XRF Balljoints

[dave110]

I know this has been beat to death over the years but I have a question. I never considered XRF because I thought they were high priced but checking I see they are cheaper than NAPA and OEM Spicer. Are they any good?

[Me78569]

I wouldn't use them for a couple reasons.

 

1. the OEM spicer typically last 100,000-150,000 without needing to be replaced.  Can't beat that.

2. XRF seem to have made their joints slightly larger, and splined, which prevents you from using anything smaller again. AKA any OEM type joint.  

[War Eagle]

I recently needed ball joints and did some research to try and determine a good brand at a price I thought was reasonable.  As you can imagine there were plenty of comments both good and bad on all the brands I researched.  It seems the common view was Cali was the best (they are rebuildable) but they are the most expensive (Way North of $600 a set).  I even found some reviews where they were reported to not last.  I think most people felt Dynatrac was just below the Cali and they were north of $500 a set.  Then there are a bunch of other brands that people swear by and swear at. 

 

XRF had good and bad reviews also.  XRF has a new design out that is the million mile label and supposedly it is an upgrade of the original design that has made improvements on the quality and life of the units,  (they are north of $300 a set).

 

I couldn't find very may reviews on them but I bought a set and installed them on my gen 3 truck this spring.  They seemed very heavy duty (far heavier than the OEMs that I replaced) and are greasable (both upper and lower) units.

 

I only have a few thousand miles on them so far so I can't really tell you that they are the cat's meow.  But so far so good and I supposedly have a very long mileage warranty.  So time will tell!

[dripley]

I am running into the same thing. Been looking at more ball joints than ever care to again. My left front is getting some play and so it the unit bearing, very slight. I am not going that far in without doing it all. I have Moog now with about 80k mile or so. Same ones are about $100 for the upper and lower one side. Rock auto has some DANA shown for $65 for both upper and lower. They are listed for my truck but says for a Dana 44 diff so I dont think they will fork for my 60. I have DANA/Spicer listed else where for $75 a pair for DANA 40/60 diff. Still not sure on those either. Seems every where I look for reviews it is a equal pro and con. A lot of the ones I see are 2 and 3 years old or more. My OE lasted 200k. i need more of those. As far as the carli's and dynatrac's, thats a lot of cash to lay out. If one does fail, even if they give you a new, you still have to go in there replace. matter of fact i am not sure  if both of them make them for the 00-02. Synergy is another brand I have been seeing but still about equal on pro and con.Whats a man to do?

[dave110]

It's frustrating shopping for anything. For every 5 good reviews there's 4 bad ones. That's why I asked on this forum instead of some others. More real world experience and less B.S. Like when I did timing belt on the 300, lots were using the Gates kit. But this one guy on an LH forum said get only OEM because aftermarket belts can be off enough to cause timing issues. Scared me enough that I got a Mopar belt That with shipping cost me as much as the whole Gates kit. Reason I asked about XRF is because I always thought they were high end with the million mile warranty and expected a high price. When I saw on E-Bay I could get a whole set free shipped for the price of 1 side in Spicer I got interested. Like Nick said though I don't like the splines and did not realize they had them. Why used a splined joint unless you have oversized bores? And you will be oversized from that point on. The warranty is nice but my truck will be a Cummins engine surrounded by a pile of rust in another 100k anyhow. I guess I'll stick with the Spicers. Any of our vendors carry them? I was told Dennys Axle but did not see 99's listed. Geno's?

[Wild and Free]

Like stated above the lesser brands do hold up a bit longer on a 2nd gen so going with carli or other high end ones on a daily driver 2nd gen would be a waste. On a 3rd gen I would definitely go high end quality as the geometry is different and they are flat out hard on ball joints especially the uppers. I have had guys buy moogs to replace stockers and within a year or even less the moogs were in worse shape than the Oems. I went with Carli on my 05.

[dripley]

In my looking around the prices are all over the place. Not everyone has them for the 00-02. I found these http://www.dennysdriveshaft.com/p1731_dana_spicer_708047_ball_joint_set_for_2000_to_2002_dodge_250.html . 2 sets including $18 for shipping is still less than I paid for the moog 3 years ago. Almost seems to good to be true. i would buy  from a vendor here but I dont see any one who carries them. I also dont know anything about Denny's driveshafts either.

[Me78569]

I have sworn off moog at this point.  They seem to have gone completely to crap these days.  I got abut 35k out of my moog ball joints and they were thrashed, the oem spicers I got to replace them are still tight as can be with nearing 30k on them.

 

 

Denny's drive shafts have the 99 ball joints.  He had the best prices on them when I was looking.

[dave110]

Looking again at that link I see they list from 94-98.5, and 2000-2002 totally skipping my year of 1999. I'm not sure what to do???

[Me78569]

99 axle is the same as 94-98.5.  the axle change happened at the 2000 year.

 

 

You can verify this by looking at your ball joints and see how they are aligned.   if both are holding the weight they are 99 and early axle.  if only the top holds the weight then it is a late axle.

[dave110]

The castle nuts on mine are both on the top and the joints are in the knuckle and not in the axle. I'm assuming mine are the early style then?

[dripley]

99 axle is the same as 94-98.5.  the axle change happened at the 2000 year.

 

 

You can verify this by looking at your ball joints and see how they are aligned.   if both are holding the weight they are 99 and early axle.  if only the top holds the weight then it is a late axle.

From what I have read it is the bottom one that holds all the weight. correct me if I am wrong, please.

[dripley]

The castle nuts on mine are both on the top and the joints are in the knuckle and not in the axle. I'm assuming mine are the early style then?

The nuts on mine are on the bottom and in the axle. They are not aligned either. I have the later axle.

 

 

Does anyone know the right part # for an 02? Spicer that is.

Edited September 4, 2015 by dripley

[dave110]

It appears that the 708047 are for yours. All this makes the install look easy no?

[dripley]

Not really. I replaced everything under there 80k miles ago so i know what I am in for. Shopping for them has been a PITA. You can spend anywhere from $20 to $150 for one. I got 80k out of the Moog which is betters than a lot of folks and they were just shy of $50 apiece. I like you got a little frustrated on reviews so many on both sides. I especially liked the positive reviews with 5k or 10k on them. I would like to think I could be that happy with a $20 one. Figure I will get some u joints for the front also. i still have the OE's in there.

[CTcummins24V]

Oem spicer, dennysdriveshaft, best bang for the buck

[dripley]

i would like to find the oem that were on my truck. every thing under the front axle was sealed and lasted 200k. Everything I find today is grease able. Kinda makes me wonder.

.

[ronman]

I put XRFs on my truck in 2010. They're still just as tight 5 years and 115K later as the day I installed them. Now if only I could say the same about the rest of the components in the front end...

[dripley]

I put XRFs on my truck in 2010. They're still just as tight 5 years and 115K later as the day I installed them. Now if only I could say the same about the rest of the components in the front end...

Now if I could find someone who ran them in their 00-02 4wd with the same performance I would consider them.

[dave110]

Don't know what to say Ripley. I have Napa joints in one side of mine from the PO and they are tight at 40k. Other side is original at 125k. At this point I'm either going Napa or Spicer. Got a 10% coupon for Napa and they'll be easy to return if I do happen to get the wrong ones. I put about 6-7k a year on my truck so definitely don't need $800 Carli's but I don't want junk either. Coupon expires on the 9th. I'll let you know what I decide.