gcliburn

I know this has been debated extensively and have read lots of posts about it. I have a 2006 2500 4wd. It will never be used by me as a toy or off road truck but I do use it to tow a gooseneck livestock or flatbed as well as around the farm so it is offroad some. Don't intend to do any lift kit but may put a iron bumper with winch on it. I am trying to decide which ball joint to go with. Consensus seems to be Carlis are best and I am leaning that way. Question is without doing any extreme stuff with the truck are the Carlis justified or would another brand be ok. Local independent parts guy sells Moog joint said he has sold several with no complaints and a set is $400. I know a lot of people say do not put moogs in but has anyone ran them without problems? for how long. Thanks.

Dr.Dizzle

You can put all highway miles the Moog joints and they will crap out on you. The only ball joints that I recommend are the Carli's and Dynatracs for longevity. We have had only problems with the Moog product in our third gen Dodge CTD's. The newer trucks have not needed replacements and will get either Carli or Dynatracs when need be. The vehicles do us no good sitting in the shop.

jhenson

I changed out my ball joints with Moog units when the stockers crapped out at a hair over 100k miles. Ran almost another 200k on the Moog joints before they were completely toast. Went back with XRF's a little over a year ago and all is well at the moment. There is just no way I could justify paying for Carli or Dynatrac joints.

gcliburn

Moog joints they quoted me have a lifetime warranty. Did yours? just curious if there was a reason you went back with a different joint. How much difference would the weight of bumper and winch make in ball joint life?

jhenson

I don't recall if there was any kind of warranty when I bought the Moog joints.....that was 9yrs ago....but they held up extremely well when everyone was saying they were junk....I dunno. The added weight of bumper and winch will probably be another 300-400lbs but I don't see it being much of a problem unless you're just extremely hard on your truck.

Get yourself a good balljoint press.....don't opt for the cheapo kind cuz it won't cut it....those things are in there plenty tight.

gcliburn

Thanks for the input. Hear lots of bad stuff wondered if anybody had good luck. Any advice on brand/where to buy a good ball joint press.

jhenson

OTC branded tools are very good ones. Of course there's Snap-on and the other high-end pricey stuff if you have the money. I bought mine from O'reilley's....don't remember what brand it is. Pretty stout piece and has held up well through 5 ball joint jobs on different trucks.