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Rough Country Flex-Joints worn

Yeah that's what I heard also but if you go back a few pages, someone mentioned they were told by RC that the bushes are from Daystar. I dunno what to believe but I hope that whatever was made works and the problems are fixed. Perhaps Daystar made the bushings to Currie's specs? All I can do is shrug my shoulders until RC decides to share their new secret recipe.

A flex joint would not be made by Daystar in my opinion. they make the bushing maybe but not the metal pieces. i would lean to another companyh. I can do some checking.

The reason I ask about Summit is every bushing I have had form them wether a press in bushing or flex jount has been junk. Full Traction used Summit and still do and they are notorious for having joint problems.

This is a table full of Summit ends

IMG_6489.jpg


This is after 26 miles of driving on the street and 2.7 miles offroad

IMG_6766-1.jpg


IMG_6785-1.jpg


IMG_6771-1.jpg


ALL 8 of the bushings were junk.

This was the replacement flex joint from Summit... same company.

brand new the 2 sides would touch before the bushing was tight, the sides needed to be sanded down for proper fitment. Not to mention there was no oiling holes so oiling holes needed to be drilled so the zerk fitting could even get oil to the bushing

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080708012.jpg


080708009.jpg
 
Buddy of mine just got a set of adjustable lowers from them.....first thing we did was shave the centers for a proper fit. Gotta be able to preload them properly or they just flop around till they wear. In most of the warranty cases here y'all coulda shaved the centers and thrown um back together n been done with it
 
Thx.
Any chance you have pics of the new joints?
Looking forward :thumbup:.

i have already assembled the joints, but i will refer you to this post: http://naxja.org/forum/showpost.php?p=245398382&postcount=115

the joints i received(both uppers and lowers) are like the ones on the left, the ones on the right are the older style joints(as confirmed by grimus in this thread).

Buddy of mine just got a set of adjustable lowers from them.....first thing we did was shave the centers for a proper fit. Gotta be able to preload them properly or they just flop around till they wear. In most of the warranty cases here y'all coulda shaved the centers and thrown um back together n been done with it


well, i just helped install a 4.5" long arm kit from RC on my dad's XJ last weekend and his kit came with the old joints. he only has 100kms on it so far so i don't know if they are bad or not, but when i put them together they fit tight, shaving the center's would have only created a gap. also, the old style joints look nothing like what coueshunter posted.
 
A flex joint would not be made by Daystar in my opinion. they make the bushing maybe but not the metal pieces. i would lean to another companyh. I can do some checking.

The reason I ask about Summit is every bushing I have had form them wether a press in bushing or flex jount has been junk. Full Traction used Summit and still do and they are notorious for having joint problems.

This is a table full of Summit ends

IMG_6489.jpg


This is after 26 miles of driving on the street and 2.7 miles offroad

IMG_6766-1.jpg


IMG_6785-1.jpg


IMG_6771-1.jpg


ALL 8 of the bushings were junk.

This was the replacement flex joint from Summit... same company.

brand new the 2 sides would touch before the bushing was tight, the sides needed to be sanded down for proper fitment. Not to mention there was no oiling holes so oiling holes needed to be drilled so the zerk fitting could even get oil to the bushing

080708008.jpg


080708012.jpg


080708009.jpg

That was the problem I noticed with the original RC joints. The bushings would touch before they were pre-loaded in the joint and this is what I believe caused all the problems. I also noticed the joints were not a tight fit in the housing so it allowed them to wobble around.
 
i have already assembled the joints, but i will refer you to this post: http://naxja.org/forum/showpost.php?p=245398382&postcount=115

the joints i received(both uppers and lowers) are like the ones on the left, the ones on the right are the older style joints(as confirmed by grimus in this thread).




well, i just helped install a 4.5" long arm kit from RC on my dad's XJ last weekend and his kit came with the old joints. he only has 100kms on it so far so i don't know if they are bad or not, but when i put them together they fit tight, shaving the center's would have only created a gap. also, the old style joints look nothing like what coueshunter posted.

