Sorry to ask... Ball joints
 

Hey guys. I'm sure you've all been through this and don't want to talk about it again. But I'm trying to find what a decent set of ball joints are. Yes I know Dynatrac and Carli are the best, but I can't afford them right now. I've searched the forum over but I can't find a good answer for our 2000-2002 trucks. So XRFs are a bad idea correct? I see they have a "new" design, is it any better? They don't look knurled anymore. What about Raybestos? I don't believe those are knurled, are those decent? I'm just looking for a good idea here. I can spend some good money, but I can't do $650+. Thanks for helping me with this.

So here's my story. I just put on a Hell Bent Steel 2.5" level kit with Bilstein 5100 shocks. Then I got 285/75/16 Hankook Dynapro ATMs put on. The truck looks great. But of course they wouldn't align it because everything is loose. So I need to get ball joints, and the tie rods and ends. I've heard about a T style upgrade and I'm still trying to find that and I think I'll go that way with it. Other than that I need an adjustable track bar to center the axle again. I think I'm going to go with the XRF adjustable track bar for that, unless I hear bad things about that.

So here's my 2002 Camper Special with the 2.5" level kit and 285s. It really sets about perfectly level. I wanted to put this out there for the other Camper Special owners in case they are wondering where it would put their truck. I do plan on doing a thread on just the lift too with a lot of detailed pictures of how the truck sits.

Well thanks for any help you guys can give me!

I got the Moogs and they are still pretty tight.

You are right in addressing the trac bar, I have a Thuren with rebuildable ends and about 90K miles on it, same 2.5" levelling kit and airbags for towing.

These front ends suck, I wish I did the third gen upgrade....Spin-tek free hubs next....

Hmm interesting. How many miles do you have on your Moog ball joints? I feel like our trucks are a different ball game than the others. Especially since it seems all that anyone talks about is 3rd gen ball joints. You know where I can find info on the steering upgrade? Thanks Six.

thank you!!!

Thuren offers one, but you need to cut off the 2nd gen trac bar mount and replace it with a 3rd genner. I should have done this...

There are a couple other mods to better the steering, but you can't get away from the ball joints or trac bar issues without upgrading to better parts, which cost more!!

Hmm, I guess I've heard of upgrading to a newer style haven't really thought of it though. I'd really like to save money here, but I know to do it right I'm not going to be able to.

And now I have a popping noise in my steering coming in my driveway. Awesome.

Sorry Anon, I had them put in around 60K, I'm approaching 150K now...

I ended up putting a flip over pitman arm on after the lift blocks, it was the end popping over when I changed steering direction over a 1/3 of a turn or so.

IIRC I got it from Skyjacker.

Oh, ok. Thanks for the help. Hopefully I can get this ironed out soon.

Well I just contacted a seller on Ebay about XRF ball joints. He just got back to me and told me that the ball joints are not splined. So now that they have changed that part of them, maybe they won't be so horrid to change out. I think I might end up trying them, especially since they won't tear up the sockets anymore, and I haven't found anything else worthwhile.

Also I did end up ordering other parts last night. I got a Mopar 08 steering upgrade, and an XRF adjustable track bar. I figured with the track bar it's lifetime warrantied and it's not terrible to change so it might be worth it at the price. Or at least to get me through this to another day that maybe I'll be willing to pay for an upgrade. Thanks for the help guys, I'll let you know how it turns out.

Ditto on Moog.

Synergy's supposed to be two months out on this style HD steering for the 2nds.

Synergy Manufacturing HD Tie Rod and Drag Link Kit 03-13 Ram HD 8525-01

This is going on my '07 next.

Well I ended up ordering my parts. I got the XRF track bar installed Friday. The truck handles a lot better, but still not perfect I don't think. The bar looks decent, and CAN be adjusted in the truck, but it doesn't look very stout. But It's lifetime warrantied so I'll see.

I also got the Mopar upgraded steering linkage. I haven't even looked at putting it on yet. I think I noticed though that I might need to get a different steering stabilizer?

I still need to decide on ball joints. Right now I'm still leaning towards XRF. Who knows. Once I get those I'll go ahead and do the steering too. Thanks for the help guys.

Attached is a picture comparing the stock track bar to the XRF.

I did not get a year out of my XRF track bar the ball joint just wore out then i spent the money and bought a solid steel three years and still tight

Yeah that figures. It's just at this point I don't have the money to do it right, so I'll do it twice! Haha. I figured I should of went a different route but I've got too many irons in the fire right now. Thanks for the heads up.