OEMs are better than the Moog...their quality has fallen off the map in the last few years.

I was able to use the Harbor Fright tool twice before I bent it...

I will try to fab up something to stiffen the C-Clsmp...but it was so cheap I almost don't care.

 

Yeah I'm thinking I might just do the install myself. 1,200 seems like a lot when parts would be maybe 400 bucks. My only concern would be getting the hub off, and the ball joints out. I'm just afraid to damage something else.

 

Call or email me when you are doing it if you hit a bind. I will tell you where the magic BFH needs to be tapped...it will be easy! ;-)


505-379-2750 or cquestad@ssproducts.com


Christian

 

I hear you loud and clear there. I changed the unit bearings and the drivers side took about 3 hrs. 2 of the three hours were spend beating on the rotor to get it off the hub. Rust had built up on the ID of the rotor and wouldn't allow it to come off the hub.

On the passenger side it took about an hour. Before I removed the rotor I used a chisel and a punch to beat the rust "bead" off the rotor and it slipped right off.

Oh yeah..... Neverseize is your friend. Use it on everything upon reassembly.

 

As I said in an earlier post, use the process in the article section to remove the wheel bearing. It really works slick, unless you like swinging BFH's. Also the kit from Advance Auto had 21 pieces in it. Although you only need a couple to do the job it needs to be the right couple of pieces. Also the net cost was $00 for the ball joint kit use. They said I had to bring it back before 90 days were up to get my money back. I also asked if I break it what then, and they said bring back the pieces, no cost.
I found that a 3/4 breaker bar from Harbor Freight ($20) was a big help getting the wheel nut loose and turning the screw on the ball joint tool. It actually made the whole job easier with a 3/4 to half adapter. No substitute for mass.

 

rockauto.com has the moogs at the best price. There is a write up on here by Mr. Gadget that has great instructions on doing ball joints with photos. Put it all back together with anti-seize and your all set...

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...d.php?t=217250

 

The article by Mr Gadget is the one I was referring to. The article section has the writeup (How To Replace Ball Joints On Your 3rd Gen Dodge Ram). Look at the pdf document, it has step by step pictures in it.

 

That $125 is list that they are sticking you with (the same thing the shop was going to charge me for them), any decent NAPA should sell them for I $95which is what I was quoted then they sold them to me for $85 because I spent so much. If you go to NAPA online you can look them up and they are $94.99. I went with NAPA because they are local, in stock, reasonable and they are lifetime warrantied.

By they way I used the sterring trick to bump the bearing out, and also had one of those "cheap" ball/u-joint tools to pop out the ball joints (with a little heat) and also did the ujoint as it was bad.

 

How does the lifetime warranty work. Like, they would obviously want to verify they were bad before you slap the box with them in it on their desk and say here you go. How do you get them warrantied

 

I'm not sure how the warranty is going to work. I feel like if it is a lifetime warranty eithe rit is better quality so they don't expect failure or they never honor warranty (like it is a defect only warranty) never did ask how it worked. I probably is like any where else when you bring in the bad one they give a replacement.

And as far as the rotor no the BFH and hammer didn't work, nor penetrating nor, nor trying to "press" it off by blocking one side and using a porta power on the other, nor even applying some heat, it took all that and about 2 hrs of constant beating (and all the above) for it to come loose, once it popped I could work it off but getting the first movement was the issue. After words plenty of cleaning and grease and never seize.