Customer turned me on to this company www.xrfautoparts.com and well, if they make ball joints for the 3rd gens it should solve ALL the issues with them. I don't need ball joints yet, but if someone needs balljoints I'd make some calls if I were you. I have some literature for the Superduty ball joints which looks great. Acetal(Delrin) races with polished surfaces. These balljoints should outlast the truck IMO...

If they don't make them for the 3rd gens yet it's time to start swamping them with requests..

 

I installed the MOOG parts on my truck and haven't had any problems yet. We shall see how they are after plowing season....

 

I have made my inquiry...

I'll report on the answer

 

Here is thier response to my email

" We are woking on BJs for the '04 Ram, but we are not quite ready to release them yet.

Yes, we make a very strong parts for the Dodges and Ford SuperDutys. We call it a "Zero-Lash" ball joint.

We use much stronger steel (SAE1045 mid carbon) than our competitors (SAE4118 low carbon). Internally, we have full ball stud that is perfectly round and burnished to a mirror finish. The ball stud in fully encapsulated in an Acetal bearing.

It is a very strong durable part.

Unfortunately, I can not help you with your truck for about 120 days."

 

I received the same info... he also gave some projected prices. Also, they are going to have tie rods and etc. available. He gave me a 90 day time frame.

 

I hope this isn't changing the subject too much, but How hard is it to change the ball joints on a 3rd. gen. ??? What's the procedure? Is it an at home fix?

 

And the projected price is?

 

I really wouldn't worry about the price "too" much. Changing the ball joints is such a nasty job, the parts cost is the last thing to worry about...If we could have 300k balljoints, I'd pay quite a bit more to not worry about it..

 

Below is what I received:


Thanks for your inquiry.

The parts for the new Dodges are still on testing. They are about 90 days away.

I can give you part numbers and prices, but the parts will not be available until late August.

DS1463 Right Connecting Rod $36.00
DS1464 From Connecting Ro to Left Outer Tie Rod $52.00
ES3624 Tie Rod End at the Pitman arm end $18.00
ES3625 Tie Rod End Left Outer
ES3626S Adjuster Sleeve $19.00
K7448 Upper Ball Joint no price yet
K7467 Lower Ball Joint no price yet.

I hope this helps. I apologize for the delays in getting these parts to market, but we are very thorough on our testing

 

I don't need them now but I just bookmarked their website. Looks like they make quality parts.

 

soulezoo-those part numbers you have listed are for moog adjustable ball joints. i will bet they are cheaper through rockauto.com. plus- i just redid my whole front end using spicer and moog parts-the prices for the rest of the parts you have listed are also higher than what i paid from rockauto.com

 

I think XRF is just using the same part #'s as Moog to keep it simple. Fairly common in the aftermarket world..

These parts should outlast Moog parts 5 times I'd imagine..

 

I've got the XRF ball joints sitting on my bench awaiting install (2nd Gen Truck). I also got a NICE ADJUSTABLE track bar from them.

I certainly don't want to upstage Don Thuren above, cause I've heard he's got a wicked awesome track bar. The price was right on this one, so I picked it up. I haven't installed it yet either.

Here's pics of both the ball joints and the track bar:
http://picasaweb.google.com/andrewgibbs/XRFChassisParts

 

I just received my xrf parts in the mail. Everything they offered for the 3rd gens. The ball joints STILL arent ready, but he said he'd shoot me an email when they were. They were great to deal with btw, and these should be parts I can beat the crap out of. Always a plus.

 

What all do they offer for 3rd gen.