replacement chassis parts

So, the ball joints and tie rods on the 64 are shot. Less than 10k on it. Im kinda pissed.

I typically shop the flaps for wear items with a lifetime warranty. Usually oreilleys because discount.

So, masterpro or moog? Masterpro totals out to 1/3 the price of moogs, with a lifetime warranty. But this job sucks donkey balls. So I'd rather not do it again. I was not impressed with the moog parts i used on the duster, and this is the second full set of tie rods on the elky. They are masterpro.

Id rather not monkey much more with the suspension, as it handles and rides fantastic. I know that i could go with tall ball joints all around, but at 50 each for less bumpsteer (not noticible on my truck) and better camber gain in dive (autocross a couple times a year, and it's not camber gain holding me back) I just can't justify the cost.

So, what brand and why?

Something I've noticed about the cheap parts is they often have crap for grease in them, the greasable stuff will usually last if you pump grease though it until you have it full of good stuff.

Any time i get chassis parts, I clean them out and regrease prior to install. I figure if oems leave metal shavings in engines on occasion, aftermarket chinese kuds didn't clean anything.

I bought some Moog sway bar end links earlier this year and was really disappointed. Two came with grease fittings and two didn't. The ones with grease fittings didn't fit with the fittings installed. All the part numbers were correct. I expected better from Moog.

i've been extremely happy with mevotech's higher line of stuff. i suspect it's made in the same place as the higher end ac delco bits as they always look the same in the pics and i had a hard time telling them apart when i bought some of each. they come with blue boots like the delco stuff. not impressed with moog lately either, i've been buying only delco or the mevotech parts with blue boots off amazon.

I've had good luck with raybestos professional grade.

Dusterbd13 wrote: Any time i get chassis parts, I clean them out and regrease prior to install. I figure if oems leave metal shavings in engines on occasion, aftermarket chinese kuds didn't clean anything.

I never thought about this until recently when someone mentioned it in a build thread (ADV Rider's epic Vanagon Syncro) . When I redid my GTI front end I popped off one of the boots and it was almost dry.
Reminds me that I need to look at the 9-5 pieces I've been putting off installing all summer.

Take them out of the box and look at them. Many times the Masterpro, Duralast, or Valuecraft part is just a Moog part shoved in a different color box. There are surprisingly few parts manufacturers out there.

In reply to curtis73:

Federal Mogul supposedly makes two lines of front end parts, Moog and everything else, maybe the whitebox line is seconds of some of the moog parts? Though from what I keep hearing about Moog's decline I wonder if some really are exactly the same now. I just put a set of their "quick steer" (really cheap on rock auto) ball joints and sway bar links on my Prizm, probably a few thousand miles in now and they haven't acted up yet. They came out of the box nice and tight.

Whatever has a full lifetime warranty, as opposed to a "lifetime warranty if installed at..." Honestly, I've been perfectly happy with Moog parts. Mind you, not much else is available at your FLAPS up here.

Just learned that napa uses Dana joints in their high line. What's the story on the expensive napa parts?

I worked for napa from 2010-2012. We rarely got "napa chassis"(the higher cost part) stuff back.

At the same time, I remember the product rep was a huge disappointment. Most of the things he said were confusing marketing speak, some of it contradictory. I sorta didn't want to sell the stuff after talking to him honestly.

I'll throw my vote in for Mevotec. Still haven't been disappointed by them yet.

Kenny_McCormic wrote: In reply to curtis73: Federal Mogul supposedly makes two lines of front end parts, Moog and everything else, maybe the whitebox line is seconds of some of the moog parts? Though from what I keep hearing about Moog's decline I wonder if some really are exactly the same now. I just put a set of their "quick steer" (really cheap on rock auto) ball joints and sway bar links on my Prizm, probably a few thousand miles in now and they haven't acted up yet. They came out of the box nice and tight.

Moog owns Quick Steer, so you just put their value line parts on...

Dusterbd13 wrote: Just learned that napa uses Dana joints in their high line. What's the story on the expensive napa parts?

False. NAPA uses "NAPA Chassis" which is produced by... Federal-Mogul! So it's just Moog stuff.

I've used the Dana parts under the Spicer name. Never had a problem with them. Dunno if they're still sold under that name.

Mevotech's premium line (through RockAuto) is what I put on the Vue, and I have been extremely impressed. It's the only stuff I've found to not be made by Federal-Mogul. I recommend them.

(Note that I am parts house Sales Rep, and we sell Moog, and I'm pointing you somewhere else...)

In reply to Javelin:

Any opinion on Deeza? The economy line Mevotech parts?

So, at 1/4 cost, comparing rockauto mevotech premium to flaps moog pricing, the mevotech premium is the higher quality? Any idea who makes mevotech?

The price is really attractive, but again, im looking for long-term durability. Not price. Got lucky to catch it before failure this time. And never had any luck with warranty through rockauto.

In reply to Kenny_McCormic:

I have not used anything but their Premium line.

In reply to Dusterbd13:

Mevotech is an independent company based in Canada. Summit, Jeg's, and Amazon all sell their parts as well. I have almost 20K miles on the rear endlinks (which are notorious for going bad) and they are still like new. The Mevotech ones were all steel with a proper ball joint versus the OEM's which were all plastic.

Javelin wrote:

Dusterbd13 wrote: Just learned that napa uses Dana joints in their high line. What's the story on the expensive napa parts?

False. NAPA uses "NAPA Chassis" which is produced by... Federal-Mogul! So it's just Moog stuff.

now see that's weird because when our NAPA Chassis rep came around he spent like 20 minutes focused on the specific differences between NAPA Chassis parts and Moog parts. Diagrams. Cutaways. Examples of each.

In reply to belteshazzar:

Federal-Mogul bought NCP in 2014 and the changeover happened December 2014.

wonder why they didn't just start selling the existing Moog branded parts, since nobody really goes looking for NCP parts to begin with. instead of selling the NCP line to FM, only to buy it back to resell it. so confusing.