Johnny/flex joint behavior....

muddeprived · May 3, 2011

Is there supposed to be any play or give in johnny/flex joints? For instance, the joint moves back when articulating. Is that normal?

I can't for life of me figure out WTF is going on with these Rough Country joints on my long arms. I'm about to get the 5th replacement set in less than two years. They just keep clunking or giving too much play.

Tim_MN · May 3, 2011

One of the 4x4 magazines just did a few pages on bushings and joints. Unless you want to constantly clean and adjust the joints or replace the joints as they wear out you should be using bushings. Johnny/Flex joints allow dirt and grime to easily enter them, accelerating their wear.

Rubicon Express flex joints are adjustable, greaseable, and rebuildable giving them a much longer service life.

4 Wheel Parts just bought RE and will probably re-start their operations.

TRANSAMERICAN AUTO PARTS ANNOUNCES PURCHASE OF RUBICON EXPRESS

Leading Off-Road Parts Supplier Continues Growth

May 2, 2011(Compton, CA) – TransAmerican Auto Parts, the nation’s leading retailer and supplier of off-road truck & Jeep accessories, has announced the purchase of Rubicon Express.

President and CEO Greg Adler stated, “This acquisition is a perfect fit for TransAmerican. Rubicon Express is the leader in the Jeep suspension category. Their heritage, founded on the famous Rubicon trails of Northern California, is deep in the hard core suspension performance. Jeep enthusiasts have come to know Rubicon Express as the ultimate system for their vehicles. Our 4Wheel Parts stores and our 4Wheel Drive Hardware business serve these enthusiasts and the Rubicon brand will strengthen this core segment. Our 25 years of experience in suspension manufacturing at Pro-Comp will help in the integration of the Rubicon business”.

“TransAmerican has made a number of strategic acquisitions to grow the business” Adler explained. “As the economy improves and our business continues to strengthen, it will allow us to look at more strategic opportunities such as Rubicon Express”, he added.

Founded in 1961, TransAmerican Auto Parts is the leading participant in the aftermarket parts and accessories for light trucks, Jeeps, sport utility vehicles, and other four-wheel drive vehicles. The Company sells tires and wheels, suspension systems, drive trains, accessories, and other products to consumers through 55 retail locations in 17 states under the 4 Wheel Parts Performance Centers name, to more than 4,000 wholesale customers, including specialty auto parts stores, tire and wheel stores, repair and garage shops, internet retailers and jobbers under the TransAmerican Wholesale name. It also sells to consumers and businesses through mail order and internet operations under the 4 Wheel Parts Wholesalers name. In addition, the Company operates a manufacturing business that sells tires and wheels, suspension systems and accessories under the Pro Comp and Smittybilt brand name, both through the Company’s own distribution channels as well as through third parties.

muddeprived · May 3, 2011

Tim_MN said:
One of the 4x4 magazines just did a few pages on bushings and joints. Unless you want to constantly clean and adjust the joints or replace the joints as they wear out you should be using bushings. Johnny/Flex joints allow dirt and grime to easily enter them, accelerating their wear.

Rubicon Express flex joints are adjustable, greaseable, and rebuildable giving them a much longer service life.

4 Wheel Parts just bought RE and will probably re-start their operations.

TRANSAMERICAN AUTO PARTS ANNOUNCES PURCHASE OF RUBICON EXPRESS

Leading Off-Road Parts Supplier Continues Growth

May 2, 2011(Compton, CA) – TransAmerican Auto Parts, the nation’s leading retailer and supplier of off-road truck & Jeep accessories, has announced the purchase of Rubicon Express.

President and CEO Greg Adler stated, “This acquisition is a perfect fit for TransAmerican. Rubicon Express is the leader in the Jeep suspension category. Their heritage, founded on the famous Rubicon trails of Northern California, is deep in the hard core suspension performance. Jeep enthusiasts have come to know Rubicon Express as the ultimate system for their vehicles. Our 4Wheel Parts stores and our 4Wheel Drive Hardware business serve these enthusiasts and the Rubicon brand will strengthen this core segment. Our 25 years of experience in suspension manufacturing at Pro-Comp will help in the integration of the Rubicon business”.

“TransAmerican has made a number of strategic acquisitions to grow the business” Adler explained. “As the economy improves and our business continues to strengthen, it will allow us to look at more strategic opportunities such as Rubicon Express”, he added.

