Control Arms and Ball joints

[Bigbirney]

AC Delco or MOOG? Anyone have experience with either for aftermarket. Similarly priced.
Thanks!

 

[guy from norcal]

I went with moog on mine.

 

[fiatdale]

Can’t go wrong with either.

 

[HiHoeSilver]

AC Delco or MOOG? Anyone have experience with either for aftermarket. Similarly priced.
Thanks!

I like the moog ball joints, can't speak to control arms.

 

[sumo]

I did moog lower ball joints for one main reason. They are greaseable.

 

[Bigbirney]

Thanks everyone!

 

[sneasle]

Looks like I'm going to be in need of ball joints on my suburban shortly. Any specific vendor that's recommended for the MOOG units? I see two different lengths listed on Rockauto, are they both compatible?

 

[kbuskill]

Looks like I'm going to be in need of ball joints on my suburban shortly. Any specific vendor that's recommended for the MOOG units? I see two different lengths listed on Rockauto, are they both compatible?

Ball joints are different depending on whether you have steel or aluminum lower control arms.

Aluminum control arms are thicker and require a thicker ball joint to seat properly.

 

[sneasle]

Ball joints are different depending on whether you have steel or aluminum lower control arms.

Aluminum control arms are thicker and require a thicker ball joint to seat properly.

Makes perfect sense, thanks!

Anyone have any recommendations on which MOOG control arms to go with? Seems they have a few different series that fit these vehicles.


Edit: looks like the options are narrowed as the type of knuckle (aluminum vs steel) matters. I'm not sure which one my truck is.

 

[Hi-psi]

Generally speaking, the aluminum lower control arms usually came on the AWD models in an effort to save weight. In the big picture, how much are we truly talking, a few lbs?

So, that said, if you're shooting for replacing the entire lower control arm as a unit, I don't see any benefit to going with the aluminum over the steel as the aluminum ones are usually more expensive.

Which one your vehicle currently has would really only come into play if you were opting for just replacing the ball joints as the steel vs aluminum arms take a different ball joint.

It's pretty easy to tell just by looking at them. The aluminum ones will be a lot lighter in color.