Who makes decent ball joints and suspension/steering components these days?

[svtfocus2cobra]

Hmm, that's odd about Moog. I used them as a premium brand on a number if repairs and I have never had to do a warranty claim on any of their components. Someone else mentioned TRW which I have used many times also. Cheaper brand from my experience but I have never had any issues with them either.

For a vehicle like that I would go with Motorcraft if you want quality, but if this was a job coming into my shop I would probably sell them on Precision control arm and ball joint assemblies. You can get Precision from Oreillys and they have been good products.

 

[03cobra#694]

Hmm, that's odd about Moog. I used them as a premium brand on a number if repairs and I have never had to do a warranty claim on any of their components. Someone else mentioned TRW which I have used many times also. Cheaper brand from my experience but I have never had any issues with them either.

For a vehicle like that I would go with Motorcraft if you want quality, but if this was a job coming into my shop I would probably sell them on Precision control arm and ball joint assemblies. You can get Precision from Oreillys and they have been good products.

They used to make great U-joints. I bought them in 12 at a time when I have my lifted 78 150. I could change those in half a hour. This goes back a few years.

 

[03cobra#694]

Hmm, that's odd about Moog. I used them as a premium brand on a number if repairs and I have never had to do a warranty claim on any of their components. Someone else mentioned TRW which I have used many times also. Cheaper brand from my experience but I have never had any issues with them either.

For a vehicle like that I would go with Motorcraft if you want quality, but if this was a job coming into my shop I would probably sell them on Precision control arm and ball joint assemblies. You can get Precision from Oreillys and they have been good products.

They used to make great U-joints. I bought them in 12 at a time when I have my lifted 78 150. I could change those in half a hour. This goes back a few years.

 

[JaCobro]

Look into autozone. I just put some lowers on a 2016 explorer that have a lifetime warranty. Apparently they just redesigned their ball joints to be more heavy duty also.

 

[Bronze123]

Moog is going to depend on what the part number is. Sounds bat crazy, right. They offer RK and CK series. Both have different warranty and totally different part. I am NOT a fan of the cheaper part. I have had customers put 15,000 a year on cheaper RK series and they’ll fail. Even had a tech with a lifted f150 with cheaper moog Rk series. He had to replace every 6 months because he had a 2 inch leveling kit.

garbage in, is garbage out. I would see if moog makes two different parts for that vehicle. I would also ensure that if a shop is doing the work, make sure it is moog. Some shops don’t have the same morale compass. Charge for moog and then use a cheaper no name part. Ask to see the new part, the box and the old one.

Lastly, focus is hard on suspension parts and tires. I would rec to replace the struts and shocks on it. I’m sure they’re not worn out but they’re worn. But that’s something to consider if the vehicles worth keeping. Give you a better fighting chance of suspension prematurely wearing out and keeping tires alive

 

[IronSnake]

What is your company?

Fearless leader asking the real questions here.

I'll be happy to share once I finalized our retail outlets and brand name. Right now it's in process. so things may change a bit.

Hoping for Q3-4 launch on a few lines, and then to back fill. Pretty much have an entire chassis/suspension program at my disposal. I'm going to use it.

 

[IronSnake]

Look into autozone. I just put some lowers on a 2016 explorer that have a lifetime warranty. Apparently they just redesigned their ball joints to be more heavy duty also.

Autozone has skipped American suppliers on a majority of product lines, in favor of going straight to China and securing manufacturers that will direct ship to their DC's.

The problem with that is.. they don't have a single engineer, product manager, or support staff on hand for that. Meaning, what you bought is most likely the same 20 dollar part on ebay. There's no quality control whatsoever.

 

[offroadkarter]

JTC2385 - TRW Automotive Aftermarket Parts

wonder how these would be for ours

TRW is an OE supplier for Ford and I believe BMW as well. I'd try that long before a Moog part.

Dorman fixed that notorious 4.6 Manifold water leak.

Dormans manifold is a NPI based manifold shoehorned to fit the PI engines. The intake ports dont line up properly with the heads and they've been dyno proven to noticeably reduce horsepower. I'm not sure I'd use this as the best example of an aftermarket parts supplier fixing a problem with OE parts.

 

[RedVenom48]

TRW is an OE supplier for Ford and I believe BMW as well. I'd try that long before a Moog part.




Dormans manifold is a NPI based manifold shoehorned to fit the PI engines. The intake ports dont line up properly with the heads and they've been dyno proven to noticeably reduce horsepower. I'm not sure I'd use this as the best example of an aftermarket parts supplier fixing a problem with OE parts.

The only intake that fixes the leaking coolant crossover is the current ford part. They moved the oring grooves to the aluminum section. The plastic is now just a solid section. The lower intake gasket is a 1 peice molded rubber gasket design.

I've replaced intake manifolds on 2 trucks for that problem.

 

[_Snake_]

I'll be happy to share once I finalized our retail outlets and brand name. Right now it's in process. so things may change a bit.

Hoping for Q3-4 launch on a few lines, and then to back fill. Pretty much have an entire chassis/suspension program at my disposal. I'm going to use it.

I’m your huckleberry if you need a beta tester.

 

[4rd Toys]

There's a company called MevoTech that I have used several times here lately and I've had pretty good luck with. They have 2 lines of product, the cheaper one is basically equivalent to Autozone/Advance house stuff, and then the have a heavier duty line which is the line that I've used and seems to hold up pretty good at a reasonable cost. Another go to would be NAPA's heavy duty house brand.

D

Thanks for the tip, I'll give MevoTech a shot...

I have an 04 SVTF and I'm finding a lot of the Ford OEM parts for my ride are obsolete & no longer under the Motorcraft name either.
I've been using AutoZone now for my other vehicles and so far those parts have held up.... and now a few of the AutoZone parts are on the SVTF too.
Since they have a "lifetime warranty" on most their stuff....

I tried MOOG greaseable-type sway bar end-links [front only] on SVTF and within 5 years & maybe 30K miles [if that], they were junk...

SID297, You should contact FSWerks out in Cali & see what they recommend for ball joints...

I'm looking at this sites for the future service/replacement of the front lower controls arns, bushings & ball joints, again on the SVTF:

Parts results - Mevotech

Ford Focus SVT 2.0L 2002 2003 2004 Parts

ShopShop

Vehicle Applications – Ford – Prothane

 

[mysteed]

I sell a LOT of Mevotech parts at my shop and we back up everything with a 3yr 36k warranty on all that we do. I have not had to warranty out any Mevotech parts yet.

TRW is an OE supplier for Ford and I believe BMW as well. I'd try that long before a Moog part.

TRW is OE for a number of manufactures now. Quality parts from what we have purchased.