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flex joint question

R

rkates

NAXJA Forum User
Location
indianapolis in
I have RC long arms on the jeep right now and getting sick of working on the joints. I have 1/2'' play in my drivers side monster joint. They are sending me another rebuild kit for it and said they ran into a batch of bad bushings for them. So I'll go ahead and rebuild it but when it goes out I want to find a replacement joint. Has anyone looked into this? I wasn't sure if I could get one from balistic or re or anyone else with quality joints.

I know I can cut the end and weld in a bung and use any joint I want but was looking for the direct swap first.
 
Ive been running RE joints in my LA's for over 8yrs,probably tightened them MAYBE twice,but never rebuilt them.They sell just the shells(empty or loaded) since you can weld.What thread/style does RC use?
 
Currie also has them. I just rebuilt my RC uppers and though about this to. I want to say the lowers are something like a 7/8-20. They have a pretty beefy thread on them. Then again RC sway bar links are a 12mm X 1.75. So those could be metric to. If you find out for sure on the size and thread post it for the rest of us.
 
Currie's are to hard to adjust/re-build.
 
Just got the rebuild kit today, with all the interest I think I am going to go ahead and start looking into the replacement joints. It probably won't be till this weekend but I'll get the specs and post them up for anyone else interested in looking
 
i dont have any yet but am currently in the market. from what ive seen of whats available, i think i would prefer the ones that you can adjust by spinning the spanner and locking it in. that way you can tighten a loose/warn joint on the trail enough to get you home and rebuild it.
 
RCP Phx said:
Currie's are to hard to adjust/re-build.
Click to expand...
there extremly easy to rubuild, pop off snap ring, ull washer, pull races and ball, replace races and reassemble, i know several with 5+ year old jj's that have zero issues
 
the only joint i have never had an issue with is rock krawler.

a pair of em have been in my last 3 xj's over the past 5 years and over 100k miles

never greased them, they are as tight as they were brand new.

ballistic joints on the other had i have had for 8 months and have had nothing but issues with them. they supposedly got them figured out by now. but 8 months ago i recieved the crappy races and im now having the outer washer bow out. replaced the races today with the solid nylatron ones, and im hopin i dont have to tighten them on a monthly basis anymore.
 
rkates said:
I have RC long arms on the jeep right now and getting sick of working on the joints. I have 1/2'' play in my drivers side monster joint. They are sending me another rebuild kit for it and said they ran into a batch of bad bushings for them. So I'll go ahead and rebuild it but when it goes out I want to find a replacement joint. Has anyone looked into this? I wasn't sure if I could get one from balistic or re or anyone else with quality joints.

I know I can cut the end and weld in a bung and use any joint I want but was looking for the direct swap first.
Click to expand...

Please let me know if there are any questions I can address.

ktm racer 419 said:
the only joint i have never had an issue with is rock krawler.

a pair of em have been in my last 3 xj's over the past 5 years and over 100k miles

never greased them, they are as tight as they were brand new.

ballistic joints on the other had i have had for 8 months and have had nothing but issues with them. they supposedly got them figured out by now. but 8 months ago i recieved the crappy races and im now having the outer washer bow out. replaced the races today with the solid nylatron ones, and im hopin i dont have to tighten them on a monthly basis anymore.
Click to expand...

I am new to the forum. My name is Dave Christensen. I am one of the managers here at Ballistic. If there is something I can do to assist, please don't hesitate to contact me. Dave
 
BallisticDave said:
Please let me know if there are any questions I can address.



I am new to the forum. My name is Dave Christensen. I am one of the managers here at Ballistic. If there is something I can do to assist, please don't hesitate to contact me. Dave
Click to expand...

Thanks Dave, I may be getting ahold of you real soon I had ahold of your new joints yesturday(a friend just got his order) Those things look to be built of some serious quality. And love the new races.
 
ktm racer 419 said:
the only joint i have never had an issue with is rock krawler.

a pair of em have been in my last 3 xj's over the past 5 years and over 100k miles

never greased them, they are as tight as they were brand new.

ballistic joints on the other had i have had for 8 months and have had nothing but issues with them. they supposedly got them figured out by now. but 8 months ago i recieved the crappy races and im now having the outer washer bow out. replaced the races today with the solid nylatron ones, and im hopin i dont have to tighten them on a monthly basis anymore.
Click to expand...

ktm: do you have the newer gen krawler joints or what? the ones we've ran have been TERRIBLE, theres litterally nothing to keep the square washer part from rotating loose on the road (which is what theyve done, twice)

the problem i see with the ballistic joints, is the last round we bought, my nylon racers were basically hallow on the outside... i remember thinking 'that cant be good'.... they then wore out, and when we bought the rebuild kit, theyre solid.......


SO, ballistic dave, are you guys selling shit that'd designed to fail? like when you buy a printer, and the ink cartridge is 1/3rd the size of normal, so you have to buy more down the road? this is cardinal sin IMHO, and bullshit.
 
ktm racer 419 said:
ballistic joints on the other had i have had for 8 months and have had nothing but issues with them. they supposedly got them figured out by now. but 8 months ago i recieved the crappy races and im now having the outer washer bow out. replaced the races today with the solid nylatron ones, and im hopin i dont have to tighten them on a monthly basis anymore.
Click to expand...


X2... Junk. I have put maybe a 1000 miles on mine. 2 Moab trips and some misc. local runs and mine sound like hell. There's a ton of slop in them already and the clunking is driving me crazy. I will be replacing them instead of rebuilding them for sure. I purchased mine in October of 2009, but the Jeep wasn't drivable for almost a year. So i've only been driving on mine for 4 months at the most.
 
Last edited:
I wore out my RC joint on one wheeling trip. (Or maybe 2)

There was enough play to let the whole arm move an inch back and forth. They sent me a whole new joint, and I replaced it. They said the first batch was a bad mold quality.

My other joint went out also, so they sent me a new one as well. But I cant find it in my garage, so I've still got the original on the driverside. It CLUNKS a lot.

I'd also like to figure out what size they are, and go for something better.
 
Ok guys the big joint is 1 1/4 x 12 and the smaller one is 3/4 x 16
big joint is 2 5/8 wide and the smaller one is 2.

Ballistic has the big one as a direct bolt in havn't looked for the small one yet.
 
Well looks like I'm replacing the joints faster than I thought. Buddy of mine got in a couple of the ones I need for my lowers and said since his build is going slow he wont need them for awhile. He's going to order another set and I'll buy his. He's dropping them off wednesday for me. Now to figure out the upper flex joints.

Hay ballisticDave do you guys have a joint matching the upper specs other than the weld together one??
 
For maximum performance try Heim Joints, tested on our rigs, not yours...Heat & Cryo treated. And for a damned fair price. 78,000 Radial Static Load before the Cryo treatment.

FYI: Something to understand when buying joints. Strength has NEVER been the issue so when some company trys to sway you with an absolutely stupid strength number walk away. Midwest control Rod ends are only 55,000 RSL and they don't break, they wear out.

The reason we Cryo Treat our heims is the durability it adds to the bearing liner. It also adds strength to the Chromoly but adding life to the bearing is the only reason we do it.

For a great, long lasting daily driver joint get a RE, they outlast them all and perform fairly well offroad. For offroad performance skip the flexjoint route entirely and step up to a Heim Joint.
 
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