Moog Ball Joint ( Why the hate?)

To the guy saying just get OEM or get Mevotech. I just want to know why? Did you have a Moog Ball Joint fail on you? I’m gonna stop you right there. Did you have a

$31 K80827 Detroit Axle - 2 Front Lower Ball Joints for 2005-2019 Toyota Tacoma Lower Ball Joints 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Replacement

K80827 Moog Ball Joint fail on you? Not an old style. Not a failure due to not using locktite, I’m not talking about a failure of improper install. I’m talking about a failure of the ball joint itself. The point of this post is to understand “factually” why you don’t recommend Moog. Just saying “Look it up, or “I saw a video where someone cut one open and compared it to OEM and Moog had plastic internals” does not count. Dirt King uses Moog Ball Joints “The problem solver kind”, in their $1800 LCA. I called them and they highly recommend them. The only negative things I can find about Moog is other parts that are not the same style Ball Joint, or someone just saying something like, it didn’t fit. This post is for the guys and galls that have Moog Ball Joints and can’t attest to the quality. I am trying to understand what makes OEM better and why. How many miles have you gotten on Moogs. Toyota OEM parts fail, Moog parts fail. I get that, but if y’all are paying $1800 for Dirt King LCA over OEM Toyota LCA then you should pitch in. I’d like to see someone here with over 50,000 miles on a LCA with “Problem Solver” style ball joint.

 

Unsure if you also want to see the good experiences... but at least on my end, I have 4 Tacos (2006, 2006, 2009, 2017) all of them have had a ball joint or tie rod replaced at some point and it has been replaced with a Moog "Problem Solver" grade part. I did have one upper ball joint fail on one, then again, that truck never stopped and grease was probably due by the time it failed, so it was likely my fault.

So far, over 400k miles on one, 250k plus on others, seems like they have been working fine.

 

Panda Yota, good timing, planning to buy balljoints and other maintenance parts in the next week or two.
A few weeks ago I asked for opinions regarding which ball joints are worth considering as replacements.

 

Moog was great quality prior to the buy out. I’ve used multiple different products. After, quality took a dive into cheap Chinese quality category.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/30-month-project-sway-bar-end-links-and-bushings.770617/

 

Moog isn't anywhere close to what it was 25 years ago. I don't know anyone over 50 that has worked on cars for 30+ years that will claim that Moog is still high quality like it was.

It's really difficult to buy any aftermarket parts today that are OE quality, without actually buying an OE part. I won't argue this, but I'm old enough to have watched the race to the bottom.

 

Which buyout? There have been 5-6 of them. It's been part of a giant conglomerate that owns 2/3 of the aftermarket brands out there, before 2nd gen Tacos debuted.

 

You're confusing the old / original Moog and the new Moog. The old Moog stuff was top shelf and had a well-deserved great reputation. The new Moog has become a shadow of itself living off the reputation of the past - all while ruthlessly cutting costs and quality. Sorry, but I'm all done with the brand.

 

I bought fully loaded moog lower control arms off of Rockauto. With in 2 years the lower bal joint boots had become torn completely in two. When I replaced them the joint was still good but no ball joint will last with a torn boot. I ditched them for mevotech TTX. We’ll see how they hold up.

 

I know Eric O like Mevotech TTX

 

Who puts locktite on a ball joint stud? Is the castle nut and cotter pin not enough?

IMO these aftermarket BJs include a zerk fitting because they have shitty boots that leak and they know it. I'd rather have a good quality boot that fits tight and doesn't leak grease anywhere. I've seen other A/M ball joints that advertise a "grease drain hole" .. give me a break, that's just another way for water and dirt to get INTO the joint. If they weren't leaking grease, you wouldn't have to add any. It's not 1975 anymore, I don't want grease oozing out and sticking to everything down there. It attracts dirt and sand and looks backyard. I want my shit clean and dry.

A zerk is not an upgrade, it's an acknowledgement of poor quality

The LBJs on my 2nd gen are bone dry after 8 years and 160,000 miles. Moog will never come close to that with or without grease

 

Nothing beats factory parts,almost every other brand is now Chinesse made.

 

So Moog is now deemed low quality and no longer worthy.
Mevotech gets mixed remarks and also gets branded as low quality with dust boots that fail early.

Anyone running, or have experience with the Camburg balljoints. Expensive, but the ad reads good.

 

I can’t speak to the Moog ball joint but have experience with their bearings and tie rod ends on passenger cars. I had two Moog bearings go out over 50k miles while the OEM one lasted over 100k. Same with their tie rod ends. I have always heard good things about Moog and want to like their stuff but experience just doesn’t back it up.

 

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My understanding is the "regular" Mevotech is suspect (with the blue boots), but the TTX line is good (with green boots). Even Eric O has stated the blue boot Mevo s*cks, but he like the TTX line. Even then, I have read complaints about TTX ball joints here and there - but I have read complaints about ALL brands/series here and there.

 

I have had 2 moog ball joints (upper) go bad in less than 20kkm and 1yr. Similarly not long after the moog bushing of the same age are also starting to fail.

Moog/Rancho/Wagner/Monroe all under the same crap umbrella.

 

If you can get the Sankei part number, you could go that route. Sankei is the OEM supplier of ball joints for Toyota, and although a little more difficult to find, they are sold in the aftermarket market. I believe it's the Sankei 555 line. I would stay away from anyone selling Sankei ball joints on Ebay or Amazon though, as they are more likely to be counterfeit.

 

Some people want to say they pay more for parts. Kind of like the JDM market nerds back in the day. Anyway, I use the problem solver LCA ball joints and have had 0 issues with them. Don't get me wrong OEM is top notch.

 

I don't have any quantitative data....but here is a picture of my brother-in-laws Moog control arm from his Subaru showing rubber boot seperating. Was installed less than a year. Part was replaced under warranty, but he still had to do the job twice.

 

Gotta go OEM, there is an updated control arm assembly for that..

 

So then, regarding ball joints, opinion is oem is best.

In the past, oem ball joints were not available seperately, only as part of the suspension arm assembly.

Have oem ball joints now become available as an individual part?

If oem ball joints are not available individually, and Moog plus others are inferior, what is the current best available choice besides entire assemblies from oem?