Founded in 1961, TransAmerican Auto Parts is the leading participant in the aftermarket parts and accessories for light trucks, Jeeps, sport utility vehicles, and other four-wheel drive vehicles. The Company sells tires and wheels, suspension systems, drive trains, accessories, and other products to consumers through 55 retail locations in 17 states under the 4 Wheel Parts Performance Centers name, to more than 4,000 wholesale customers, including specialty auto parts stores, tire and wheel stores, repair and garage shops, internet retailers and jobbers under the TransAmerican Wholesale name. It also sells to consumers and businesses through mail order and internet operations under the 4 Wheel Parts Wholesalers name. In addition, the Company operates a manufacturing business that sells tires and wheels, suspension systems and accessories under the Pro Comp and Smittybilt brand name, both through the Company’s own distribution channels as well as through third parties.

I grease them upon installation but they fail within a few weeks/months. Zero off roading and less than 1k miles. RC has been good and sending me replacements when they fail but this seems to be too frequent and too soon.

This is what they do:

(click for vid)

89eliminator · May 3, 2011

it seems like the bolt is too small.

CaliXJ · May 3, 2011

Go to RC website. They have come up with a NEW style flex joint. Looks be be alot like RE. They now have the ability to be tightened. I would just be done with rebuild,rebuild,rebuild and go with Ballistic fab or someone that has there stuff together. IDK about any one else that has RC products but i'm tired of having to take apart and replace parts that should last longer than a few mo.

Gaius · May 3, 2011

DO NOT confuse Johnny Joints (from John Currie) with joints from Rough Country.

While many joints end up coming loose (RC, Rusty's, RE, Ballistic) from wear on the crap delrin/plastic races, Currie Johnny Joints will stay tight for YEARS, even without greasing.

All I do is assemble the JJ with some Moly grease, and never touch it again. In fact, the joint is usually too tight to take any grease. There is no adjustment, it's a solid washer pressed in against a relatively soft urethane. IF they ever come loose, you just order a slightly thicker washer from Currie.

I have 40k+ non-greased miles on the set of shortarms I made for the XJ, and they are still tight enough I have to use a screwdriver to align them. There is no better bushing than the Currie.

z06elmo · May 3, 2011

i just ordered a set of the rough country long arm upgrade. It's sitting in my garage now as I haven't put it on my rig yet. I'll take pictures of the joints they gave me. It actually came in pieces and you had to put it together yourself. was a pain in the but since the snapring was pretty big and my pliers weren't up to task. If i could find a pic of t he old joints then i could spot if mine that are shipped are newer type or not. But it does have the ability to tighten the joint, even comes with a wrench to tighten them down.

muddeprived · May 3, 2011

CaliXJ said:
Go to RC website. They have come up with a NEW style flex joint. Looks be be alot like RE. They now have the ability to be tightened. I would just be done with rebuild,rebuild,rebuild and go with Ballistic fab or someone that has there stuff together. IDK about any one else that has RC products but i'm tired of having to take apart and replace parts that should last longer than a few mo.

I have the new style joints with the threaded side plate.

muddeprived · May 3, 2011

z06elmo said:
i just ordered a set of the rough country long arm upgrade. It's sitting in my garage now as I haven't put it on my rig yet. I'll take pictures of the joints they gave me. It actually came in pieces and you had to put it together yourself. was a pain in the but since the snapring was pretty big and my pliers weren't up to task. If i could find a pic of t he old joints then i could spot if mine that are shipped are newer type or not. But it does have the ability to tighten the joint, even comes with a wrench to tighten them down.

I had the same problem with the snap ring. Advance only had a snap ring plier for the smaller ones but I managed to get it to work. It wasn't easy lol.

muddeprived · May 3, 2011

Gaius said:
DO NOT confuse Johnny Joints (from John Currie) with joints from Rough Country.

While many joints end up coming loose (RC, Rusty's, RE, Ballistic) from wear on the crap delrin/plastic races, Currie Johnny Joints will stay tight for YEARS, even without greasing.

All I do is assemble the JJ with some Moly grease, and never touch it again. In fact, the joint is usually too tight to take any grease. There is no adjustment, it's a solid washer pressed in against a relatively soft urethane. IF they ever come loose, you just order a slightly thicker washer from Currie.

I have 40k+ non-greased miles on the set of shortarms I made for the XJ, and they are still tight enough I have to use a screwdriver to align them. There is no better bushing than the Currie.

I was going to swap in currie joints but their bolt size/width ain't the same as RC so that didn't work out. I always heard about Currie's joints lasting a long time and I wish I could run em. I spoke with Andy at IronMan and he said he can modify the currie joints to fit mine but I'm gonna hold off and wait till I get this new set of replacement joints and see if these last. I'll give em one more try.

