Hey All,

I've been reading quite a few posts on ball joints and hope I can help out some here. I am a retired technician but still do private work and try to keep up on as much as possible.
I own a 2005 3500 4x4, QC, DRW and use it as an RV hauler. It has 1,270,000 plus kilometers (787,000 miles) on it. I'm only on my second set of Ball Joints.

A couple of things to keep in mind with these trucks' ball joints. The upper joint is not a ball stud, (only the lower is) so it doesn't articulate in its socket although it can move up and down.There is quite a bit of ball joint movement built into the suspension design from the factory. .060" inch side to side for the uppers and .090" up/down movement on the lowers

I've attached four pages of factory repair manual procedures for those who like.

One other thing I found while researching ball joint brands. Some sellers are listing the McQuay-Norris and XRF as same products (using each other part numbers). I also found that the XRF location addresses are NOT manufacturing facilities and they even kind of state they: accomplished our goals by forging strategic alliances with an engineering group, a state-of-the-art manufacturer, an OEM testing laboratory and a world transportation logistics group. So it sounds to me like they simply source a product and resell it under their brand. The XRF's have a form of plastic in them...I wonder how this will stand up to higher mileage use as many of you reporting using XRF are at very low mileage (under 10,000). Just some friendly info, not trying to rag anyone.