Greasable Upper Ball Joints

logan78 · October 18, 2010

After 36,000 miles on my NBS 2007 Silverado my upper ball joints were shot!!! After inspecting the front end found that because of my 2.5 leveling lift the A arms were bottomming out the ball joints (too much angle). So out with the lift and try to find cheaper ball joints and A arms (sold as one piece for some reason) than GM (the local dealer wanted $350 a side). Everything I found was non-serviceable as I plan on trading the truck in a year or so didn't think I needed the lifetime gauranteed ones from Moog so I went with the cheaper 5 year warranty one from mevotech. When they arrived they had grease nipples, even though the book showed that they didn't. But now I don't like the look of the truck compared to what it was before. Might install a smaller front lift, 1.5" maybe.

stefman722 · October 18, 2010

Awesome! good to know!

J-man67 · October 18, 2010

GMT-800 or 900? I am guessing 900, but in 2007 both were available.

Paradigm49 · October 18, 2010

ClintC...just a FYI....

I just went through the same thing with my sierra. I ended up going with moogs (full upper control arm replacement with bushings and greaseable ball joint) and lower ball joint. I tried the mevotechs, had some issues installing them and once they were installed, it wouldn't align properly. Sent the mevotechs back and got the moogs. I had wanted to replace the bushings on the lower arm, but for some odd reason moog doesn't make a lower arm (why is beyond me)

Just a heads up, if you have problems getting them in or aligned...it's not your truck, it's the mevotechs, and after doing some research i've found out that i'm not the only one that has had problems with them.

Wish you the best of luck, hopefully you won't have the same experience i did!

GMT-800 or 900? I am guessing 900, but in 2007 both were available.

herkdriver007 · October 18, 2010

was that for 800 or 900 series?

Paradigm49 · October 18, 2010

900 series

was that for 800 or 900 series?

mhenshaw · October 18, 2010

ClintC...just a FYI....

I just went through the same thing with my sierra. I ended up going with moogs (full upper control arm replacement with bushings and greaseable ball joint) and lower ball joint. I tried the mevotechs, had some issues installing them and once they were installed, it wouldn't align properly. Sent the mevotechs back and got the moogs. I had wanted to replace the bushings on the lower arm, but for some odd reason moog doesn't make a lower arm (why is beyond me)

Just a heads up, if you have problems getting them in or aligned...it's not your truck, it's the mevotechs, and after doing some research i've found out that i'm not the only one that has had problems with them.

Wish you the best of luck, hopefully you won't have the same experience i did!

GMT-800 or 900? I am guessing 900, but in 2007 both were available.

I have the Moogs sitting at my house till I have time to install them. How hard was it to install the lower ball joints? Are the moog lowers any better than factory ones?

Paradigm49 · November 5, 2010

Sorry for the delayed response, was out of town for work the past week and a half. Anyways i digress..

Actually, the lower ball joints were a breeze once you disconnect everything from the steering knuckle, i rented a ball joint press from advanced auto, and did one by hand with a wrench...that part was a pain. If you do go to advanced auto, do NOT get the smaller ball joint press kit (it typically rents for about $100, it does not have the proper cup for removing the lower ball joint-the correct one will cost $170 to rent)

The uppers were more of a pain. The spring in truck for the front shock/spring mount was getting in the way of removing the UCA/Camber bolts. Ended up removing the entire assembly---once it's jacked up there is no pressure on it, so 3 bolts on top, 2 on the bottom and your good to go (just remember to take a bright marker or grease pen and mark 1-the outer edge of the spring/strut assembly and 2---mark your camber plates!)

Once the bolts were out of the UCA's, installed the moogs and they were a bit cranky getting back in...trick was get one of the bolts with the camber plates on it started on one side and once you have that tightened a little bit, the other side will slowly creep its way in. When i put the lower ball joints back in, i used an air gun to press them back in once they were oriented correctly---made life so much easier. Word of warning---The zerk fittings for the upper and lower ball joints are tapered and they are self threading. The ball joints themselves do not have threads. DO NOT over-tighten them. I had to remove a ball joint because i broke a zerk off and had to use an easy out to remove it, while still being careful not to get metal shavings in the ball joints themselves. It turned out to be quite the long day.

But a few days after that since i knew it needed to be aligned as it was, i replaced both inner and outer tie rods on both sides with moogs too and then had it aligned. Considering the fact that i have Hellwig front and rear sway bars on it (stiffest settings) now the thing handles like it's on rails, absolutely love it.

Let me know if you have any questions or need anything else!

ClintC...just a FYI....

I just went through the same thing with my sierra. I ended up going with moogs (full upper control arm replacement with bushings and greaseable ball joint) and lower ball joint. I tried the mevotechs, had some issues installing them and once they were installed, it wouldn't align properly. Sent the mevotechs back and got the moogs. I had wanted to replace the bushings on the lower arm, but for some odd reason moog doesn't make a lower arm (why is beyond me)

Just a heads up, if you have problems getting them in or aligned...it's not your truck, it's the mevotechs, and after doing some research i've found out that i'm not the only one that has had problems with them.

Wish you the best of luck, hopefully you won't have the same experience i did!

GMT-800 or 900? I am guessing 900, but in 2007 both were available.

I have the Moogs sitting at my house till I have time to install them. How hard was it to install the lower ball joints? Are the moog lowers any better than factory ones?

pm26 · November 5, 2010

I found some too! They are on my truck!

At least something to brag about on GMT800s.

bugmenot · November 7, 2010

After reading all the threads about this subject I added zerks by drilling and tapping my stock upper ball joints then greased them and have had no problems with them. I used POWERFLOW #7100SP Metric 6 X 1 straight grease fittings, metric starter and finnishing taps and a small magnet to get all the bits of metal back out of the BJ before adding the new zerk and grease. I have the RC 1.5 inch leveling kit.