Why do I keep breaking upper ball joints?

Hi everyone,

I have a 96xj with about 5" of lift. I have Rusty's 4.5" springs up front and comanche SUA spring packs in the back (I kept my main leaf and put the mj pack under it). Up front I have fixed lowers from rusty for his 4.5" lift kit, and adjustable uppers. I have an adj. trac bar with drop bracket. I'm 90% sure my caster is set right.
In the last 4 months I have gone thru 2 sets of upper ball joints. The first ones were MOOG and after 6K miles they were completely shot. I bought a set of TRW uppers a month ago, and now the pass side one has about 1/8" of play.
I do wheel, but not all the time, and I haven't wheeled at all since replacing the last 2 sets of ball joints. I do use my jeep for work - delivering newpapers. I drive pretty fast on shitty roads with lots of pot holes.
Rusty's springs seem too stiff for me, and I was wondering if stiff springs would cause enough extra stress on the upper ball joints to make them go out this fast? My stock mj rides like a dream on the same roads. If stiff springs could cause my problem, what is a REALLY soft spring that I can get? If stiffness is not the issue, what is?


Thanks a million everyone.

Regards,

SimpleXJ

For the best ride get Deaver coils

who installed the moogs?

Which deaver coils? I searched and found a reference to this: CSC9B $196.24 pair.
I do all my own work, so I installed the moogs as well as the trw's. I've done this before and I have the proper tools, so I'm pretty sure I didn't f-up the install.
Some people say RE coils have a pretty soft ride. Are deaver coils softer?

Thanks all

SimpleXJ

I would go with RE, i like their coils a lot, just sold some of mine. No say on the deavers, what on the ball joints broke?

They develop tons of play and the whole steering knuckle moves in and out at the top. When I took the moog's out after 10K miles, they looked like they had 300K on them. I admit I hit a lot of pot holes, but is this normal?

So what's the verdict... do spring rates have an impact on balljoint lifespan?

Thanks


SimpleXJ

How much backspacing on your wheels?

Stop buying cheap ball joints

its not the springs causing the stiff ride, its the angle of the short arms at 5" of lift. you need control arm drop brackets or long arms.

vetteboy said:

How much backspacing on your wheels?

Click to expand...

X2 and maybe slow down over the pot holes.

Wheels are off a ford explorer, so just a little more B/S than stock. Agreed on the drop brackets, I'll be making some shortly. I'd love to slow down over the pot holes, but they don't pay me by the hour, so I gotta make time. I thought MOOG was good parts... since that's cheap, what do you recommend?

Thanks

SimpleXJ

I run Spicer ball joints and never had any issues.

I always order these: http://www.tellico4x4.com/product_info.php/products_id/4289

Spicer is the best. I'm running some Crowns, put 2k on them so far and they've been fine.

i blew both pass side spicer ball joints in 6 months/~5k. driver side was fine though.