Uniball Stock replacement Lower Ball Joints!!!!

Exactly, for $400 or whatever the cost is, I'd rather just by the OEM ones at $150 a piece and let them last me 50k miles vs replacing uni's yearly.

But to each their own.

 

$400? What?

The unibal that gets replaced is like $30 each..

 

After reading through the thread it seemed as if you had to buy a new set of LBJ's when they failed - or something along those lines. I very easily could've missed something on that. Something along the lines of replacing the uniball is a PITA.

 

ah. yeah no, the process is they cut out the OEM BJ then weld in a Uniball cup. So you just press in a new uniball when you need a new one. That's it.

 

What Monte said. It all depends on how you use the truck. If it’s just minor off road and street use. OEM parts will do just fine. Mine lasted a long time. However my truck is now at a whole new level and I will push it. We’ll see how long these lower uniballs last but the way they are put together I have a lot of trust in the strength of them.

 

Oh and here’s some pics.

 

And everything is aligned at ride height the same as an oem lower ball joint? No alignment issues? Makes sense they would as long as the fabricator gets the uniball centered on the existing lower ball joint and it has the same finished height.

I have a lot more confidence in my Camburg ucas than oem upper ball joints, not to mention the ease of swapping them vs oem upper ball joints. I have a press now, but damn, I’d lose half a day having to take off my spindles and have them pressed at a shop, could never get those fuckers out.

I’ve seen what an oem upper ball joint looks like when people use top out spacers, the edge by of the cup is deformed from overflexing.

I’m definitely interested, north of $600 is pretty steep though

 

I'd rather have a solid axle.

 

I’d rather have a helicopter, but we make compromises

 

No alinement issues. Everything lines up perfectly. Jason mentioned bump steer but I haven’t noticed anything. I use a vise for changing my uniballs not a press. Works great. I also freeze my new uniballs before installing. I let my UCA sit for a day in the trunk of a car. They get nice and hot. Makes everything come in and out easy.

The only thing that can raise eyebrows is how the taper sits in the LCA. But mine seem to still be sitting strong. I’m running a castle nut but I pretty sure he got different nuts now to run.

For 4x4 the ring around the axle that cups the splindle barley touches the top cap. The top cap is made out of a plastic so it won’t damage anything. The ring will just self clear. Not a big deal. I did silicone my cap to the LBJ to try and keep moisture from getting to the top of the uniball. What splashes up from the bottom isn’t a big deal.

He’s willing to work on pricing with you if you have an old set of LBJ laying around. You mail him a set instead of him trying to buy a set to build. That’s how I did it. He’s a real good guy to work with.

I will be buying another set for spares.

 

Great info, thanks man. This is really of interest to me, I’ve always swapped my lower ball joints and paid attention to wear but that’s a bit deceiving when they have the boot over them.

With a spherical bearing even after the Teflon is worn out the race still holds the bearing in or at least as far as I’ve seen with

$15 com-10 aurora bearing spherical bearing, COM series, 0.625 in ID, 1.187 in OD, 0.625 in thick, steel, each

com-10’s on coil overs (ran a set wayyy too long) which are much less robust than what he’s using.

Better still would be if he’s using wssx-16’s like most upper control arms so you can carry functional spares for both.