I want to log my story here, so if someone else has this problem, they may find this information.

I ordered a front end kit off ebay. I know, I know, but hard to resist $95 for all ball joints, tie rod ends and pitman arm. It doesn't see that much use, just moving things around town and going wheeling, so the economy grade stuff usually does fine.

I got a big box of blue and white boxes branded DLZ. They all look like direct copies of the Moog joints, even the ebay listing uses Moog part numbers. lol Everything looked pretty decent, boots were a little flimsy but about what you would expect. Everything went in fine with the autozone loan a tool press and they all took grease fine except for the lower ball joints. When I squeezed the handle it would go halfway and stop completely. At that point it was like squeezing a brick.

I tried taking the zerk out and pumping grease through it, no problem. Also tried digging around in the threaded hole in the control arm to see if that was clogged, nope. Heat, tapping, ouija, nope. I put the zerk back in and drove it. About three months go by and it starts groaning.

So I end up taking one out and the channel that runs around the outside diameter is completely filled with grease. I wipe the grease out and find that it has no hole drilled to inside to let the grease in! Well now that would explain it! I thought briefly about drilling a hole in each, but decided I sounded too much like my dad and bought a new set of lowers.

Everything else seems fine so far, but like I said, this truck doesn't see a whole lot of mileage. Maybe 5k a year.

 

Shoulda contacted the seller. They'd probably have replaced them.

 

ebay is hit and miss I dont like if you leave a poor review they warn you some of these sellers are dirt-bags even if they refund you they deserve a poor review so others can avoid them.

They know their product is crap

 

I'm not surprised it groaned after three months. They come with little to no grease and you're supposed to pump them full upon install, which you weren't able to do. That's what I did with these super cheap Napa ones. They've been working great!


https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...ll-joints.html

 

I did, but it's just past the 90 day ebay guarantee period and even though the listing says 1 year warranty they did not return my email. haha. I got some TRW ones shipped for $18 and made sure to check that they have the grease port

 

I sent them a message, but since it is past ebay's 90 day period they didn't even reply. Their listing even states 1 year warranty, LOL