over 10,000 lbs. also see lots of others saying the same thing on powerstroke nation etc.

slumming around RockAuto moog rates as "daily driver" while movotech rates as "heavy duty" and pro forged rates as "premium", the last 2 brands of which ive never heard of. dana also has some listed on RockAuto that I didn't expect to see. moog puts their name on a LOT of stuff these days that I know for fact they don't make. some of those items they put their name on are good enough parts, but just kinda worries me.

I searched around this forum and not much really comes up, but I did see a thread from 2010 about dynatrack balljoints. likely not something I can afford, but always love hearing the feedback.

spelled balljoint 2 different ways for easier searching for the next person looking for feedback as well

[JoeH]

I posted this in a previous thread on ball joints but after spending way too much time on researching ball joints here's my two bits.

The cost of Moog ball joints on Moog-Suspension-Parts.com - A Dealer of the Federal Mogul Brand of Suspension Parts is slightly less than half than the Dynatracs at ~$250. Amazon or Rock Auto is much cheaper. The reputation and apparent quality of Moog has gone downhill in recent years.

NAPA ball joints are apparently made by Spicer (DANA). The only difference between NAPA and Spicer may be just that the Napa is greaseable. It would be interesting to know if it is made for NAPA to higher spec. As an OEM replacement the the NAPA ball joints are highly regarded by the off-road Baja racing crowd. They are made in Taiwan.

XRF gets rave reviews on the Dodge truck forums but are made in Taiwan. However, you can pick up the set for $125 from The Tire Club ... _KITS.html

The results on XRF are mixed and are really not a premium ball joint like Dynatrac.

These were the NAPA part numbers and prices for my application which is the same for an F series truck.
2601395 lower $72.99 ea.
2601248 upper $47.77 ea.

Spicers are a bit cheaper at ~$65 per side.

I ended up going overkill and getting the Dynatracs. USA designed and manufactured and they will probably outlive the life of my van. Otherwise, I probably would have gone with the NAPA joints over the spicers and avoided Moog altogether.

[vandiesel]

I saw a company at SEMA that was making military/baja grade balljoints for ford trucks. I will see if I can find the brochure from the stacks I picked up there. I had just done mine with MOOG before I went so was pretty bummed to see them after the fact. The MOOG ones seemed fine but I expect to replace them again in a couple years. That job sucks also BTW. I had to cut the threaded part in half to get mine out.

[shenrie]

thanks guys!

the dynatracs look like a great design, but $650 for them is out of my league.

anyone tell me what the brass piece is for this dana balljoint kit?

[TheLetterJ]

In the case of a dana 44, that's the preload sleeve for the upper balljoint. You can also get them with as much as a 2° offset to add caster. I also highly doubt it's brass, more likely plated steel. I've never had a balljoint dana 60, so I don't know if they're similar.

[vandiesel]

OK I did find one company that grabbed info on. I'm not sure if it the same as mentioned but I think they are worth a look for sure.
https://rareparts.com/diamond-series

[shenrie]

^^^ man their jeep stuff looks badass, but the stuff they offer for the fords looks similar to what’s offered by everyone else. No real description of anything special about the ballpoints offered for the ford and dodge applications. Appreciate the info either way. Cool to see some of the higher end off-road stuff that’s out there.

Thanks for the explanation about that brass looking piece letterj. My axle is a Dana 60 and I’m not really familiar with either axle. That little piece just caught my eye after seeing how the dynatrac was made. At first glance that part looked like the piece that holds everything together on their setup.

[vandiesel]

I think they have some of the badass stuff for the Dana 60 also. I’d call them.

[Mr.Anderson]

subscribed - I'm looking at replacing my ball joints soon too

[REF]

I replaced mine with the Dynatrac ball joints about 6 years ago, still going strong. Yes, they are spendy, but it says something that they are specifically built for heavy rigs and for those running oversize tires. I figure the upfront cost is worthwhile if you can swing it cause it’ll probably be the last set you will need to purchase for the life of the van.