The_Hammer

I've NEVER taken a single vehicle I've owned to an alignment shop because of the BS you just went through. I've always done my own alignments at home and I've never had an issue with abnormal tire wear.

RockAuto had everything but one adjuster sleeve which I found on Amazon with free shipping. Total for everything was around $315 shipped. I'll be documenting everything and will do a write up on the install including part numbers.

I just ordered a pair of AC Delco Pro (same as Raybestos Pro) ball joints so I'll let yall' know what I think when I get them. I also ordered everything to convert over to the 98-99 HD steering using AC Delco Pro as well.

I can not find a place that has everything I need in stock for anything! It's really starting to tick me off already If was wanting to use Moog it wouldn't be a problem.

Well the shackle reversal is going to have to wait. After checking out the front end on my truck I realized that I not only need ball joints on one side, but my tie rod ends are shot too . So, it's time to upgrade to the 98-99 HD steering.

I was figuring it was at least a couple grand or so, if not more. I was a diesel/heavy equipment mechanic so I have most of the tools I could need for just about any repair. I can't imagine taking anything to a shop, not even an automatic transmission.

Your not going to lose much gearing going from a 245/70R19.5 to a 265/70R19.5. With a 1" lift your probably good to go since the tires are only 10.4" wide. https://www.tacomaworld.com/tirecalc?tires=245-70r19.5-265-70r19.5

Checked some more part numbers and AC Delco Professional is in fact rebranded Raybestos Professional parts. I checked the 98-99 HD steering parts between the two and like the ball joints they're exactly the same. Just thought this might be useful information to share.

I got to thinking about all the work I've done to my truck in the last 6 months and started to wonder how much I would have paid in labor if a shop had done everything. Project #1 Installed DOR track bar. Project #2 Removed timing case cover and replaced seal. Tabbed the KDP. Cleaned, applied Loctite, and torqued timing case to engine bolts. Removed injection pump, replaced tappet cover gasket. Set pump timing to 16.5°. Flushed cooling system Project #3 Replaced belt tensioner Project #4 Replaced wheel cylinders with GM 1-ton pieces. Replaced wheel seal. Replaced rear brake drums and shoes. Flushed brake system. Project #5 Replaced A/C evaporator and heater core. Replaced HVAC unit foam. Project #6 Replace transmission lines. Project #7 Removed transmission. Removed valvebody. Inspected transmission, replaced anchor and apply lever with billet pieces. Installed new valve valvebody. Installed transmission. Road test vehicle, adjusted T/V cable and front band. Project #8 Replaced steering gear output shaft seal. Cleaned power steering pump screen. Flushed system. Project #9 Replaced front shocks. So, without spending too much time running the numbers how much do you think it would have cost in labor alone for all of the work listed above?

That's a very good point. It gets expensive really quick if your paying someone to do the work for you. I don't even want to know how much I would have paid in labor alone this year doing repairs on my truck.

@AH64ID I'm actually wanting to go a little higher in the front via a pair of 2.5" - 3" lift springs later on. As is the truck rides better than it did before the spacers were installed since installing the 5100's, I absolutely LOVE these shocks. My control arm bushings are in pretty rough shape and need to be replaced so I might as well build a new set of arms while I'm doing it, right? Lol. Honestly I just enjoy doing things like this so I don't mind building longer arms. I already pulled the AAL's, cut them down, and I'm using them as 1/2" lift zero rates. The truck sits almost level right now and rides MUCH better in the rear, even with wore out shocks. Thanks for the info on the 3rd gen leaf springs. I'm still not sure if I'm going to do it anytime soon, it will depend on if I can find some good springs in the local salvage yards for a good price. I'm excited to see what I'm going to come up with myself! Lol.

There's a 51% price difference between NAPA and Amazon, not including 8.25% tax at my local NAPA. I can get the commercial discount at my local NAPA and it's still cheaper online with free shipping. I ran the AC Delco branded part # on Amazon and it's a buck more than the Raybestos.

The only non-adjustable, non-knurled ball joints NAPA shows are el cheapo ones, everything is else is knurled. NAPA has the rebranded Raybestos Professional joints, Rockauto has them under the AC Delco Professional name. This last one is listed on Amazon as Raybestos Professional. NAPA $50.85 Rock Auto $32.89 Amazon $30.00

I've been reading up on this and trying to make a finial decision on what I'm going to buy. I've read a lot of good things about Raybestos Professional but the knurled joints are just killing it for me. Synergy joints are supposed to be as stout as some of the other high-end joints out there but only cost $350 for set of 4. After researching this until I'm blue in the face my final decision is to wait for Michael to post what joints he has been using from NAPA and get the same thing. With a non-knurled joint I'll at least have the option to use something like the Dynatracs later on if I feel they're worth it.

@AH64ID Having the ability to rebuild ball joints without removing them from the truck would be nice. I've seen a few wore out knuckles and there's only a couple of ways to fix them right, both of which require the axle to be removed. One is to machine out the holes and install a sleeve. The second is to weld beads around the inner circumference of the hole and then machine them to the correct diameter. Either option will be costly a royal pita.

That's what really makes all of this difficult, redesigns. Parts that were great a couple years ago get redesigned and then their quality goes down the wizzer. @Mopar1973Man Which NAPA ball joints are you using?

Would $500 be too much if you knew for a fact you would get 200k miles out of them?

Part of that post is missing I would try them if they lasted significantly longer than what's currently available and I could afford $500 for them. According to CF I'd still be a cheap a$$ because I didn't spend $1000+ on Carli joints lol. I'm still going to try the Raybestos Pro joints, I've heard a lot of good things about their parts.

There's no real way to know what the hell your buying anymore. I'd try the Dynatrac ball joints but I can't drop $550 on them right now.

@Mopar1973Man It looks like most of the upper ball joints NAPA has are splined. Hell, the ones in the truck now may be splined, I seriously doubt they're stock with 300k miles on them. Keep in mind this is an advertisement for Raybestos so they are definitely going to make their products sound awesome. With that said it seems like they make quality parts and they say their warranty covers the replacement part PLUS labor. I'm going to give them a shot and see how it goes.

Trying to pick which ones to use is a royal pita. I need to figure something out quick though.

Raybestos Professional Upper Ball Joint - $30.00 Raybestos Professional Lower Ball Joint - $44.68 I may give these a try.

Those are the ones I was going to order

I've been doing some research on tube notching without any specialized tools and found a few videos of people using hole saws. I don't know why I didn't think of doing that myself, the results are very accurate and clean. I also found some good suppliers of DOM tubing, joints, bushings, ect, for the project. I should be able to build them for about $200.

I have one that's loose right now, was planing on using Spicer joints from Venture Truck Parts but I'm second guessing it now.