Raybestos or Moog Ball Joints?

[Tony H]

I've seen cut cross sections of Moog and NAPA brand Ball joints. I bought teh high end NAPA Ball joints about 100K ago . they are still tight as can be.

There Brakes however... They do not like the 'X'. The low and middle Grade brakes (SS and TS 7125) have rivets and the Brake material cracks and breaks away from the Metal. The most expensive NAPA Brakes for the 'X' work but they are too expensive and the Brake material is thinner just because they don't compensate for the rivets.

 

[rookieshooter]

OK, been thrashing around the webb and it gets a little confusing about all this. Seems these parts dealers change hands as often as I change underwear LOL
Like TooManyTrucks say the Affinia group owns a few of these Companies including McQuay Norris. And when you go to McQuay Norris and punch in ball joints, it comes up Spicer. So I'm assuming those McQuay Extremes are in fact Spicer but dressed up.
On the McQuay site that I supplied a link to, it talks about Spicer vs Moog and that Spicer is better, but when I click on it for the numbers...no workie
Also I checked on Spicers site and some NASCAR do run Spicer like Joe Gibbs racing and others. What I'm getting out of this, is that Moog in now made or mostly made in Mexico
So the short of it is this, personaly I'm going with Affinia/Spicer/McQuay Norris Extreme ball joints. But now I just can't find who sells them?
Plus if you go to Contact them at their site, you have to pay. Like a guy said on the Pirate site F%$K That. I was going to ask, Are Spicer and McQuay one in the same.

And if you go to Raybetos site, it's the same pay call phone #


The below paragraph is same either on Raybestos or Mcquay Norris. Do you belive that you have to pay for tech support. And they probably don't even talk dirty to ya.

Tech Talk
If you would like to speak to a technical service representative live, please call 1-900-733-8355 for $1.75 per minute between the hours of 7:00am and 6:00pm Central Standard Time.

The link is down below.


http://www.mcquaynorris.com/wps/por...ites.content/Products/General/spicer_chassis/

 

[Anime]

Going purely by looks, I'd have to say the Mcquay-Norris and NAPA/Spicer joints are one and the same. The 'regular' Mcquay-Norris and NAPA parts look the same, as do both of their high end joints (blue boot/dust cover, gold color cold forged metal, etc.)

The big difference is in pricing. O'Reilly/Checker Auto Parts shows $31.99/33.99 for the Mcquay-Norris Xtreme duty joints for a 91-94 Explorer 4x4, Dana 35 Axle. NAPA wants $43-45 for their version of the part. Of course, NAPA pricing varies by store and how well you know the guy at the counter and how nice you are, so it's possible NAPA might be about the same or less, especially if you can get shop pricing.

If I don't get a discount at NAPA, I'm probably going with the Mcquay-Norris Xtreme duty ones from O-Reilly, assuming they have the same lifetime warranty.

There Brakes however... They do not like the 'X'. The low and middle Grade brakes (SS and TS 7125) have rivets and the Brake material cracks and breaks away from the Metal. The most expensive NAPA Brakes for the 'X' work but they are too expensive and the Brake material is thinner just because they don't compensate for the rivets.

NAPA's top of the line brakes love my X. I've got NAPA/Rayloc pads, shoes, rotors, and drums on all four corners. The most expensive lifetime pads/shoes aren't too expensive at all. They scrub speed in a hurry, last a long time, have low dusting, and you never have to pay for another set. Their lifetime rotors/drums are the same as the ones with a one year warranty, just doubled or tripled in price to make up for the 2-3 times you might replace them. I just went with the one years, pads and shoes wear alot quicker than rotors and drums. Same with brakes as ball joints, you get what you pay for. I'd never go cheap on brakes, ever.

 

[Maniak]

Now that Orielies owns Checker/Kragen, they are dropping Mcquay norris parts and are now carrying Moog again (at least Moog problem solver ball joints)

~Mark

 

[Anime]

Well I'm still calling them tomorrow to check prices.

Maybe they'll have them on closeout.

 

[rookieshooter]

Going purely by looks, I'd have to say the Mcquay-Norris and NAPA/Spicer joints are one and the same. The 'regular' Mcquay-Norris and NAPA parts look the same, as do both of their high end joints (blue boot/dust cover, gold color cold forged metal, etc.)

