Well today I had the dealer check the front ball joints on my 2005 Ram 3500, 4x4, knowing that they where shot. Surprisingly the dealer aggreed, the only problem is that they want to put none greasable ball joints back in. I told them that I wanted greasable ball joints installed, they responded by saying that Chrysler would only warranty mopar/OEM ball joints. I then requested that I would like the new mopar ball joints to be drilled/tapped with a grease nipple. I am now awaiting there reponse. Both the upper and lower ball joints on both sides are toast. The maximum ball joint tolerances are 0.020 inch ( 0.5 mm). I have only 30,000 Miles, (50,000 kms) on the truck.

 

MOOG makes a greaseable set for your trucks, and dont count on DC to drill the joints and install a zerks in them.

I know they exist, I'm trying to research a part number. last time I checked my joints the max movent I could get was .009" that was at 30K

AH HAH!!!

http://replacement.autopartswarehous...nt&dp=true

 

Im confused drew the moog pic looks like a IFS 1500 ball joint or am i retarded??

 

Ball joints going out with only 30000 miles on a heavy duty truck, this does not seem right

 

Thanks for the input Drew I have already priced out the moog ball joints through Lordco autoparts. If the truck was not under warranty I would without question purchase and install the moog ball joints. I am hoping that I will not have to pay the bill of $500 to replace them even though they may install the factory ball joints. I am hoping that the dealer will come up with a reasonable solution as this is a known problem with these trucks. I have to agree that the ball joints should not be worn out already, my last truck has 200,000 km with original ball joints, universal joints.

 

The ball joints on my 01 were completely shot at 40k. So was the trac bar. I put on a set of MOOG uppers, lowers and trac bar and now have 164k on them. Unless something has changed since I bought mine, only the uppers have zerk fittings.

 

i replaced the upper and lowers on my 04.5 with less than 50k. I got the MOOG greasable units...yes the lower ball joints are greasable as well. The zerk for the lower one is on the inside of the knuckle so you don't hit it on something.

 

I just had to replace both uppers and lowers on both sides on my 03 w/ 80,000. The track bar is going to. My macanich said that about every 3-4 years the track bar goes out. My ball joints ran my just over a 1,000 and they were MOOG. S**t must me more expensive in the mountains. Got nerw tires as well and in drives like a brand new truck now.

 

RYAN THEREIS A COMPANY THAT MAKES A RETROFIT KIT FOR THE TRACK BAR. YOU USE THE FACTORY BAR AND TAKE OUT THE JOINT AND USE THE STUD. HAVE DONE A FEW AT THE SHOP AND THEY WORK GREAT. DONT HAVE THE INFO AT HOME. A GRAND FOR ALL FOUR BALL JOINTS IS NOT BAD

 

Well after a week and a half of discussions, the dealer was reluctant to drill and tap the factory/OEM ball joints, but they have finally agreed to drill and tap them for grease nipples. Note that the lower ball joints only have 1/2 inch clearance between the top of the ball joints and front drive axle universal. The lower ball joints will be drilled and tapped and then have a flush fitting plug installed. I will remove and install a grease fitting when I want to grease the lower ball joints. A logging company has done this and they tell me that it has helped extend the life of the ball joint. I will keep everyone posted on how it goes. They also told me about another trick that they learned, If you remove the anti-lock brake sensor on the front wheels you can pump wheel bearing grease into the opening and then use low pressure compressed air to force the grease into the front wheel bearings. I had noticed this when I repacked my front wheel bearing and had been thinking about this.