Moog Ball Joints --- See Why They're Crap

[absalom]

Made this video to show you my poor experience with Moog Lower Ball Joints. Several years back, I used Moog ball joints to refresh my last 4runner. Well, they must have switched suppliers in the last few years because quality has gone WAY downhill as of late. Driving with these the past two weeks has been extremely frustrating and scary. With the amount of binding, notching, and generally rough movement these had; I doubt if they'd of lasted more than a year.


<iframe width="853" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YzbOovJYrRs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The Moog LBJ's in this video have less then 200 miles on them, while the OEM LBJ's are brand new. They were installed per FSM within the last two weeks. Steering effort with the Moogs was hugely increased over the outgoing OEM LBJ's. Upon installation of the new OEM LBJ's, proper steering feel was restored and the truck felt incredibly safe to drive again.

 

[JayRolla]

IMO Moog had always been junk. Never lasted on my bronco I had 15 years ago. Not sure where domestic guys think it's high quality after market.

 

[D Farms]

I think people buy the moog ball joints because they dont check how much the oem ones are. [MENTION=79826]absalom[/MENTION] im going to pull a trick out of your book, ive got a set of oem ball joints you can buy off me.

 

[SupaSupra]

IMO Moog had always been junk. Never lasted on my bronco I had 15 years ago. Not sure where domestic guys think it's high quality after market.

This. I've got a third gen Camaro, those guys swear by Moog parts. There garbage, about as good as Autozone stuff.

My 4R will always get stuff from Toyota.

 

[JayRolla]

This. I've got a third gen Camaro, those guys swear by Moog parts. There garbage, about as good as Autozone stuff.

My 4R will always get stuff from Toyota.

Lol so funny because my 3rd gen Camaro buddy is same way. At least it runs high 11s on 100 shot nitrous. Pig slow on motor though. Lol.

 

[adkins]

This is just insane. I've used moog on other vehicles and was never and issue. I'll definitely go oem on the 4runner

 

[LittleCaesar]

I have used Moog for American OEM replacements and not had many problems, though quality across the board for most non OEM replacement parts has suffered in the last fifteen years. Corporate buyouts and made in PRC have not been good to the industry.

 

[absalom]

I read somewhere that Moog is to be thought of as more of a distributor who contracts jobs out to the lowest bidder. That would explain the inconsistent quality between parts. I agree, I wish I had bothered to check how affordable OEM LBJ's are. I guess I just assumed they'd be an arm and a leg each!

 

[BrianSD_42]

Two weeks ago ... Dude you've been here awhile now. kind of surprising you bought Moog.

Great thread though. Glad to see this evidence getting posted.

(also age 95 ... wtf lol)

 

[SupaSupra]

Lol so funny because my 3rd gen Camaro buddy is same way. At least it runs high 11s on 100 shot nitrous. Pig slow on motor though. Lol.

Hahaha, mine is mid 12s all motor. Its got mile 327. I've got a classic Mercedes to restore so I haven't invested much time into it.

 

[7echo]

IMO Moog had always been junk. Never lasted on my bronco I had 15 years ago. Not sure where domestic guys think it's high quality after market.

I was given an old chevy truck, '93 Silverado, with 180,000+ miles. Started dinking around with it and browsing their forums. Those guys are like opposite world to T4R. Just substitute 'Moog' for 'Toyota OEM' in most every suspension thread.

BTW, I got new LBJs and bolts for my T4R. Went with OEM from Dallas. Wanted to try Camel Back but they wouldn't ship to an address other than the one attached to the card.

 

[ToyotaBrah]

Sell the Moog ball joints on Craigslist.











I'm kidding, sort of.

 

[Unner]

Maybe all the American car guys say Moog is better because their OEM is crap compared to our late 90s early 2000s Toyota quality. Not taking a dig at anyone either, but Toyota OEM is a very high standard. Between myself and my parents we've got over 400,000 miles of Toyota and no major issues.

 

[SilverRidgeRunner1]

U can go to the part store and see this very issue at the counter with no miles... Went through 12 at the part store and gave up ha ha

 

[1blink]

I tried out Moog sway bar links. They were rusting within a month, and the bushings cracked and split within 6 months.

 

[Laidflat]

I was given an old chevy truck, '93 Silverado, with 180,000+ miles. Started dinking around with it and browsing their forums. Those guys are like opposite world to T4R. Just substitute 'Moog' for 'Toyota OEM' in most every suspension thread.



BTW, I got new LBJs and bolts for my T4R. Went with OEM from Dallas. Wanted to try Camel Back but they wouldn't ship to an address other than the one attached to the card.

Very true, I have owned several obs 88-98 Chevys and have always thought moog to be good quality. However, I usually installed ac delco parts on it same with motorcraft for fords and toyota oem parts for my toyotas.

I changed my LBJs on my t4r at 145000 miles when I did the lift and the new toyota LBJs weren't in any better condition than the originals.

 

[absalom]

Two weeks ago ... Dude you've been here awhile now. kind of surprising you bought Moog.

Great thread though. Glad to see this evidence getting posted.

(also age 95 ... wtf lol)

I'm dumb as a rock and a very slow learner apparently. It's so weird too because I had decent results with my first set of Moog LBJ's 3 years ago on my last 3rd gen. However, they were never as good as the new OEM LBJ's I just installed. Holy cow, it's like a brand new vehicle. I'm still blown away at how much the steering has been transformed. I just want to spread the good word on OEM steering components now! Lol

Sell the Moog ball joints on Craigslist.

I'm kidding, sort of.

I would if Rock Auto hadn't already agreed to take them as a return.

Maybe all the American car guys say Moog is better because their OEM is crap compared to our late 90s early 2000s Toyota quality. Not taking a dig at anyone either, but Toyota OEM is a very high standard. Between myself and my parents we've got over 400,000 miles of Toyota and no major issues.

I agree, Toyota OEM is of such amazing caliber. They dance the line between well made and economically made so well, it's impressive.

U can go to the part store and see this very issue at the counter with no miles... Went through 12 at the part store and gave up ha ha

Lol, where were you when I was buying LBJ's 2 weeks ago!

I tried out Moog sway bar links. They were rusting within a month, and the bushings cracked and split within 6 months.

Good lord, that's pathetic. Do you live in the ocean?

 

[1blink]

No, that was in West Texas at the time...very dry climate, no road salt.

 

[gamefreakgc]

I read somewhere that Moog is to be thought of as more of a distributor who contracts jobs out to the lowest bidder. That would explain the inconsistent quality between parts. I agree, I wish I had bothered to check how affordable OEM LBJ's are. I guess I just assumed they'd be an arm and a leg each!

Yeah, you've got it. Other parts store brands do the same thing, such as Duralast. I've seen DENSO parts branded as Duralast (rare that a decent brand shows up) but most of the time they are sub-par parts with poor reverse engineering. Couple that with cheap metals and casting and it's a low-grade product.

 

[JayRolla]

Hahaha, mine is mid 12s all motor. Its got mile 327. I've got a classic Mercedes to restore so I haven't invested much time into it.

Awesome. He has a mild cam 350 converted to carb. High 13's in CO on motor but he has hit 11.8 on the bottle and slicks.