Uniball Stock replacement Lower Ball Joints!!!!

I found them on IG i am interested in buying some

 

this is correct, he makes a bunch of long travel stuff

 

He's got deltas that are closed on top. Then he capped them for good measure.

 

Interestig, I’ll have to check those out. Although chances are I’m “stuck” wih the TC ones I already have, lol.

 

If you use and abuse your truck, they only last 30-50k if that.

A uniball won't last much longer as it'll get dunked all the time so the teflon liner will eat away.

Nah this will work. If welded right. Thats a big ass piece of cast iron to weld in a steel cup.

Plus you still have the weakness of the 4 bolts holding it on.

The benefits of this is minimal or none for the average guy.

No. None run lower uniballs other than the Solo kit IF you have their custom spindles and custom uniball lowers. Dirt Designs has a kit that does too. Otherwise all other kits are stock LBJs.







This looks interesting. But I wouldn't jump on it unless you are okay with swapping uniballs every year basically. They will wear out faster being exposed and on the underside of the spindle. Not for the DD/weekend warrior rig.

 

Here's something I took from @jberry813 post in another thread.. not sure if applies here as this discussion was about LCAs

"And at that point, you're going to be well beyond $1500. Since the factory steering uses the factory LBJ, replacing with a uniball means fabricating a new mount point for the tie rod. Which no doubt would be attached to the newly fabbed "uniball adapater." And since you're changing tie rod points as well as adding in the extra thickness of a uniball...let's not forget about bump steer. Even with that, you'd still be stuck with the stock shitty 4 small 14mm bolts that will bolt into the bottom of spindle...which as we all know are the other weak point beyond the LBJ itself. Unless of course you build a whole new fabricated spindle...."

 

yeah that is true. However this mod doesn't affect that. The tie rod mount is still present.

the 4 small bolts are still a problem though.

 

I figured as much!

 

If the long travel kits use OEM ball joints then those 4 small bolts cant be all that weak right? I have never heard of properly torqued LBJ bolts failing, its always the ball joint its self.

As far at the uniball wearing outer faster than a ball joint I totally understand that. But as mentioned previously if your really pushing your truck your only getting around 50k safe miles out of your ball joints. So idk, that comes out to something like new ball joints every 2 years(ish)?? I feel like replacing uniballs once a year would be cheaper if not the same cost as OEM LBJs.

With the uniball you get a small benefit of a little travel and a massive upgrade in strength. Obviously uniball LBJs are not for a daily driver, but they don't seem too far fetched as a feasible alternative for a trail truck right?

in regards to the seller I have no history with him. And being a new product I doubt there has been any serious testing. But that's why the original post is lacking in detail. It was suppose to be more of feeler to gauge interest in the concept with the possibility of a group buy.

 

It would probably help if people knew who they were buying from to ask them questions direct.

The 4 bolts are still weak no matter what. They need constant checking really. No getting around that.

I doubt you'll get any travel out of this. The upper ball joint is limit factor even with mid travel setups. And its certainly not holding back LT kits, CV bind is.

It is cool and Im interested. But it is definitely not for 98% of all users on here. I doubt you'll get a ton of people ready to wave 500 bucks at this for a while.

 

Right, I didn’t ask the manufacturer if I could share his contact info, and i assume he doesn’t want to start getting blasted with questions that’s why I haven’t posted it. I also wasn’t sure how well it would be received by people on here. Some seem to have strong feelings one way or the other so no sense and putting the poor guys business on blast.

Again. This was only to gauge interest, in no way was this an official group buy request or sales pitch

 

I reused my OEM bolts. Tq ome time and never had an issue. 80k miles.

 

wouldn't have done that. those are one time use bolts.

 

Subd

 

Why? OEM are a dollar a pop. Why would you risk your safety for $8.00?

 

Because the bolts where in good condition. In my 20 years of working cars I have only replaced bolts if they are one time use like some say these are or are damaged.

 

I found that out after I had them reused for years.

 

I did the same thing. I replaced them when I found out they're single use though.

This sounds interesting. Do you have more info on it? Or a link?
1990 Eagle Talon AWD 2.0L Turbo Panda (405/420 whp/tq, 30+psi, E316G turbo, ECMlink, E85 tuned)

 

It's your call. I've got over 22yrs in towing. I've seen what happens when a ball joint let's go at freeway speed. It's not nice. If they walk away just out a truck, but sometimes they don't walk away. I'm going to redo my LBJ's soon. New bolts are ordered. Bolt stretch is a concern, also fatigue from age and use.

 

Yes, but he entire uniball doesnt need to be replaced, just the wear item, the teflon...

The 4 bolts aren't the weak point of the balljoints, though. Maybe with the uniball, they might be.

As are 90% of other mods and aftermarket parts.

There is always going to be a balance between strength, reliability, and maintenance. But you seem to have the idea that the extra maintenance on unis is super hard, but it’s really not. Wipe clean, spray with lube, replace teflon occasionally, I’ve had mine for over a year and have had to do nothing to them, but it’s not a daily driver, so I don’t drive it a ton of miles, either. It literally adds 2 minutes to my regular maintenance schedule.

I would absolutely agree that unis aren't for the daily driver. These unis do seem like by far the best alternative for our poorly designed balljoints That tend to catastrophicly fail due to lack of maintenance.