Alloy USA ball joints -WTF?!

Hey guys, so I'm looking at upgrading the ball joints on my XJ with joints from alloy USA and I ran across this video on youtube - http://youtu.be/rKEYkOBscPo trying to find reviews on them.

Now I don't know much about ball joints and how much play they should or shouldn't have, but could you guys let me know if these ball joints are bad or if Alloy USA isn't very good? The guy says he got a used set?! Regardless of the set of joints that I get, how much play should be in a brand new set?

Thanks for your advice!

no play.

alloy USA is garbage.

stick with Spicer, unless you want to spend the $$$ on syngergy.

The upper is a sliding pin design different from the lower which is a ball joint in the normal sense. There shouldn't be any play when you try to pry between the knuckle and axle C. After some driving you may find some play. How much is up to your comfort level. It takes a decent amount to feel it and affect tire wear. After a couple of thousand miles on Spicers, I found one side has a little play, .005 IIRC. Ball joints that are shot will have a lot of play with a pry bar. Amazon is not the best place to buy auto parts with long warranties because they typically don't understand warranty. They sometimes ship you parts of things rather than entire assemblies; when that has happened, they have accepted returns or reshipped overnight at no extra change. Alloy USA is owned by Omix-ADA which is not always the greatest. Some people like Spicers, others like Alloy USA, and others rave about Synergy. For the value I think Spicers are hard to beat, as they are only about $55 a side and they tend to hold up well. Look at the NAPA Chassis (same as Raybestos Professional) as a local alternative. I would not purchase MOOG. I only got 27,000 miles on MOOG joints before they were toast. The factory Spicers lasted 10X longer.

Their and by their I mean Alloy USA, Rugged Ridge, and Omix ADA, Year Long Rebate is straight up B.s. I won't buy any of their products again.:looser:

Yeah, 'alloy usa' used to be a great company, and then got bought out by Omix Ada. They are selling trash under a formerly good name.

Thanks for the responses everyone - very informative. I'll admit I was looking at these exact ones on Amazon but after reading the info here and watching that video I will definitely be avoiding Alloy USA. I'm amazed that they would even resell those.

It's a shame how a good name brand with good product and reputation can overnight
turn to crap for various reasons.
Fram oil filters is another classic example.

Thats one of the things I like about running WJ knuckles. There are several other balljoint options XJ/TJ knuckles don't have. Teraflex, Dynatrac, then the usual Synergy and Spicer/Moog stuff.

Well the ball joints in the video have a few points to address.

The side that he addresses as Defective/used:
The upper Should slide in/out. That is what takes up the variance in the knuckle span.
The lower should rotate around like the video shows.

The side he says is perfect.
The upper and lower I bet was a tighter (more interference) fit, and slightly collapsed the BJ bodys. This is Very common on the Synergy, I have found.

In the last aprox 7 years, I have installed about 3 dozen JK AlloyUSA BJ kits, and maybe 2 dozen JK Spicer/Dana sets, and I think 5 JK Synergy sets. And just recently a set of the brand newly released Teraflex Bling for a JK. I found the AlloyUSA go in typically with some rotation and in/out. Consistently about the same. The synergy I had I think 3 rigs that had very tight studs that literally were hard to turn the knuckles by hand. The teraflex is 100% adjustable preload.

Just some insight that I can give on my experiences.

I am not happy with my alloy ball joints. Installed in nov 2014, did hollister
toy run and maybe 1500 miles upper has play. Not Impressed and will be buying spicer.
I hate wasting money, and warranty so it can go bad in a few months. No thanks

Mine have been just fine I'll double check em when I tear the axles down. Going on a year

My driver side upper, bad for sure. I could push in toward frame at top of outside wheel and make it click pop..plus when braking or accel I get a pop clunk frequently when driving. Jacked up and pryed up on both front wheels and could get knuckle and wheel to go up about 1/8. I think thats too much play.
Should I beable to get any movement up at the knuckle? plus while driving jeep is scittish on small uneven bumps, think this is my issue.

Lower should have no play, upper should have no play installed.
The upper is not an actual ballpoint, it's more a sliding pin and is designed to slide up and down in the socket to allow for variation in knuckle span. IIRC is has a spec of 0.75" total movement. That said there should be no lateral play in the joint.

I ran the synergy in my HP44 . It has been squirrelly as hell since last May, they went in the previous June. so they lasted like 11 months, then I kept driving on them thinking they were the strongest part of my front end, no reason to even think about checking them, they must be tight. Finally realized I was in denial and checked the synergy ball joints the other day and they were so horribly toasted. All 4. Probably dead since last May and I kept replacing trackbar heims and stabilizers to mask it...I feel like a total idiot. went to swap in spicers and the synergy had opened up the hole in the knuckle so now I am moving onto Moog problem solvers that are knurled and slightly larger housing.

Id say go spicer and if they die fast get another set, they are cheap and easy to swap. I can have my whole 44 apart and fresh BJs into both knuckles in under 3 hours now...

blondejoncherokee said:

I ran the synergy in my HP44 . It has been squirrelly as hell since last May, they went in the previous June. so they lasted like 11 months, then I kept driving on them thinking they were the strongest part of my front end, no reason to even think about checking them, they must be tight. Finally realized I was in denial and checked the synergy ball joints the other day and they were so horribly toasted. All 4. Probably dead since last May and I kept replacing trackbar heims and stabilizers to mask it...I feel like a total idiot. went to swap in spicers and the synergy had opened up the hole in the knuckle so now I am moving onto Moog problem solvers that are knurled and slightly larger housing.

Id say go spicer and if they die fast get another set, they are cheap and easy to swap. I can have my whole 44 apart and fresh BJs into both knuckles in under 3 hours now...

Click to expand...

I can get you teraflex with knurls I think. They are the True Bling Ball joints as they are rebuildable and you can set preload as needed.

Oh wait they are for a JK only

Thanks for the input. I should have a set of spicer here by the weekend.
since changing in november it just hasnt felt right especially driving around town.It has such a odd feeling to it..Hope it drives like it used to! Cant wait

RWKHausSupply said:

I can get you teraflex with knurls I think. They are the True Bling Ball joints as they are rebuildable and you can set preload as needed.

Oh wait they are for a JK only

Click to expand...

If the make a knurled oversized body that would be worth buying. The moog problem solvers are about the same diameter as the synergy. Wish I just did spicers to start...

Found this ad: https://youtu.be/tD5STcoTeww

See if one could ruin them within the years warranty.

So I got my Alloy brand ball joints out and found they are really easy to move around. Went to put spicer upper ball joint in and found upper ball joint can be installed by had. When i installed alloys joint I lubed then and had to press them in. I feel the Knurling on the alloy joints made axle C bigger now. I am trying to figure out what to do? Should I Pay More money and use Synergy and Hope the Knurling on the Synergy ones will be a tight fit? Or Someone talked about moog problem solver ball joints. Dang I hate this stuff!
Check out pic and you can see the knurling on ball joint and axle now.

Please Help!!

Sounds like you already have some answers