Current (2020) ball joint options

I cannot find any clear information that is current on recommended ball joint brands. Yes I've searched and the newest thread I could find was from jan 2019. I'm just trying to figure out which brand will last the longest. I have a 99, no lift or modifications and 235/75 new tires that I'm trying not to ruin.

I was going to do this job on the ex's jeep a few years back and actually still had the spicer 706944X still in my cart at amazon. Problem is, they are no longer available and everywhere I look online (quadratec, summit, rusty's, etc...) has them not even shipping until like june 22nd or so and I need to get this job done next week.

I see people saying the new moog versions are junk (the ones with the gap and new dust cap), I see people talking about the spicers failing. It's such a pain anymore researching on the net, I swear it's gotten worse over the years and probably quality of parts has declined and added to that problem.

Anyway, I can get a set from "yukon gear" on amazon or the local napa store has some called "napa proformer chassis". The new style moog are also on amazon, but i've read so much crap about those it doesn't seem like a good idea. I'm leaning towards the "yukon gear" just because I'm not seeing bad info about the brand anywhere, but at the same time I've never even heard of them before.

Can anyone please give me some guidance here? the important thing is to be able to get them by latest mid next week and that they will last. Insult to injury is that this is the first time I'll be doing the job so I'm worried about that too (biggest job I've ever done was replacing front ujoints). Thanks for any help!

I've always used the Spicers, so I can't comment on other brands. You're right, the Spicers seem to be in short supply right now.
Not sure how in a hurry you are, but I did find some on E-bay, and Northern Drivetrain's website said they have a few in stock.

If I couldn't find the Spicer's, I'd probably just run the Napa's.

Spicers if you can find them.
I tried a set of Moog premium ball joints several years ago and they failed within 15,000 miles.
Switched to a set of Napa ball joints many years ago with good success, if you buy from Napa, get the ones labeled "Napa chassis part", the Proformer" is from their cheap,'value' line of parts.
Napa also has offset ball joints that allows adjusting the caster and/or camber with a couple degrees of adjustment, if you need it.

Thanks for the replies! I think I'll probably just wait til I can get the spicers. I have an email out to an ebay seller and an email out to rusty's off road to ask about how soon they could ship out.

I used Mevotech's Terrain Tough from Rock auto about 1 1/2 years ago and they are still like new . very happy with them .

tech1001 said:

I used Mevotech's Terrain Tough from Rock auto about 1 1/2 years ago and they are still like new . very happy with them .

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I think I remember seeing those somewhere, maybe I'll check and see if I can find anything else online about them. Thanks for the reply.

tech1001 said:

I used Mevotech's Terrain Tough from Rock auto about 1 1/2 years ago and they are still like new . very happy with them .

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I've used the Mevotech TTX too. About 3 years now. Only the bottom for a WJ Big Brake upgrade. I have Alloy USAs on the top. Also, they survived bouts of DW. I put a set of FXRs, but not road use yet. The Moog Problem solvers are suppose to be good.
On the Alloy USAs, mine survived. Another person who installed some at the same time, said they went bad in a few months.

I'm going to take a shot on the Yukon ones (YSPBJ012) because they look the closest to the OEM spicer design. I looked at the napa ones and they were all the "knurled" type or as some say "splined" which i'm not a fan of unless the smooth design no longer fit tightly in the inner C's. Once you run the splined/knurled ones in there you can't usually go back to using the smooth design like the Spicers. Check out this video to see what i'm talking about.

Definitely stay away from Moog. I was installing a set yesterday and the lower one pushed in by hand and then fell out with a light tap. At first I thought the housing might be wore out but the old ball joint was in tight. I measured the Moog compared to the old part and found that is was .010" smaller diameter. Went to the local parts store and they had Moog and DriveWorks brand. The Moog from the store was also .010" smaller. The DriveWorks was the correct size. I purchased the DriveWorks because I had to get the Jeep back on the road. It installed nice and tight.