Carli ball joints – who’s got ‘em and are you happy with them?
 

Less than 2 years ago and not very many miles I was in a jam and could only get a set of Moog ball joints for my truck. I hate them and the truck hasn’t driven the same since [verymad].

I’ve been saving my pennies and am looking to do the job once and be done with it. I’m currently of the opinion of pay once, cry once - which brings me to my questions…

For those of you who have the Carli upper and lower ball joints:

How many miles do you have on them?

Are you happy with them?

Should I go with the Carli Front End Suspension upgrade kit (comes w/ upper and lower ball joints, steering stabilizer and track bar)?


Thanks in advance!

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I've been wondering the exact same thing. Over the past 6 or 7 years of owning 2 different cummins,mice lost count on how many times I've done ball joints. This last set being the best I've ever had, gong on 50k with them. Wish I could remember where I got them

After a lot of reading on other sites I went ahead and ordered the upper and lower Carli ball joints today from 8 Lug...

It will be 2-3 weeks before I get them.

I'll update this thread after I get them in.

I'm on my OEM ball joints, but as far as your second question...
Do you have the 08.5 steering upgrade done to your truck?

If not, you should get it done with the Carli front-end upgrade.
In fact, when I had my setup installed by Carli's shop (not a distributor), they instructed me to get the 08.5 upgrade done first.

I'll definitely get the Carli ball joints at some point, but my stockers just won't die (knock on wood). They put a ton of engineering into making them stout.

Just installed a set of the Carli upper and lowers over the holiday weekend. Fortunately I found a set in stock and able to ship next day. Thanks to the folks at Carli for steering me in the right direction. The install ( 3 days) was painful to say the least but only due to the years of beach driving and salted winter roads. Putting things back together was much easier once I figured out the puzzle of adapters on the joint press and a little home brew engineering. The parts are without a doubt top notch and with 50 or so miles on them, the truck is a completely different beast. I really didn't realize how bad my original set was. They had right at 200k on them and I only attribute their age to the fact that I installed a Kore / Carli combo system when the truck had 60 miles on it. I believe the Carli track bar and stabilizer set up saved my steering box as it is all original and fine.
The only reason I decided to do the ball joints was the fact that I noticed some wear on the inside of my newly installed Toyo's. This is my 3rd set of Toyo's ... mileage was as follows. 1st set BFg's 25k or so. 2nd set Toyo's 75k. 3rd set Toyo's 70k. 4th set Toyo's on now and looking good. Sage at Carli turned me on to the Toyo's after I nearly totaled my truck due to death wobble. My wife and 6 month old were in the truck when it happened and that's all it took for me to do something to remedy the problem. Anyway... A little long winded, but long story short is, the ball joints are amazing so far. Absolutely no play in the joints what so ever. You'll enjoy them. Congrats.

Thanks for the replies...

I received the Carli ball joints on Friday and had my "go to" mechanic install them for me on Sunday.

All I can say is wow - what a difference!

Next up will be new tires and a steering upgrade...

I do not know what is in the upgraded carli steering component kit but you can find the 08+ kit without the stabilizer for around $300 online. It goes in pretty easily. You can get a bilstein stabilizer for like $60-70 I think.

I had the carli balljoints and at the same time I did the outter ujoints. The truck steered much better, better than brand new.

I unfortunately sold the truck about 6 months later so no long term tests from me.

So what would be the ticket for me with my 04'? I've had DW issues in the past, corrected them, and now they're back. Id like to get the front end right and be done with it. I read a few of the threads on DW, but I can't tell if the 08'+ OEM kits or the Carli kit or a combo of the two are best. Anyone know for certain?

Also where's a good place to order the Carli?

50,000 plus still tight. Uppers