Front End & Suspension Rebuild, UniBall vs Salt Belt long term experiment

Some of you may have seen this before - I'm doing a bit of housekeeping with my posts in order to keep everything in the appropriate subforums, sorry if it clogs up anyone's reading.

2009 TRD OR Access Cab super due for a rebuild on the suspension and front end.

• 3rd gen UCAs and 3rd gen TRD OR shocks and coils (v. low mile take-offs from TW user @jtaco11, nice price and PRO packing and shipping)
• Used/rebuilt Dirt King Uniball LCAs (from TW user @Mynameisbrandin, excellent transaction)
• Proforged drop links and complete tie rods
• Energy Suspension sway bar bushings
• Apply Amsoil HDMP to suspension hardware (heads, nuts, exposed threads) to attempt to hold off corrosion

I suspect the Uniballs will be trashed in a year or two due to the Vermont salt, as this truck is a DD that gets wheeled regularly. The price was right and I wanted to see for myself. Out of sheer curiosity I contacted Dirt King about sending them back for conversion to the new BJ version, but they advised it would not be economical. I'm NOT MAD about that, just reporting details.

I will also be doing some side by side long term testing on those Uniballs.

I corresponded with FK Rod Ends, here are the takeaways:
- They consider the UniBalls to be self-lubricating
- PTFE liner thickness is 0.15"

I corresponded with PB Blaster's engineering department. They confirm that their tests have shown PTFE is inert in PB Blaster except for possible surface discoloration.

I'm going to be hitting the UniBalls weekly-ish with PB Blaster as a solvent/PTFE film applicator and documenting how they hold up to VT Salt Hell.

 

Thank you for doing this experiment, I've been wondering about uniballs and Maine Salt Hell lol

 

How did the first season in of your test go? I live in Salt Lake City and I'm about to set up some new Uniballs

 

There's no real wear on them, they're plenty strong, and I suspect that mechanically they'll last a good long time.

HOWEVER, after just one winter, they do sometimes creak when moving at low speeds unless they're either wet from rain or a hose-down, or have been lubed within a few days. Some guys would certainly call them "trashed" because they're noisy, and grumble about buying a rebuild kit every year or two.

My unscientific conclusion: If you're the kind of person who grits their teeth at suspension noise, don't go with Uniballs in a salty climate. Suspension noise doesn't bother me as long as I know what it is.

 

I never got much more than a season out of rod ends on my XJ. The joints in the 3 link and track bar weren’t nearly as bad as the steering though, to the point I ended up welding in tapered inserts and switching to 1 ton TREs for the steering after a couple winters. For what it’s worth, wd40 worked to quiet them up for awhile.

 

Just an update - the Uniballs are rock solid and actually pretty quiet, much more than I thought they would be. I had a little noise earlier this spring as described above but I suspect that was just a little bit of smutz in them from a particularly dusty trip.

All I've really been doing is hitting them with PB Blaster once in a while. For a while I was religious about doing it 1x/week but now I just keep a can in the back and hit them when I think about it, maybe 1x/month.

 

Long term update. No issues. I hadn't hit the balls with PB blaster in months and got a little bit of a squeak after a fresh wash during a warm (above freezing) stretch, probably from grit washed free and landing in the balls. Couple squirts of PB and it went away immediately. Balls still look fine.

 

She ded.



Looks like the spring clip and liner might have got ate up but I won't know til I get parts and take it out.

 

I'd be curious to know the total mileage and type of use when you get is all swapped out.

 

Vermont back roads daily and occasional really hard use (high speed dirt and sometimes volcanic scrabble, closed course stuff). I'll figure a rough mileage and update. Short answer is way more service life than I expected.

Edit - About 40k miles.

 

Yep. She ded ded. Teflon liner shit its guts:



The offset inserts were stuck pretty good. No room to get them off in-place, so I had to add a spacer (which I was lucky enough to have in the scrap bin) to extract the ball with the Icon "on vehicle" kit:


Was able to get the top, rounded spacer off easy once the ball was off, had to use PB blaster, a washer and grade 8 bolt as a punch, and a 5 lb hammer to get the bottom, tapered spacer out. There was a little bit of galling, so I cleaned it up with some 600 grit and put a thin film of Nevrseize on it when I put it back in the new ball, which I had to do after pressing the ball into the LCA.

Pretty uneventful reinstall. First time using the Icon kit. Overall the job was way easier than doing a ball joint. Did the whole thing with the LCA still on and the whole spindle asssembly ratchet strapped up out of the way:


40-45k miles of mostly neglect on the dead ball. Bad country roads daily, high speed dirt occasionally, offroad frequently, three murder salt winters. I'm not even a little bit mad but they probably aren't for someone who doesn't want to wrench.