I just received my Moog hubs from Rock Auto and it looks like I'd better order some more parts before I put my Ram back on the road. With 155,000 mi. on the odometer, I was not surprised to find the left lower ball joint has noticeable play with just hand movement of the steering knuckle and the boot on the right side is starting to fail. I was about to order the Moog "Premium" lower ball joints and upper control arms but noticed that I could spend a little more money and get the Mevotech Supreme front end kit, which also includes tie rod ends. It looks like the Supreme kit features a "Limited Lifetime" warranty, whatever that means.

Does anyone know anything about this warranty or Mevotech or have any first hand experience? The Mevotech kit is quite a bit more money than the Moog "Premium" parts and I'm wondering if I should spend the extra money over the Moog.

Thanks so much for any reviews or feedback!

-Cal

 

I used Mevotech stuff on my Mazda 3, when I rebuilt everything up front (control arms, etc). It's good stuff with thick boots on the ball joints.

I've read Moog quality has declined over the years and, knowing Rock Auto, the Mevotech warranty will serve you well.

 

I have rebuilt my entire front end of my 05 1500 with mevotech parts from rock auto and haven't touched it for 3+ years since then. Everything is built tough. Thicker boots and it looked like quality craftsmanship. With the moog stuff I rebuilt it twice with in 2 years. I highly recommend mevotech

 

Thanks for the feedback on Mevotech, Gary! Yeah--I was pretty disappointed to see "Made in China" on my Moog hub boxes. I got the old ones out pretty easily and just need to place the order with Rock Auto for more parts so I don't have to do this again anytime soon...hopefully.

-Cal

 

Looks like I'm going with Mevotech for the rest of my front end parts, rtmtrrdr. Thanks for the feedback! I wish I'd done more research before I bought the Moog hubs and I didn't expect to see "China" on the box for the price. "Japan" or even "Taiwan" can be acceptable for the money I paid but I could have bought Chinese much cheaper than the Moog price.

I did pretty well with the original hubs and just hope Chinese Moog hubs last at least as long, but your experience has me wondering if I should include a set of Mevotech hubs in my new Rock Auto order and just return the Moog hubs.

-Cal

 

Don't freak if you see Made in Vietnam on the Mevotech parts. I forgot to mention I helped someone go through the front end of his girlfriend's Hyundai, and the control arms were Mevotech. Serious, OEM quality, beefy material.

 

I don't think I've ever had as much trouble with other Asian parts as I've had with Chinese parts. I don't think I've ever had Vietnamese parts, but this might be the first time.

The Mevotech parts will be here Thursday via FedEx. (Rock Auto sure ships fast!) They are the Supreme parts so they have the Mevotech lifetime warranty. I decided to keep my Moog hubs, because they have a three year warranty, which is actually better than the Mevotech hub warranty. The Moog hubs look good but fingers crossed.

 

FYI: Keep the 2nd Gen Rock Auto Discount Thread bookmarked. The 5% discount always helps.

Please report your impression with the parts when they arrive. I think you will be quite pleased.

 

Thanks! I'll report back when the Mevotech parts arrive. I used the 5% code for both orders.

 

The Mevotech parts arrived yesterday and I repaired the passenger side today. Rock Auto shipped very promptly, as before, but FedEx took an extra day to reach us here in the woods of NE Washington state.

I dunno. The Mevotech parts are probably fine, but still made in China it turns out, like everything else it seems these days (including my Moog hubs). Based on just looks, they don't seem to have the high quality finish of my Moog hubs. Despite being made in China, the Moog hubs' appearance did impress me.

All the parts fit perfectly, except the lower ball joint castle nut would not work without a washer for spacing the hole for the cotter pin correctly. Mevotech did not supply a washer so the cotter pin would not engage the castle nut and lock it at all. The OEM nyloc style locking nut has an integral captive washer so I could not use it. Lacking a washer and not wanting to make a long drive to the nearest hardware store or NAPA, I just installed the OEM nut over the drilled-for-a-cotter pin ball joint stud. I know it's not proper to install a nyloc nut on threads with a hole (at least in aviation circles) but it will work here. Mevotech should have include a washer for under the castle nut.

The other thing that bothered me about the lower ball joint was the boot. There's not enough room on the flange to reliably support a ball joint press adapter tube so the boot must be pried-off before pressing the ball joint in place. Unfortunately the boot doesn't go back on quite as securely as it was originally. It's probably okay and upward pressure from the lower knuckle flange helps to keep the boot pushed upward but I still don't think it's ideal. At least both the upper and lower Mevotech ball joints have zerk fittings!

All the other parts worked fine. I'll post again, if I learn anything new on the driver side (hopefully no)!

-Cal