Alloy USA ball joints -WTF?!

[muddeprived]

Save your money and just buy Spicers.

Here's my experience:

I installed the Alloy USA ball joints in the first quarter of 2014. I put approx 15k miles on them and zero off roading. I ran 265/75/16's on stock wheels for half those miles and 235/75/15's with 4" backspacing for the other half. I put brand new tires and wheels on the jeep two weeks ago (31x10.5's with 4" backspacing) and everything was peachy until last week when the jeep started going all over the road when hitting bumps. There was also a loud clanking and banging. I checked out everything on the front suspension and everything was tight (currie johnny joints on long arms, currie HD steering, IRO trackbar and bracket (new)). I never bothered to check the BJ's because they should still be new after almost two years but gave em a pry with the pry bar and the famous BJ clunk was discovered. The uppers on both are completely shot, almost as if they are broken.

I feel there's zero excuse for these to fail this early. I emailed Alloy USA for warranty claim and they are going to honor it but I already have a set of Spicers coming from RockAuto. Not sure what I will do with these replacements but probably use em as spares.

Again, stick with what works and is proven: spicers ball joints

 

[twinhauler]

Muddeprived... If you have installed alloy ball joints that were knurled on mating surface the spicers joints, will most likely be a loose fit.

 

[md21722]

i have gone from moog knurled back to spicer with no problems, i believe the key is not to do it too many times before you're shopping for more axle C's or another axle.

BTW, moog BJ's suck, blew out mine in 27,000 miles. the factory ones last 10X as long.

on spicers on both XJ's now, no problems since they were changed.

 

[muddeprived]

Glad you got it all figured out, I had the same issue a while back.

I don't remember what brand I used that stretched out my Ball joint holes but when I went back to spicers they were too loose. When I googled it I found 2 options that sounded good. One was to weld a tack inside the hole and grind it down so the bj will slide in tightly. We went the other route and used cold chisels to make vertical grooves causing the metal in between them to mushroom out a bit.

With two different sized chisels we got it the best we could from the top and bottom. We needed the press to get them back in and they have held great. I also did it on my nephews pickup truck that kept having the ball joints come loose on it too. He later told me they had been repeatedly jumping it really high on some backroad, Smh.

It has worked well for us ymmv.

Has your chiseled mod held up? I might have to do this to mine.

 

[muddeprived]

I got the warrantied set rather quickly. I was speaking with an Alloy USA rep via a claim chat and he said he would have an inspected set sent to me right away. I didn't expect it to arrive two days later but it did.

I also received the Spicer set. If the Spicer set no longer fits then I will give these another try.

 

[muddeprived]

I got the ball joints done today.

Yes the spicer joints no longer fit. They just fell right into the hole. I was speaking with Josh from Alloy USA via their website chat and I informed him about this issue. He said he wasn't aware of this problem but will forward it to QC to see what they have to say.

Makes me a bit concerned now because I have to purchase another set to use as spares in case one of these ball joints fail out on the trail.

I'm gonna save the spicer joints for my TJ but I've already replaced it's ball joints with Spicers about two years ago so I guess these will collect dust for the next 8 years or so. LOL

 

[cal]

Moog problem solvers will work as spares, or replacements.

 

[muddeprived]

Moog problem solvers will work as spares, or replacements.

Are they thicker than Spicers?

 

[cal]

They are specifically made a hair bigger, and knurled, to address this exact issue (oversized holes, not so much alloy-usa, but they will work here).

http://amzn.com/B000C542NY

http://amzn.com/B000C55Y54

 

[muddeprived]

F-in awesome, except for some of the reviews.

Edit: never mind, they are the problem solvers. I guess one set will do as spares.

 

[blondejoncherokee]

I ran the moog problem solvers in my 44 after the synergy opened up the knuckles too much for spicers. I also added some green sleeve retainer locktite for extra measure.

 

[muddeprived]

I got the warrantied set rather quickly. I was speaking with an Alloy USA rep via a claim chat and he said he would have an inspected set sent to me right away. I didn't expect it to arrive two days later but it did.

I also received the Spicer set. If the Spicer set no longer fits then I will give these another try.

A little update:

I installed the Alloy USA joints recently and just sorted out my shock issue. New shocks are on and suddenly jeep is showing the same symptoms that the original worn joints were doing. Both tires wobble. The joints have failed again.

I give up on Alloy USA. I'm not sure if I want to use Moog based on the reviews. Alot of recent reviews are saying the joints are failing too early so I'm not taking my chances with them.

So I have a full set of spicer ball joints. I am going to try to knurl the knuckle holes to get the spicers to fit.

Is it possible to dimple the body of the ball joint if necessary? I'm not sure if that will hurt the internals.

 

[rockclimber]

A little update:

I installed the Alloy USA joints recently and just sorted out my shock issue. New shocks are on and suddenly jeep is showing the same symptoms that the original worn joints were doing. Both tires wobble. The joints have failed again.

I give up on Alloy USA. I'm not sure if I want to use Moog based on the reviews. Alot of recent reviews are saying the joints are failing too early so I'm not taking my chances with them.

So I have a full set of spicer ball joints. I am going to try to knurl the knuckle holes to get the spicers to fit.

Is it possible to dimple the body of the ball joint if necessary? I'm not sure if that will hurt the internals.

dimple the balljoint, and when you press them in use loctite 609 to set them.

 

[TroopThrowbackt]

So reviving a dead thread here:

Anybody have a part # for a spicer LOWER ball joint only for a WJ swapped d30?

Google, SIRI, and search has led me to only full spicer kits. I've looked at Moog, Omix-Ada, Reybestos, etc part numbers to attempt a match but only to find spicers in a compete kit, not lowers only.

I've got spicer XJ uppers in hand just want the proper wj lowers for my knuckle swap.


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[1990JEEPXJ]

Full wj or jk sets will work. Upper is the same

 

[TroopThrowbackt]

I see. So I should just return the XJ set I got and order new. I don't know why I was trying to make that so complicated. Stupid me!

Thanks.


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[techno1154]

Full wj or jk sets will work. Upper is the same

I am under the impression they are different,....bigger, different taper, different size OD on the part inserted into the inner 'C',....:wstupid:

 

[RoyalXJ]

I am under the impression they are different,....bigger, different taper, different size OD on the part inserted into the inner 'C',....:wstupid:

WJ and JK uppers are the same as the XJ. Lowers have a different taper.

 

[techno1154]

WJ and JK uppers are the same as the XJ. Lowers have a different taper.

OH!,... OK!

So,...if one were to get a reamer and change the taper it would be possible to run the ball joints for the afore mentioned vehicle?

 

[cal]

wait what?

why would you do that?