ball joint vs. uniball

[BigD]

i bought the ball joint CST long travel kit used a while back and havent had the chance to throw it on yet. what im wondering now is if it is worth it to sell the kit and bump up to their unibal kit... is it that much stronger? the truck is gonna be used as a chaser and meximobile and its probably gonna take a bit of a romping. i know everyone is anti uniball, but are they really that bad in this application?? do you guys know if any of the trucks theyve put that kit on have had any problems yet? also, if i do get the uniball, i know they have a tendency to wear out quickly with street use...how often am i gonna have to be replacing those lil buggers with a daily driven truck and how much do they cost? someone told me that the balljoint front end would be fine. he was tellin me that its prob as strong as the uniball since the bolt for the uniball isnt very hefty. what do you guys think? lay it on me. any info would be great. thanks in advance!

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[havahockey]

I have balljoints in the spindle on my Camburg Long Travel kit. I've had the kit on my truck for a year now and haven't had any problems with my balljoints. I'm not too familuar with the CST kit but the uniballs will be stronger.

Race-Dezert Anonymous - Step #1:
"Hello, my name is Jason. And I'm a Race-Dezertaholic."

[crashesalot2003]

the uni-balls will also allow for a greater arm angle and more travel in both directions if all other factors allow (ie steering,fenders etc.)


no brain, no pain

[cleartoy]

Who is anti uni ball?

I got uni balls upper and lower on my arms and i love em!

As to the diameter of the bolt being used, the mis alignment spacer determines that. For example, i have 1" I.D. Uniballs, but with the mis alignments, it is reduced to accept a 3/4" bolt. THats pretty hefty in my opinion.

Most s 10s ive seen like to seperate the lower ball joints. Thats why both CST and Fabtech owners convert to Uni balls on the lower arms.

94 Toyota stdcab 2x4
99 Yamaha YZ250

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[jeff]

I wouldn't say people are against uni-balls... they are the latest and greatest in the long line of gotta have em's. However, just because it's a uni-ball doesn't mean it has a huge advantage over a ball-joint. Look at the range of movement on some ball-joints and they can exceed those of even properly setup (standoff washers) uni-balls. Look at a Cone built ball-joint for instance... those travel something like 90-degrees. Anyone know what's the most you can get out of a uniball without f'ing up the race? As far as I know CST has plans to keep using ball-joints in the Silverado LT kits... the current Ford kits are available in an uni-ball but not the fullsize Chevy. A few of my customers wanted a uni-ball equipped kit but CST at the time said the need for additional range of movement or strength wasn't there. Take that with a grain of salt you should...

This is all assuming the uni-ball in the arm is mounted so that the fastener runs along the vertical axis of the spindle. If you run the fastener along the horizontal axis of the spindle I guess vertical motion is damn near infinite... but making those 6-point turns in the parking lot gets old quick.

Aloha

[BigD]

im retarded, i meant to say "anti ball joint"

[Just4Fun]

A 1" uniball w/ a 3/4" mis spacer, can have 35 deg of total change. I had my mis. spacers machined so that i get almost 40 deg. You can also notch the cup to get more angle but that starts to take away the strength of the cup. Depending on where you get your uniballs will determine your cost. You can also have them rebuilt by H&M in Foutain Valley. If you run them on the street get the teflon coated.
Jason
P.M. Fabrication

[partybarge_pilot]

I agree with jeff on this one.

"As far as I know CST has plans to keep using ball-joints in the Silverado LT kits..."

I was just talking to another guy doing chevy kits last night. He said he was having problems with to much castor change when he tried to get large amounts of wheel travel out of the stock mounts. This may be why they aren't bothering with the uni-ball's on they chevy kit.

[ACID_RAIN28]

Word around the water cooler is that CST is having a problem with the ball joints shearing off on the kits. The Ball Joints are the weak link in the kit. Uniballs are about $80 a pair with teflon, cups etc.

Anyone can escape into sleep, we are all geniuses when we dream.

[TrucksR4Girls]

This will be a stupid question but thats ok... Is it uniballs or ball joints that get dirtier faster and need to be replaced more often? or is it neither???