Im fed up

[LearjetMinako]

If those ball joints say Valucraft on them, save yourself the time and buy Moog; some of Napa's suspension components are made by Moog as well (they can tell you at Napa which ones are). IMHO, I would replace uppers and lowers at the same time. No sense in digging into a project that deep and doing it half assed. Usually the others aren't far behind in needing replaced.

Here's an example of Valucraft quality. Notice the large chunks missing out of the race. It didn't sound so good!

HOLY F*CK. Was that racer new? I hope National's are of much better quality (Which I installed 6 months ago).

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Most parts stores carry MOOG stuff.

It was darn near $100 to put MOOG balljoints on one side ($50 top and $50 bottom) of the shop's '94 Explorer.

 

[88_Eddie]

Good news is the ball joints are only costing me 41 dollars.

oh, i thought you said that you got 2 for $41

and yes, if they are valucraft, return them and at least get the duralast. ALL of the valucraft stuff is SHIT. trust me, i used to work at autozone.....i wouldnt even dry my car off with a valucraft towel.......but like everyone said, i'd go with a stronger ball joint that is designed for larger tires.....stuff sold in parts stores is meant for fixing stock vehicles.

if someone goes through the trouble of putting 'value' in the name of their product, it's gonna be a POS. just like 'Honest Tire & Auto Shop' is gonna screw you out of money

 

[heptofite]

oh, i thought you said that you got 2 for $41

and yes, if they are valucraft, return them and at least get the duralast. ALL of the valucraft stuff is SHIT. trust me, i used to work at autozone.....i wouldnt even dry my car off with a valucraft towel.......but like everyone said, i'd go with a stronger ball joint that is designed for larger tires.....stuff sold in parts stores is meant for fixing stock vehicles.

if someone goes through the trouble of putting 'value' in the name of their product, it's gonna be a POS. just like 'Honest Tire & Auto Shop' is gonna screw you out of money

valuecraft is the exact same shit as duralast, without the lifetime warranty.

 

[shane96ranger]

HOLY F*CK. Was that racer new? I hope National's are of much better quality (Which I installed 6 months ago).

The previous owner told me he had done them "last year" and got them at Autozone. Judging by the grease on the other side, they had been done pretty recently. I would say no more than 5,000 miles on them. The race says "China" right on the back. My truck has no lift, and I am running the factory size 265/75-15's as well. I put Timken's back in it.

The funny thing is, I had taken a week off work to vacation with my family when this started making noise. So I figured if I wasn't using my truck that week, I'd take it over to Big O and have them do it. They told me there was nothing wrong with my bearings and the noise was my tires. Needless to say, the manager and I exchanged a few emails over it.

 

[shane96ranger]

trust me, i used to work at autozone.....

I've heard that some of the Durlast suspension stuff is made by Moog or McQuay Norris. Do you know if this is true?

 

[88_Eddie]

I've heard that some of the Durlast suspension stuff is made by Moog or McQuay Norris. Do you know if this is true?

not sure about that.....i dont think so.

 

[88_Eddie]

valuecraft is the exact same shit as duralast, without the lifetime warranty.

from what i could tell, some of it is, some of it isnt

 

[GoodOld85BlueBalls]

shit wears out on cars, shit wears out more fasterer on modified cars

Eddie...........fasterer? Really?

 

[88_Eddie]

Eddie...........fasterer? Really?

it's a word, i sawed it in the dictionary.....it's the present tense of the word 'fasterized'

 

[ozziemo27]

Good news is the ball joints are only costing me 41 dollars.

Shoulda went with moog, and taking apart the IFS really isn't that hard.

 

['99 EB Explorer]

The previous owner told me he had done them "last year" and got them at Autozone. Judging by the grease on the other side, they had been done pretty recently. I would say no more than 5,000 miles on them. The race says "China" right on the back. My truck has no lift, and I am running the factory size 265/75-15's as well. I put Timken's back in it.

The funny thing is, I had taken a week off work to vacation with my family when this started making noise. So I figured if I wasn't using my truck that week, I'd take it over to Big O and have them do it. They told me there was nothing wrong with my bearings and the noise was my tires. Needless to say, the manager and I exchanged a few emails over it.

Can you describe the noise? My truck has made a howling noise since the day I bought it. It passed mechanical with this noise. Seems to match vehicle speed..but changes pitch depending on how hard/easy i am on the gas.

 

[yodaman1151]

valuecraft is the exact same shit as duralast, without the lifetime warranty.

definitely not true... you can tell the difference just by looking at the 2. And yes i do believe Duralast is made by McKay Norris because we have some older parts still in the MN boxes and all the newer stuff is duralast, which is the same thing with all our "little" gaskets used to be ROL or Felpro but now the packages say "Duralast by Felpro"

I do have to agree though do not buy anything valuecraft unless you are selling the vehicle the next day and won't have a guilty conscience. the valuecraft alternators and starters have a 1 year warranty and are remanufactured by replacing the bad parts and just cleaning up the casing. Duralast ones are remanufactured only because they use an old casing but have all new insides and carry a lifetime warranty. we get a return rate on valuecraft of 10 to 1 compared to duralast stuff.

 

[orangemachine]

Ok this is getting deep. I went to another automotive shop to get a 2nd opinion to see if I needed ball joints or not. The 2nd shop said that my ball joints were fine and didn't not need new ones. Here is where it gets crazy I tell them to go ahead and do a front alinement because My passenger side tire was bending inward where the drivers side tire was pretty much straight up. They do the alinement and the steering is much better and steering wheel is straight, but here is the strange part. I get home and start looking at my front tires and notice the passenger side tire is worse. The drivers side tire is sticking out a good half inch more than the passenger side? I got down and looked at the inside of both wheels and noticed that the passenger side wheel and tire sits closer to the knuckle than the drivers side. So I don't know what the issue is the drivers side looks normal and the passenger side looks like it's been sucked into the wheel well.

Does anybody know what in the crap is wrong because I'm totally lost?

 

[TheTopher]

Why not check the ball joints yourself? Lift the girl up and give 'er a good yank, up down, front back, side to side, see if she clunks.