McQuay-Norris Balljoints

[RickOTR]

Looking at replacing my lower ball joints with some off-road ones and need to know if anyone has tried the McQuay-Norris Extremes. Are they worth the money or are there better brands out there.

 

[410Fortune]

those are good ball joints for sure
they appear to be the same as the upgraded AC Delco and Rabestos professional (all same parts in diff boxes)
I have run those same joints on my 88 BII with dana 35 ttb and 35" tires for a few years and they have held up well

I have not run them in a IFS truck like your explorer but they are very good quality when compared to a moog problem solver or most other aftermarket joints
We have also had good luck with the mevotec TTX joints made for the 95-01 Explorer IFS
the price is pretty good and they seem to hold up well

Otherwise Spicer is a good choice,
I have heard good things about Pro Forge also but have not tried them myself

I wish we had more options but without going to a custom LCA and UCA the aftermarket offerings for the Explorer / Ranger are ho humm

 

[alaskan155]

they are pretty decent stuff, its what bronco graveyard supplies for there steering stuff, was pretty high quality and on par with OEM when i did the steering on my old 88 bronco when i had it.

as for balljoints im running Moog lowers on my 97 i stole of my 2k ranger, and they have probally seen around 5k or so in the colorado rockies on 35s and few thousand here in Washington before i swapped the entire control arm to my explorer and i was hard enough on the truck to crush factory bumpstop and rip the shock out of the mount LOL.

another good company is XRF, i have there entire system on my 02 f250, tie rods, ball joints and all
i ordered them from here
Front End Kits available from American Undercar

 

[boominXplorer]

I've got them on my ranger, super quality joints. Please look past Mevotec, I had used their ttx ball joints on my STOCK height f250 and didn't get 20k out of them before they had play. Every time I would grease them I'd get water out of both bottoms around the stud. There was no damage to the boots either.

 

[donalds]

I installed movotech lower control arms a year ago working great street driving only
Gee I hope the wheel don't fall of

 

[boominXplorer]

I installed movotech lower control arms a year ago working great street driving only
Gee I hope the wheel don't fall of

Napa reboxes movotech control arms and sells them as their "premium line" so they can't be but so bad. They definitely don't have longevity of moog or factory parts.

 

[410Fortune]

Wild!!
Quality seems to be all over the map depending on the model and daily use
The moog parts barely lasted a year on my BII I went through three sets before I swore off moog for good. The first set I beat on (this way many years ago) and they lasted and lasted for like 305 years? The second set lasted ONE SEASON, the third set lasted ONE SEASON. So I was DONE with Moog balljoints after this for my own vehicles. Then I started to notice everyone else having similar issues = the search for a better BJ began.....
Now customers always have me install moog parts, some times they are the best choice. But I wont run their ball joints or tie rods on my trucks. I do love their sway bar links...but those have been going through some "cost engineering" changes as well

The TTX stuff has been holding up pretty well? I have no issues with water in the boots and i live in the mud/water/silt it is something we drive through every day.
Seems hit or miss no matter what the brand

So we can look for parts that are consistently good
Like Spicer or the gold/blue ball joints, they have held up very well for me on my BII

I am ALWAYS looking for a better ball joint, U joints and brake parts, they take the most abuse from us now living back here. I am doing brakes about 3 times as often as I was when we pounded pavement
The dirt / silt /sand here is rough, its all ground granite crushed by glaciers and placed here by the river... this stuff gets into your brakes, hinges and joints worse then the Moab fine sand

It is sad that we pay so much for parts that are supposed to be a good solution and end up just being another gimmick

Battle on!

 

[RickOTR]

Thanks everyone for your feedback. Will they fit OEM lower controls arms. I installed Moog on my X after the OEM's went south after 30K miles and they lasted 17 years. Installed another set of Moog, those lasted me a little over a year. Installed another set, same thing. Had to replace one of the outer tie rods so I installed Moog. The boot literally disintegrated like it was biodegradable, destroyed tie rod. I'm now done with Moog.

Installed a set of Mevotech sway bar bushings, they lasted me less than a year wearing out causing a loud bang over bumps and turning. Installed new Energy Suspension bushings and links... three years later, no problems.

