JKU ball joint recommendations

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A+J ‘12 JKUR

New member
Hey all — looking for real-world feedback on ball joints for JKs.

I’m running a 2012 JKU Rubicon on 37s with a 3.5” lift. I’m about to rework the front axles (regearing planned) and will be installing Reid knuckles. Right now I’m deciding between Dynatrac, Synergy, and MetalCloak ball joints — curious what people are running and how they’ve held up.

Any feedback is appreciated!
 
These are the exact same balljoints as teraflex, Yukon, mopar etc. and are cheaper. The rebuildable and the other balljoints that are $300 plus are a waste and won’t last any longer. They all have plastic inside that wears out. These are what I would get.

www.roughcountry.com

Heavy Replacement Ball Joints | Jeep Wrangler JK/Wrangler Unlimited (07-18)

Jeep High Heavy Duty Replacement Ball Joints (07-18 Wrangler JK)
www.roughcountry.com www.roughcountry.com
 
OverlanderJK said:
These are the exact same balljoints as teraflex, Yukon, mopar etc. and are cheaper. The rebuildable and the other balljoints that are $300 plus are a waste and won’t last any longer. They all have plastic inside that wears out. These are what I would get.

www.roughcountry.com

Heavy Replacement Ball Joints | Jeep Wrangler JK/Wrangler Unlimited (07-18)

Jeep High Heavy Duty Replacement Ball Joints (07-18 Wrangler JK)
www.roughcountry.com www.roughcountry.com
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That’s a killer price. Even Synergy’s just went up in price to $300 for their basic ones.
A+J ‘12 JKUR said:
If I had to guess the bjs in there look oem
Click to expand...
Easy way to identify is if you see a zerk fitting on top of the uppers which will mean aftermarket. If they are aftermarket, pay attention to what comes as in, if they are knurled or not.
 
I can see the benefit in a rebuildable set that you only have to press the main housing in once. After a few ball joint changes you might have to go to a knurled set and then, you only get a couple more changes out of that before potentially degrading the axle C’s enough that they just won’t press in anymore.
Granted if you have the style that press into the knuckle then this isn’t an issue but, it doesn’t sound like that’s the case for you.

That being said, the above mentioned Synergy ball joints are known to be super durable and if you’re getting 40-50k out of a set, then that’s over 200,000 miles of swaps before you run the risk of a buggered axles housing so my point is a minor one.

Admittedly I drank the ball joint delete koolaid and, for the most part I’ve had no problems. They get a bit squeaky after a long Utah winter and I have to re-torque them every few oil changes. 50,000 miles and they’ve been fine. Can’t say they’re better or worse but, they’re in now and I really don’t have a reason to pull them out. Maybe I’ll try a set of pro-steer ball joints next when these are due for a rebuild which, I’m told is almost worse than pressing them out and pressing in new ones anyway.

If I was to go back to 2021, I’d have put in some Dynatrac Pro-steers but, I had a friend that had a set of deletes he had yet to install and offered them up for cheap so I tried them.
Install was a PITA and they’re super tight for the first 2000 miles or so and I hated that.
Just my .02.
 
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