rustys lift vs. ball joints

buns79 · **Posted:** Wed Mar 14, 2007 12:47 pm

Has anyone had ball joint failure due to rustys 2.5in suspension kit I have heard that just about all lifts for kjs be it spacers or suspension kits are tough on ball joints is this true? Im thinking about going with rustys kit but just want to know what Im getting into. thanks for the help

psinsyd · **Posted:** Wed Mar 14, 2007 1:40 pm

No problems here with my Rusty's coil kit. The Rusty's kit is one of the most reliable out there for the KJ from what I've read here.

csukoh78 · **Joined:** Thu Mar 08, 2007 10:34 pm **Posts:** 501

If anyone else has info on this, i'd be very interested. Im about to get the lift too, but I want this jeep to last 150k plus.......and not have the wheel fall off.

elephantrider · **Posted:** Thu Mar 15, 2007 8:09 am

ive had no issues with rustys lift with ball joint problems...
we put 16k miles on ours and have ran it fairly hard, no issues.
there is 4 conduit washers on each side up front, and even with that extra lift, no issues.

rustys is a great kit, excellent buy for the money...

Tokyojoe · **Posted:** Thu Mar 15, 2007 8:32 am

The lifts are not the cause of Ball joint failure. KJ's with no lifts are having the same problems.

jcphoto20 · **Joined:** Sun Nov 19, 2006 1:36 am **Posts:** 507

i reluctantly had them change my bj at 50k and the originals had no play and were like new

Dje Ryu · **Posted:** Thu Mar 15, 2007 6:47 pm

Tokyojoe wrote:

The lifts are not the cause of Ball joint failure. KJ's with no lifts are having the same problems.

I thought that was only the LBJs, from what I've read, the UBJs are (mostly) fine, until you lift it.

FYI though, here's a pic of mine at full droop, swaybar disconnected, with a RRO 2.5" Budget OTT spacer kit:

You can clearly see the ball joint contacting the spring. Now, here's what it looks like with Rusty's coils/struts and new OEM (cause they were all I could find and I paid twice what I should have for them!) :cry:

also with swaybar disconnected:

I get no more rattling every time I hit a bump now and the ride is actually better than it was before the first lift. It even corners about the same as it did before the lift, with the addition of swaybar bushings from Daystar. It's snowing on the mountain just south of me here... can't wait for this weekend.

Spike6901 · **Posted:** Fri Mar 16, 2007 1:21 pm

37k miles on my Rusty's kit, no ball joint problems.

Dje Ryu · **Posted:** Sat Mar 17, 2007 11:15 am

Spike6901 wrote:

37k miles on my Rusty's kit, no ball joint problems.

Good to hear. I have about 37 miles on mine but, I will probably always worry about the stock ball joints. Eventually I'll put in some aftermarket arms (probably just wait for Rusty to get his up for sale) and Moog LBJs. If Amazon ever sends them; been waiting for about 3 weeks; website says they're in-stock; cust serv said they have five in the warehouse. Why is it taking so long to ship me two especially when I paid for 3-day shipping? Sorry, I'll stop ranting now.

RespectMyLibertay · **Posted:** Sat Mar 17, 2007 1:45 pm

I think your type of wheeling will affect ball joints more. If you wheel through a lot of mud, sand, and water, you're (according to D/C) gonna get stuff in the LBJs and that is what causes the failure.

rustys lift vs. ball joints

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