Front Lower Control Arms

[Offroad Bob]

The ball joint in my right front lower control arm came apart this afternoon. No warning or noises. Waspulling out of a buds driveway and the stud pulled out and went with the hub. Leftovers are on the ground. I’ve changed the before but not in this situation.
Does anybody custom build lower arms ? JBA does not list them. Neither iron rock or Rocky Outfitters list them. I have a 2.5 lift on the front with Rock UCA’s that are 4 months old. The rear was just built with an Iron Rock setup. Adjustable upper and lower arms put in a month ago. Alignment supposedly tested everything and said all was good. Looks like I’ll have to go stock. What is the best brand ? I’m going to change both while I’m at it. Good thing it happened where it did going 5 mph. 30 mins earlier was running 70 or so on the interstate! That would not have been good had it broke then. I’ll have to fix it where it sits as the fender is on the wheel. Attached pics are right front. Any tips on replacing or brand info would be greatly appreciated ! Thx

 

[Aceofspades]

That’s interesting... the ball joint sits in the knuckle and attaches to the lower arm. How that nut ripped down the threads on the ball joint stud and took out the cotter pin is beyond me.

Moog is hit or miss now a days. Endlinks by moog are garbage. But the ball joints have been decent.
pressing them out/in is a bit awkward due to the geometry of the knuckle but can be done at home with the right tools

 

[Offroad Bob]

any other opinions of who makes the best ball joints for the front lower knuckle to LCA ? Moog ? Mopar ? NAPA premium ?

 

[mercdudecbr600]

Mopar is always a decent option, napa premium is typically the same fare you get on Rockauto but gets rebranded. Though, you get to see/touch before you buy. IMO anything with a lifetime warranty or long term warranty should be selected.

 

[Johnny O]

any other opinions of who makes the best ball joints for the front lower knuckle to LCA ? Moog ? Mopar ? NAPA premium ?

Mopar prices always make my skin crawl and the quality is as touch and go as any other brand.

I went with the greaseable Moogs and have zero complaints about the price and durability thus far.

as a caveat, I will state I’ve used quite a few Amazon parts on my stock front suspension just to get me through till I grow a pair and get my OME/JBA/IRA lift and suspension in.

 

[richliberty]

The ball joint in my right front lower control arm came apart this afternoon. No warning or noises. Waspulling out of a buds driveway and the stud pulled out and went with the hub. Leftovers are on the ground. I’ve changed the before but not in this situation.
Does anybody custom build lower arms ? JBA does not list them. Neither iron rock or Rocky Outfitters list them. I have a 2.5 lift on the front with Rock UCA’s that are 4 months old. The rear was just built with an Iron Rock setup. Adjustable upper and lower arms put in a month ago. Alignment supposedly tested everything and said all was good. Looks like I’ll have to go stock. What is the best brand ? I’m going to change both while I’m at it. Good thing it happened where it did going 5 mph. 30 mins earlier was running 70 or so on the interstate! That would not have been good had it broke then. I’ll have to fix it where it sits as the fender is on the wheel. Attached pics are right front. Any tips on replacing or brand info would be greatly appreciated ! Thx

I don't know if by now you have replaced your lower control arms, I just recently replaced mine. The control arms I have are fine, earlier I had replaced clevis link bushings and that had not fixed the swimming sensation with the car, so I replaced the lower control arms, you can have them if you want, you would need to replace the other 2 bushings.

 

[JeepJeepster]

Wow, it appears the threads on the ball joint failed, thats a new one....

 

[WheelNut]

Interesting failure. Did the threads on the ball joint stud tear out, did the nut fail, or did the control arm crack and let the ball joint stud out? One would assume the lower ball joint nut was over torqued (maybe multiple times?), or something was heat treated improperly in production.

I just put a set of Mevotech Supreme lower ball joints (with Zerks fittings) on my Liberty. It's too recent to know if they are any good. 60ft-lbs is the torque spec for the lower ball joint nut.

 

[Liberty For All]

I have some grease fitted OMIX brand LBJs I will be installing from 4 Wheel Drive Parts. Hope they do well. I had the current LBJs replaced under the recall years ago but they were the same non grease OE that were originally there. No improvement.