 

[410Fortune]

similar story here its sad really
First set of moogs were so good I tried another, then could not believe my eyes when they lasted one season, so tried again....
Same thing with the old BFG AT's they used to last like 50-60K miles!!! Then all of a sudden 25K? try another set yes indeed the KO's lasted 25K miles..... so no more BFG AT for me
some things would be nice if they didn't cost engineer them

The MN BJ should fit your LCA just like stock

 

[boominXplorer]

Autozone now carries their own duralast gold line of ball joints. It's only like 50-75 sku's but they got most of the common ones including the lowers for our trucks. Their display shows a moog ball joint cut in half next to theirs. Theirs has a larger ball and different shimming than the moog. They are new so can't review them but they look promising. Cheaper than moog also.

 

[J_C]

^ That is interesting, but I wouldn't say cheaper than Moog when I see them on AZ's site for $36 but the Moog are $23 on Rock Auto.

 

[boominXplorer]

^ That is interesting, but I wouldn't say cheaper than Moog when I see them on AZ's site for $36 but the Moog are $23 on Rock Auto.

Cheaper at a brick and mortar store

 

[410Fortune]

thanks for the heads up they look promising. I do like the Autozone lifetime warranty for my brake parts and such, I do not think they realize I plan to keep all 5 of our current builds forever, that is alot of warranty claims over the years muahahahahaha

 

[CDW6212R]

I appreciate the reviews here, great thread. I too have issues with Moog, the boots more than once. So I avoid Moog, but I do have several of their parts still.

Pro Forged sound really good for quality. I gather most components are imported, no matter where they are assembled. Taiwan is the one import source that has known high quality, and all others are suspect or poor, such as China. Pro Forged has 99% of their products made in Taiwan, Moog is they said China parts.

I like the look of Mevotech TTX UCA's, I just installed them. I received their outer TRE, much larger than stock joint, they look good.

But I will need 4 BJ's for my Moog CA's of my Mountaineer. The boots are all bad, though the mileage is less than 20k miles. So I'm looking at BJ's from Pro Forged, TTX lower, and maybe the better level UCA by Mevotech(they make two levels). The whole arm is under $10 more than the BJ, so how tough is it to R&R an upper BJ?

 

[J_C]

Has anyone had problems with the newer Moog lower BJ design with the integrated, recessed grease boot? I think they came out with that in 2015.

Moog's Integral Dust Boot - Moog Suspension Parts

That's what I have on mine, though the way it is designed you probably wouldn't notice if the boot gets a tear till you pull the knuckle off.

 

[CDW6212R]

Has anyone had problems with the newer Moog lower BJ design with the integrated, recessed grease boot? I think they came out with that in 2015.

Moog's Integral Dust Boot - Moog Suspension Parts

That's what I have on mine, though the way it is designed you probably wouldn't notice if the boot gets a tear till you pull the knuckle off.

Yes, I've installed four of those now, and you can see the little boot clearly when it's installed.

 

[J_C]

^ The top of it sure, but if it gets a tear in one of the folds, I suppose you have to watch for where grease squirts out by deliberately over-lubing it, which some people do "to flush old gunk out" but I never felt the need to put that much grease in at a time.

 

[CDW6212R]

The new Moog boots are tiny, there are no folds really, and you can see the boot well from a couple of angles. I don't think it would take much grease to blow the boots, they are tiny.

Making the boots smaller didn't help I don't believe, the rubber material needs to be better.

 

[drdoom]

Problem I have had with Mevotech is the boots, they look so cool and colorful but split wide open in matter of months.

 

[J_C]

The new Moog boots are tiny, there are no folds really, and you can see the boot well from a couple of angles. I don't think it would take much grease to blow the boots, they are tiny.

Making the boots smaller didn't help I don't believe, the rubber material needs to be better.

The boot is like an accordion, goes inward towards the stud, folds up, folds down, then up again forming a sleeve against the stud and a different flex stress. Maybe that's better, or maybe not, but it does expose the rubber to different stresses than the conventional bulbous over-the-top boots.

They do have a grease relief "valve", which is really nothing more than a molded in channel area were pressure will cause the grease to leak first, which is indicated on the instructions as to which way to orient the BJ when installing it.

This is a stock moog pic, not something I edited.