JBA UCA ball joints failing after 2 years

[YellowSnow]

So I recently swapped wheels and tires and took my rig to my local alignment shop, and the JBA ball joints were toasted after 50k miles 2 years, with lots of freeway miles, and the occasional brolander camp trip on forest roads. I reached out to JBA just to see what they thought, and I ended up just swapping in Moog replacements part #K6292. My question is does this sound right? Are ball joints a high fail component and if so, why do Moogs come with a lifetime warranty?

 

[Mudballz]

I’ve had my issues with them as well my rebuild kit last a year 12k 99% nyc potholes mild off-road
Time to look for a better solution

 

[YellowSnow]

I’ve had my issues with them as well my rebuild kit last a year 12k 99% nyc potholes mild off-road
Time to look for a better solution

With JBA or other Ball joints?

 

[honda250xtitan]

ball joints should last a long time. I think you'll have good luck with the Moog ones.

 

[Snowtrooper]

What did JBA say? Didn’t they switch to a different ball joint, or updated the design recently?

 

[Jetboy]

I had mine for about 4 years. My first ball joints rusted. They had some with bad coating. They sent me a new set for free. Current set have maybe 20k miles on them and are still tight. - If you don't know, they are adjustable, the upper cap is threaded and you can tighten it down on the preload spring that stabilizes the ball joint as the ball wears. So you can take up the slack if they start to get loose at least up to a point.

I don't really like their design overall on the joint though. It's not sealed at all. I'd much rather have a good sealed joint than one that is marginally stronger. They were going for the strongest option rather than long lasting. The upper ball joint has very little loading on it. There's no reason to go overkill on a really strong joint there. It's better to just have one that lasts a long time.

 

[DaddySteve]

I've had mine for approx 2 years now. I put 3 or 4 pumps of grease in them every 5000 miles. No problems yet. I also live in North Georgia. No salt or snow.

 

[YellowSnow]

Interesting information…I didn’t know the JBAs were adjustable, but after looking at them once they were off, they were toast. The Moogs should be good for years.

 

[Jeremy556]

Moog ball joints have been garbage for at least the last 10 years

 

[YellowSnow]

Moog ball joints have been garbage for at least the last 10 years

Cannot be worse than the stock JBA’s that took a crap on me after two years. Good thing they carry a lifetime warranty. I know the Jba’s do have 90 degrees of articulation so I might just replace the moogs when they shit.

Update after trying to reach JBA about my issues. No response on email, or his automated text messages. I guess he isn’t interested in my complaining about his POS ball joints.

 

[?????]

JBA has updated their ball joints with their own since MOOG has been less than stellar lately.

 

[YellowSnow]

JBA has updated their ball joints with their own since MOOG has been less than stellar lately.

Interesting! So here’s what JBA is claiming:


A: The biggest geometry difference between our JBA ball joint and the Moog K6292 is an additional 28 degrees of articulation, nearly a 30% increase! Additional spring clearance is built into the design of our arms to allow the use of the added ball joint articulation to provide more overall suspension travel at full droop

I showed this to my alignment guy and he’s calling BS. He says there is no way they can claim that.

Is JBA just blowing smoke up our asses? Are their claims valid?

Also, they finally responded and told me to file a warranty claim asking for pictures, videos, the old JBA ball joints as documentation. I sent him my order number.

 

[PinnacleX]

Cannot be worse than the stock JBA’s that took a crap on me after two years. Good thing they carry a lifetime warranty. I know the Jba’s do have 90 degrees of articulation so I might just replace the moogs when they shit.

Update after trying to reach JBA about my issues. No response on email, or his automated text messages. I guess he isn’t interested in my complaining about his POS ball joints.

Yes they can, they have a HD line which is garbage aswell

 

[honda250xtitan]

Moog generally has 2 product lines: the sh1t china ones, and the better maybe not made in china ones. My Moog ball joints in my DirtKing uppers have been flawless for 4 years.

 

[YellowSnow]

Moog generally has 2 product lines: the sh1t china ones, and the better maybe not made in china ones. My Moog ball joints in my DirtKing uppers have been flawless for 4 years.

This seems to be the case!