On my alter-k I had one joint go bad. It was a tie rod one. He asked what it looked like and when I told him it was an older one that he no longer used. He found a better quality one and started using them.
That's what is better about the alter-k then some of the cheaper systems out there. RMS has been around quite a while now and have slowly found what the weaker parts were and weeded them out for better quality parts.