So this weekend I planned on replacing all four ball joints. After a lot of reading, researching, etc., I ended up just going cheap and getting O'Reilly's house brand MasterPro.
So here's my question. I got two MasterPro lowers, and two MasterPro uppers. I was smart enough to open the boxes to check the parts before I left, and sure enough, one of them was completely wrong (even though the box was labeled the right way). Since they didn't have another one of these in stock, they gave me a Moog upper for the same price ($25! not a bad deal!). Is there any reason not to mix and match brands here? I mean, as long as they fit, it shouldn't be a problem, right?
I thought if nothing else, this will at least give a real comparison on longevity of the two brands side-by-side. For what it's worth, the stud on the MasterPro brand seems thicker and heavier-duty than the Moog part. I guess that's not necessarily an indication of quality, but I thought it worth noting.
So is it ok to go ahead and put one Moog upper on one side and one MasterPro upper on the other side? Would you guys do this or not do it? I'm not seeing any reason not to, but then again, this is the first time I've done much at all to my Jeep; pulling an axle was a big job for me and I'm sort of halfway proud of myself for getting it this far.
Oh yeah, and does anyone happen to know off the top of his head the size of the castle nut on the lower stock ball joint? I have a 1 1/16" socket and a 1 1/4" socket, with the former being too small and the latter being too large. I've read it is supposed to be a 1 5/16", but that seems like a weird size. Is it possible it is metric? Any reason not to just use a crescent wrench here?
Thanks a lot for any advice or information you can give me. I really appreciate it.
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2000 XJ 4.0L, completely stock (for now, anyway)
So here's my question. I got two MasterPro lowers, and two MasterPro uppers. I was smart enough to open the boxes to check the parts before I left, and sure enough, one of them was completely wrong (even though the box was labeled the right way). Since they didn't have another one of these in stock, they gave me a Moog upper for the same price ($25! not a bad deal!). Is there any reason not to mix and match brands here? I mean, as long as they fit, it shouldn't be a problem, right?
I thought if nothing else, this will at least give a real comparison on longevity of the two brands side-by-side. For what it's worth, the stud on the MasterPro brand seems thicker and heavier-duty than the Moog part. I guess that's not necessarily an indication of quality, but I thought it worth noting.
So is it ok to go ahead and put one Moog upper on one side and one MasterPro upper on the other side? Would you guys do this or not do it? I'm not seeing any reason not to, but then again, this is the first time I've done much at all to my Jeep; pulling an axle was a big job for me and I'm sort of halfway proud of myself for getting it this far.
Oh yeah, and does anyone happen to know off the top of his head the size of the castle nut on the lower stock ball joint? I have a 1 1/16" socket and a 1 1/4" socket, with the former being too small and the latter being too large. I've read it is supposed to be a 1 5/16", but that seems like a weird size. Is it possible it is metric? Any reason not to just use a crescent wrench here?
Thanks a lot for any advice or information you can give me. I really appreciate it.
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2000 XJ 4.0L, completely stock (for now, anyway)