Uniball Stock replacement Lower Ball Joints!!!!

I meant with the uniball setup.

 

Serious, yes, but poorly worded, too. Not my best post, lol. Reading it again, yeah, not a good post...

I swear I’ve seen uniballs that you can replace the teflon, and leave the ball, however I can’t remember the specifics, hell i might be thinking of suspension joints or something. I dunno, I’m stupid. No matter, as is the case with my total chaos UCAs, I would have to replace the assembly, though I haven’t needed to yet. More to the point of the proposed lower uniball, it would be interesting to know how easy it is to replace the uniball in that assembly. That said, I can replace my stock balljoints in 10 minutes, so that really isn’t all that hard, either.

But, in my rambling incoherent post, I did at least get across the idea that the additional maintenance required isn’t all that difficult or time consuming, and the strength/articulation advantage is worth it, at least for some. For joe blow daily driver, yeah probably not worth it.

 

No it'll worth it to some. But not for a lot. Thats all Im try to say. A lot of people won't see the point since the stock ones can last up to 100k and are quite easy to swap.

These will last 30k maybe and be a bit more involved in swapping in and out.

The "gains" aren't super dramatic for what it is. Peace of mind more than anything.

 

So now it just comes down to this....who wants to be the first guinea pigs? Not me, haha. I'll probably see how these do in application vicariously through those braver than I, and see what the verdict is in a year or so

 

Very true, piece of mind is priceless. People spend a LOT of money for piece of mind.

I probably don’t really “need” uniball UCAs, but I need new ones to accommodate my mid travel shocks, and I happened to get a good deal on the TCs. So I have sweet UCAs, and I look badass, lol.

However, even if mine only last 30k miles, that’s easily 6+ years, since I don’t even drive it 5k miles a year as a trail truck.

Uniballs arent the kind of upgrade, like shocks or a supercharger, where there is an immediate and obvious difference in driveability. It’s more subtle.

 

Same with uniball, just sooner.

 

Doh

 

Uniballs and heims are different. Depending on the size they can be up to $100 for the rebuild kits.

 

does the location of the tie rod change? If not, bump steer, or lack thereof should be the same as it is with a factory LBJ

 

Yeah it'll need a larger misalignment to get it the right height.

 

At most it's slightly north of center. a few mm. how much would that change? What steering angle would that even effect? Camber change through the up travel of the wheel? Crazy minimal. How much does our caster change as the wheel travels? I doubt a few mm would even be noticeable.

From what i remember, the ball joint pivot is in the middle of the body, and if my eyeball calibration is correct, the uniball cup is centered on the LBJ body as well.

 

This thread reminds me, i should buy a set of ball joints to keep for trail repairs.

 

Its much more than a few mm.

Think about how that thing sits in the LCA. Its a wedge pin. There is about 1'' between the LBJ and the top of the LCA.

Gotta make that up some how.

And alignments are done to the 1/64''..so a few mm will make a difference.

 

oh, you're absolutely correct. Misaligns are easy. I'm referencing the pivot point of the uniball itself vs the ball joint.

 

You can see how far away it is from the LCA here:

Frank-4.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

This is what it looks like sans the cast part.

Frank-3.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

 

Nah Jason is saying that the location of where this new uniball LBJ sits needs to be nuts on.

Or its gonna suck.

Hopefully that guy will figure it out. Have to be a weird adapter thing im sure. Custom.

 

Another thought, how close are the CV boots to the back of the OE LBJ cup? Are they using recessed hardware like the fancy Icon and newer Camburg stuff?

 

the cup?

The top of the joint you mean? that is recessed inside the spindle..okay not "inside" but its wrapped around it.

So it'll be super tight and close to the CV. Idk what kind of bolt you'd used but Id guess it would have to be recessed. And put on with the spindle off.