Let me know what you think.
Currently running 285 Terra Grapplers. They have 21,000 miles on them and are worn very unevenly. The left front is the worst. Cupped so badly I thought I had a wheel bearing going out from the noise. Last night, I rotated them in a different sequence. Fronts and rears rotated to the opposite side as well as drivers to pass and vise versa. This morning the front end noise is gone and passed to the same tire on the rear. The fronts have been wearing very choppy on the outer edges. I have slight play in the drivers side ball joints so I have decided to just have them replaced along with new tires and alignment. Played with tire pressure and settled in at 60 psi. But the cupping never changed.
Prices-
4 new Nitto Dura Grapplers 285 10 ply- $806 installed
Balljoints- Anywhere from $100-$200 depending on brand
Labor to install- $180
Alignment- $39.95
Total (cheapest) is $1134 or so. This is all from the same shop.
Couldnt have hit at a better time (sarcasm). But, the ball joints appear to be original I have all of the receipts from the original owner and there is no receipt for new ones. Plus, they "look" original.
But, it beats the price of that brand new FX4 Ecoboost I will have some day....
The tire shop is pushing the Dick Cepek FCII's. But, I haven't found too many reviews on them. They are $20 more a tire.
I can't believe tire prices. They are insane!

 

First off, Dont get Moog ball joints. I had all 4 replaced 2 years ago and about a month ago, I found that the left lower was smoked. And they are alot of money. I read on here that some have used XRF ball joints. They said they are better. I found out that my local parts house is a distributor for XRF. Upper was $23 and lower was $28 each. Alot better than the Moog upper at $85 and lower at $135 each. The guy at the parts house said that over the past couple of years, Moog has gone WAY downhill in quality. oh seals are expensive too.

On the tire subject, whew, I wish I could only pay $800 for a set of tires for my X. I think last time I checked, It was about $2450 mounted and balanced for a set of 4 tires.

 

My stock balljoints gave up at 75k......I used lifetime TRW from Advance Auto......only because they had them and I needed them right away.........so far so good......they have a little over 73k on them now.....still going strong.

 

I thought it was great when my stockers failed at 120,000. The bad thing about the warranty is that it only covers parts. Thats the cheap side. The moogs were warranty. But I didn't want to replaced them with the same crap that failed in less than 2 years and 10,000 miles.I made out better by switching brands.

 

120k is great !......you are right.....the seals from Ford were more than the joints.....I did the labor myself......I would use XRF next time also.....regardless of the warranty

 

XRF's are made for extreme use like oil fields. So you are getting a bulletproof set that will last super long if you lube them at appropriate intervals. I'll be installing my XRF's this weekend.

 

And for the price too. Cant be beat.

 

Here is the linky with info and a great price for XRFs. This info all came from housedad. I'm just passing it on...

XRF Chassis | Automotive and Heavy Duty Chassis Parts | Ball Joints

The Tire Club

 

dave, the cupping that you describe I had too. Replaced the ball joints end of aug with the XRF brand. They got their first lube a few weeks back, and all looked good. They are now getting a test in the north. It was sitting at 0'F today without the wind chill.

 

Just read the labour they quoted you to install. I don't know what to tell ya to run in and hurry get it done for that or hurry and run the other way cuz they have no clue what they are getting into.

 

Thanks. As far as the labor, they quoted hours at $45/hr. it is a Collision shop and they are well recommended in the area. Several friends have used them. I think it is helping because I am buying tires and an alignment from them. They specialize in body / paint as well as install suspension lift installations. I would do the ball joints myself if I ha time. The Terra Grapplers are like driving on ice when it is raining. They have 1/4 tread. So I need to do it soon before the snow flies.

 

Sounds like I have third grade English. Not too good at typing on IPhone! Anyway 4 hours labor is what they quoted.

 

$180 for balljoint install labor is CHEAP. This is a big job. I have done it myself twice, once on 2003 and once on 2005. It took me about 10 hours on my second installation. Of course, I don't wrench for a living.

I cannot comment on XRF. I can say that the Moogs on my 2005 are excellent and greaseable. The 2003 Moogs went for over 120,000 miles without a problem.