CaliXJ · May 3, 2011

Balistic, rusty's, tera flex, are the only ones that have RC size and pitch that i have found. Yes Curries would be great and would work if you wanter to start cutting and welding on your CA... Then your stuck with Currie only.

z06elmo · May 3, 2011

So after reading this thread and another, I just called rough country and they are pretty nice. Apparently they switched to a harder bushing recently. The earlier ones were a bit softer. I have to admit the bushing on my had basically no give, it was like a hard piece of plastic more than anything. he also stressed the use of just regular multi-purpose grease, that some grease could eat away at the bushing slowly.

For how tight the spanner nut should go on, it's really just tighten it down until it seats, then go one more turn to the next notch.

xcm · May 3, 2011

garbage in, garbage out.

the truth is, everyone designs their flex joint bushings to fail so they can sell you a replacement, rough country got their mix wrong, and they fail too soon.....
next time around, i wanna try out the ballistic forged joints with bronze races.

muddeprived · May 4, 2011

z06elmo said:
So after reading this thread and another, I just called rough country and they are pretty nice. Apparently they switched to a harder bushing recently. The earlier ones were a bit softer. I have to admit the bushing on my had basically no give, it was like a hard piece of plastic more than anything. he also stressed the use of just regular multi-purpose grease, that some grease could eat away at the bushing slowly.

For how tight the spanner nut should go on, it's really just tighten it down until it seats, then go one more turn to the next notch.

That's what I noticed. It did feel like a hard plastic but what concerns me is how easy it is to sandwich the ball between the bushings. Makes me think they machined the "bowl" in the bushing a tad bit too large. When I dissemble the bad joint, the bushings just fall off with no resistance, as if they were stretched. It still looks new though.

I dunno, i'm no expert on this but I'm just hoping this next set will last longer than the previous sets.

z06elmo · May 4, 2011

muddeprived said:
That's what I noticed. It did feel like a hard plastic but what concerns me is how easy it is to sandwich the ball between the bushings. Makes me think they machined the "bowl" in the bushing a tad bit too large. When I dissemble the bad joint, the bushings just fall off with no resistance, as if they were stretched. It still looks new though.

I dunno, i'm no expert on this but I'm just hoping this next set will last longer than the previous sets.

Keep me posted on if the bushings seem different in hardness etc. I also wonder if it's possible to overtighten the bushings too. the instructions say to tighten until there is pressure, then go one extra turn to the next notch. I wonder if overtightening them causes them to deform in some fashion.

muddeprived · May 4, 2011

z06elmo said:
Keep me posted on if the bushings seem different in hardness etc. I also wonder if it's possible to overtighten the bushings too. the instructions say to tighten until there is pressure, then go one extra turn to the next notch. I wonder if overtightening them causes them to deform in some fashion.

That's pretty much what I did. Tightened till I felt the bushings giving resistance then went to the next notch.

Got the shipping info on the new joints and I think they sent me quite a few lol. I'll have to wait to see what comes. I offered to send back the worn joints a while back but they declined that offer.

I'll letcha know what I get in about two days.

Dewidge · May 4, 2011

Are yours clunking and making noise or what is it that makes your think they are bad?

I ask because one of mine is noisy as hell.

MrShaft696 · May 4, 2011

Gaius said:
DO NOT confuse Johnny Joints (from John Currie) with joints from Rough Country.

While many joints end up coming loose (RC, Rusty's, RE, Ballistic) from wear on the crap delrin/plastic races, Currie Johnny Joints will stay tight for YEARS, even without greasing.

All I do is assemble the JJ with some Moly grease, and never touch it again. In fact, the joint is usually too tight to take any grease. There is no adjustment, it's a solid washer pressed in against a relatively soft urethane. IF they ever come loose, you just order a slightly thicker washer from Currie.

I have 40k+ non-greased miles on the set of shortarms I made for the XJ, and they are still tight enough I have to use a screwdriver to align them. There is no better bushing than the Currie.

I thought I was the only one, I have tomken lower arms & they use currie johnny joints & when I got the arms I pulled them out of the junk yard and ran them for 3 years. I just rebuilt them two weeks ago & they still were in respectable shape, I just did it because I wanted too.

muddeprived · May 5, 2011

Dewidge said:
Are yours clunking and making noise or what is it that makes your think they are bad?

I ask because one of mine is noisy as hell.

Yup. When going over bumps or cracks it feels like someone's tapping the underside with a hammer. Annoying.

nosigma · May 5, 2011

Mine do the same thing. I have to pull the arms, tighten them and reinstall every 3 or 4 months. Annoying but not a difficult job by any stretch. If I ever get tired of it I will go back to Acme threaded arms with rubber ends. The threads wear out in 3 to 4 years but the ride is better and there is no difference in flex.

John

Johnny/flex joint behavior....

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