I agree Anime, thats what I gathered from all the Webb surfing, but just did not add that info. I thought I was confusing everyone worse then what I was already doing.

pricing varies by store and how well you know the guy at the counter and how nice you are,

Right again, I don't want to mention which type of store, but one near my home the guys give me their own discount by swiping their card. A little venison and coffee goes a long way.
I really don't know if that's against store policy to dot that. Maybe someone could chime in on this, but I sure do appreciate it and I do keep going back.
Now they don't do this all the time and especially on small ticket items, but the larger stuff they do.

I have a few more phone calls to make to see if I can find the Extreme ones. If not, if someone knows of a online with fair price please post away. I really need them for my build.

 

[Anime]

On second thought the NAPA ones might be the better deal. O'Reilly's site says the Mcquay-Norris Xtreme ones only have a 1-year warranty. A lifetime warranty through NAPA beats that hands down, even if it is a few bucks more.

 

[rookieshooter]

On second thought the NAPA ones might be the better deal. O'Reilly's site says the Mcquay-Norris Xtreme ones only have a 1-year warranty. A lifetime warranty through NAPA beats that hands down, even if it is a few bucks more.

Are the NAPA ones the same as far as looks with the blue boots as the MN Ex.?

 

[Anime]

Are the NAPA ones the same as far as looks with the blue boots as the MN Ex.?

Going purely by looks, I'd have to say the Mcquay-Norris and NAPA/Spicer joints are one and the same. The 'regular' Mcquay-Norris and NAPA parts look the same, as do both of their high end joints (blue boot/dust cover, gold color cold forged metal, etc.)

 

[Shane91Explorer]

Moog no longer made in USA thats why, or at least what I heard

I just bought Moog's for my Ranger. They say Made in USA right on the box.

 

[Spdrcer34]

I did all 4 balljoints on my `92 X (2wd) this last summer.

I used the Moog Problem Solver Joints, purchased from RockAuto.

Right on the box they say 'Made in U.S.A.'

I am shopping for Tie Rods now too, and I will get the Moogs..

Ryan

 

[lynchy wa]

So just to make sure, MOOG = good??? I'm about to get some new upper ball's and this thread has me wondering.

 

[Joe Dirt]

I put the MOOG Problem Solvers on Deuce. If I had to do it again, I'd choose either the MOOG or the McQuay Norris parts based on what I've read here...

 

[Elessar65]

I used the Spicer Pro Grade ones (now Raybestos), and they have held up well to the regular beatings I give the truck on the trails. Also, the ones I got have pressable joints in the upper arm, so I can just buy a ball joint next time, not the whole arm.

 

[lynchy wa]

OK, cool. I'll have to check out some prices and see if they're available for a 3rd gen. I've only heard good thing's about moog until this got resurrected. So it's either moog, Chuck Norris lone wolf Mcquay or asbestos.

 

[Joe Dirt]

You're epic. Purely epic.

 

[lynchy wa]

Nah, not epic mate, maybe just a little faith no more. The raybestos specify cold forged where as the moog's don't. Is this a coin toss or am I better off with one over the other considering I'm going for 2.5-3" lift and the associated stress on ball joint's involved with that. (Couldn't find Chuck in the rockauto catalogue but we all know he was cold forged)

 

[Thallarsen]

This is an interesting discussion. I used the info here to do a little research in replacing my twice failed tie rod ends (Duralast) and had some discussion about the topic of quality here.
I don't know about Moog or others, but the McQuay Norris (Affinia Group) Extreme line are made in the US in Oklahoma. They're sold under the Napa name and under the Raybestos "Professional" name. I'd stay away from any chassis parts that are called "Standard" "Regular Duty" or "Service" whether you're putting them in a stock vehicle or a heavily modified off-roader. That tells me that it's a more economical line than the "Extreme" or "Professional" grade products. The lower priced options are likely made in China. When it comes to chassis parts, the trade-off of cost saving vs. the labor involved in replacing defective/inferior parts just isn't worth it.
The Raybestos Chassis website is pretty much the same site as the Affinia/M-N site - just rebannered to Raybestos.
I was able to speak to a very knowledgeable tech at Affinia within 30 seconds of my call. This tells me that this is a good company who stands behind their product.
I'm going to spend a little extra to get a much better part from a manufacturer who stands behind their product - at least with my rod ends. I wish I'd had this knowledge before I installed the Duralast upper & lower ball joints

 

[lynchy wa]

I got me some moog problem solver's, not in yet but alot of people swear by 'em.

 

[Tbars4]

...I just did all 4 balljoints on my 4wd Ranger and I used the Moog Problem Solver Joints...

..I had them price matched locally and got both upper and lower with tax for $73 bucks per side..

..and on the box they said 'Made in U.S.A.' ..