New Moog CK80942 Upper Control Arm Ball Joint Boot Separated

[JamesLond]

I installed the arm without any issues, but I had to loosen the ball joint nut again for my unexpected lower ball joint replacement. I used a screw down ball joint separator and this is what happened.



I can't see how this could've happened since I took great care not damage the boot when sliding the separator on.

Fortunately the arm replacement is a breeze, so I'm just going to get an exchange. I don't trust the boot'll stay in place if I try to finagle it back up.

I wish there were other options but an OEM UCA is a hard sell.

 

[swathdiver]

I wish there were other options but an OEM UCA is a hard sell.

Buy once, cry once!

 

[Joseph Garcia]

You get what you pay for, at best.

 

[S33k3r]

My understanding, from some GMT800 groups is that Moog no longer has the quality it once did. You may have fun into that. Having never done this type of repair before, I can't say from personal experience.

I've also heard Kryptonite is good, but is way overkill for what you're doing.

 

[swathdiver]

I installed the arm without any issues, but I had to loosen the ball joint nut again for my unexpected lower ball joint replacement. I used a screw down ball joint separator and this is what happened.

View attachment 368228

I can't see how this could've happened since I took great care not damage the boot when sliding the separator on.

Fortunately the arm replacement is a breeze, so I'm just going to get an exchange. I don't trust the boot'll stay in place if I try to finagle it back up.

I wish there were other options but an OEM UCA is a hard sell.

So is Moog going to warranty this James?

 

[JamesLond]

So is Moog going to warranty this James?

Not even gonna bother with them. It'll be an Amazon exchange

 

[swathdiver]

Not even gonna bother with them. It'll be an Amazon exchange

Ok, hope it was just a fluke and the new one gives no further problems.

 

[JamesLond]

Alright, I'm effing done with these guys. Keep in mind all these parts are marked as NEW and sold & shipped by Amazon.

What I didn't say before was that the control arm in my first post was actually a replacement. The very first one I got had a mashed lower thread that prevented me from installing the castle nut.

Now my 3rd replacement has a hole in the dust boot for the ball joint. I'm glad I decided to look this thing over a good minute before installing it. It would've been a easy install, but I wasn't about to waste more time and grease on this crap.



I then thought that maybe the Amazon sold part isn't the same quality as one sold by a local store. However, it doesn't seem that NAPA, Autozone, nor O'Reilly sell it even as a special order. So it looks like it's an online only part.

Oh yea, one little bonus. Swathdiver asked me about Moog warranting the other part. From my research, I made the right call not contacting them; Moog only provides warranty support to the retailer and not the end user. If you're not the retailer, they'll just point you back to Amazon anyways. Keep that in mind because you may have problems with "limited lifetime" warranty claims further down the road through Amazon.

I'm just gonna try and get an ACDelco gold control arm at this point.