New Product: ARB Old Man Emu Upper Control Arms

[linuxgod]

Clunking noises and loose components are obvious signs but things will start to wear early.

I needed new ball joints on my SPC arms around 70k. I could tell something wasn’t right because the truck had more wander on the highway than it used to… not being able to steer one-handed on the highway was a clear giveaway that something wasn’t quite right. It had just started some clunking over potholes but nothing terrible.

So if your highway steering isn’t tight and staying in your lane with little effort especially when hitting bumps then yeah you may need them.

 

[grhill5]

So here's an update on this. I got a second opinion on the ARB UCA ball joints and I was told they needed to be greased, and probably need to be greased once per year. I was warned that without the grease, they were bordering on "extreme play" or excess wear, but that the grease kind of pressurizes and balances this. Basically the grease takes up the space. Now, I haven't been a mechanic in a long time, but does this sound right to anyone? Also, I'm really surprised I can't find more information online about how to maintain and service these ball joints. The ARB website is near useless. Appreciate anyone's thoughts.

 

[bloc]

So here's an update on this. I got a second opinion on the ARB UCA ball joints and I was told they needed to be greased, and probably need to be greased once per year. I was warned that without the grease, they were bordering on "extreme play" or excess wear, but that the grease kind of pressurizes and balances this. Basically the grease takes up the space. Now, I haven't been a mechanic in a long time, but does this sound right to anyone? Also, I'm really surprised I can't find more information online about how to maintain and service these ball joints. The ARB website is near useless. Appreciate anyone's thoughts.

Modern ball joints have a plastic liner around a polished steel sphere, and occasionally a spring washer in the top to provide preload. This plastic liner is what should do the ball joint locating, not the grease itself. Yes, the grease is necessary, but only to prevent the parts wearing, it shouldn't be required to physically keep the ball joint aligned. There isn't anything within the system to maintain pressure in a way that would let the grease be some kind of load-bearing surface/membrane/cushion.

So no, I don't buy in to this theory, even if I do agree they need to be greased periodically.

These things aren't functionally different than factory ball joints that work fine for hundreds of thousands of miles on the originally installed grease. Factory parts may have higher quality internals helping prevent wear, but they don't get sloppy as soon as grease pressure is released internally.. the plastic parts themselves need to wear or get damaged first.