Well I have 2 bad lower ball joints on my 98 1500 2wd. Worked in cars/truck all my life and never had ball joints go bad, so this will be my first time changing them. My question is what brand is good for replacement. Oem? Moog? What brand is best? And who do you guys buy your parts from? This is my first dodge.. I was 25 years driving f150s..

Local shop wanted $1465 for uppers and lowers and a pitman arm including alignment. I just could not justify that. Going to do them my self..

What brand replacement should I get?

Thanks,

G

 

OEM or Moog, not that bad to replace them, with a ball joint press you can do easily the lowers, uppers are a bit more difficult to work, you can remove the upper control arms but take extra precaution to mark the exact location for reasembly ( I didn't and still need an alignment) the press tool may have different bj adapters to press in out the bj, when you find the correct one make sure to set the tool straight, it can go sideways easily, is maybe the only issue you can find https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...placement.html take a look at that thread

 

Thanks, I shouldn't have a problems changing them. I think I'm going with the moog. Also looked into the xrf ball joints and they to me look like rebadged moog parts. Even the pictures and part numbers are the same as used on the advance auto web site. $245 for uppers and lowers along with pitman arm at rock auto. That's like $1100 labor at a shop I deal with. They are a AAA top shop...but $1465 is a bit much. For once I was just going to let someone else fix it...but I just could not justify it.

 

maybe you should be prepared with a good pitman arm puller, that thing is hard to pull sometimes, i broke 3 pullers last time including a Proto, until i made one strong enough

 

I did my ball joints about 3 years ago and was gonna go with Moog but the more I read about them, the more I realized they're not what they use to be. I ended up going with XRF ball joints and never looked back. Google them and you'll see review after review of people who were gonna go with Moog but instead went with XRF. Nothing but good things.

 

Thanks, I will look more into them. Why would the part numbers be the same and even use the same pictures as moog? Just wondering.

 

Same part number, different brand is common. just makes it easier to look up and cross refference. Same pic? I'm just taking a stab in the dark but a moog ball joint looks spot on like an xrf ball joint...