I think they need the gap. You can't pre-load them if they are already touching each other before install. If you shave about 1/16" from each side then there will be a small gap along the middle of the ball, allowing you to tighten them over time. I had this done on a "special" replacement joint and they were so damn tight that I couldn't even rotate the ball once installed but ran into another issue where the bushing diameter was too small causing both joint/ball to move forward and back but the ball was really tight in the bushing. On the original bushings, I could easily rotate the ball by hand which seemed way too lose to me.
 
I'm no engeneer, but I think not only is there fitment problems with the joints, I think the rubber/polly material in the joints needs to be something else.
I cranked the poo out of one of my sets to try to keep them tight, when they failed, I pulled them out and htey were bulging out from under the screw in washer.

Johnny Joints- Mine are holding up fine after about 400 miles. Unfortunatly, now I hear everything else that rattles. Back seat, dash, roof rack... ugh. LOL
 
I'm no engeneer, but I think not only is there fitment problems with the joints, I think the rubber/polly material in the joints needs to be something else.
I cranked the poo out of one of my sets to try to keep them tight, when they failed, I pulled them out and htey were bulging out from under the screw in washer.

Johnny Joints- Mine are holding up fine after about 400 miles. Unfortunatly, now I hear everything else that rattles. Back seat, dash, roof rack... ugh. LOL

You put em on too tight lol.
 
I think they need the gap. You can't pre-load them if they are already touching each other before install. If you shave about 1/16" from each side then there will be a small gap along the middle of the ball, allowing you to tighten them over time. I had this done on a "special" replacement joint and they were so damn tight that I couldn't even rotate the ball once installed but ran into another issue where the bushing diameter was too small causing both joint/ball to move forward and back but the ball was really tight in the bushing. On the original bushings, I could easily rotate the ball by hand which seemed way too lose to me.

well, honestly i didn't look to see if they met first or not. all i know is they tightened up just fine, and i could not move the ball by hand at all. maybe the break in will wear a little away and create play, we'll see.

i have assembled my newer style joints but i haven't tightened them yet so i don`t know if those have any play......they are very tight in the casings though.
 
I'm no engeneer, but I think not only is there fitment problems with the joints, I think the rubber/polly material in the joints needs to be something else.
I cranked the poo out of one of my sets to try to keep them tight, when they failed, I pulled them out and htey were bulging out from under the screw in washer.

Johnny Joints- Mine are holding up fine after about 400 miles. Unfortunatly, now I hear everything else that rattles. Back seat, dash, roof rack... ugh. LOL

Yes, THe actual material the joint is made of both on the flex and press in style joints is the problem. Material, specs, shape every last part of the design.
 
You put em on too tight lol.


Ya think? LOL I only tightened them till the little screws in the spanner wrench broke...
:moon:


200+ miles yesterday to Big Bear and back, Johnny Joints are holding up perfectly. And... I found and fixed one of the sqweeks I could hear (because with the new JJs it rides so quiet now, I could hear all sorts of other stuff) Next task is to stop the rattle coming from the glove box.
 
Ya think? LOL I only tightened them till the little screws in the spanner wrench broke...
:moon:


200+ miles yesterday to Big Bear and back, Johnny Joints are holding up perfectly. And... I found and fixed one of the sqweeks I could hear (because with the new JJs it rides so quiet now, I could hear all sorts of other stuff) Next task is to stop the rattle coming from the glove box.

I got about 600-700 on my lowers and not a problem. It's the longest I was able to drive without a clunk in 1.5 years lol. But now, of course what's new, my RC sway bar links are rattling at the ball and socket joint. It's so annoying.
 
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Any updates from the ones with the new flex joints?

my kit has been on for about a week now, i drive it about 50kms every day. no trail time yet, but so far so good. i have a few new clunks i need to identify, but they are definitely not coming from the control arms.
 
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