Who makes quality lower ball joints?

[360notch]

No one. The cups are all plastic now verses the metal on the older USA made style. That is why I saved every old ball joint on every car if they were tight.

Take the boot off and look at the cup. most all are plastic. Yes even the new made with china parts assembled in USA moog.

Getting a metal banded boot and a grease fitting is rare on suspension parts. Good parts are out there you just have to hunt them as you are. I found some NAPA stores with old stock having them. Like I said look first. Plastic style work , Just don't last on the North East USA pot hole roads.

Reminds me of a road trip we just made to Nashville . Route 81 was being repaved . the second coat was not done so every bridge felt like hitting a curb. By the time we got home the new suspension parts were waisted as was the steering box. The OEM joints were in there for years. So we just install these in this truck . Plastic Cups. Thank god we made the cost up on how cheap the equipment was.

It was 3 in the morning and I was watching my son trying to stay on the road. I said your falling asleep let me drive . Wow I don't know how the hell he was doing 80 mph. I was whipping the wheel back and forth doing 60 while he was snoring away.

View attachment 1716326124

Makes sense. I had less than 5,000 miles on a new drivver side Moog LBJ and it went bad. Also had a new inner tie rod end go bad on the passenger side.

 

[72bluNblu]

Don’t waste your money on dried up ancient NOS who knows how old ball joints that will need brand new boots the moment they hit the road or worse.

No one. The cups are all plastic now verses the metal on the older USA made style. That is why I saved every old ball joint on every car if they were tight.

Take the boot off and look at the cup. most all are plastic. Yes even the new made with china parts assembled in USA moog.

The Proforged ball joints use metal cups and are greasable.

It’s in their advertising -

“Proforged Ball Joints generally utilize forged SAE4140 steel for the ball stud and forged SAE1045 for the housings, a combination that yields incredible strength and toughness. Proforged ball joints are available for nearly every year, make, and model vehicle found on the road today.

Features:​

• Greasable Design - Extends Life and Easy Service
• Metal to Metal Heavy Duty Bearing”

https://www.holley.com/products/suspension_and_chassis/ball_joints/ball_joints/parts/101-10129


And you can see it when you pop the boot off. Maybe not well enough in the pictures to make believers out of the skeptics, but it’s easy to see when you’re looking at it that everything in there is metal, as is claimed by Proforged.

 

[Cuprum-74]

I've also used Proforged products to great affect:
Lower Ball Joints, Tie-rod ends and steering Pitman arms.
Sadly they didn't make Idler arms so I had to get Oreilly's "Master-pro" brand Idler arm.
We'll see how it goes.

 

[Jeremiah (jd)]

I have used Proforged tie rods ends, sleeves, ball joints, idle and pitman arms since 2012ish with no issies to date. The cars with headers see a fair amount of R&R of the centerlink during maintenance. Prior to ProForged I used Mopg until their supply chain ethics became questionable.