Ball Joints - Boots Hitting Knuckle

[jac04]

I just did front ball joints on my 94 Ram 1500 5.2 2WD. I used Moog K7201 lower and K7206T upper. No problem with pressing them in. However, the rubber boots are quite a bit taller than the originals. When they are installed into the knuckle, the boots obviously compress, but they end up folding over on themselves & hitting the knuckle. The top is acceptable, but the bottom doesn't look good.

I actually got out my port & polish tools and rounded & smoothed all the sharp edges of the knuckles where to boots contact them. So, I think I'll be OK short term, but the bottom boots just don't seem right to me.

Has anyone run into this before? I plan on calling the Moog tech line tomorrow and hopefully get someone there to check out the pictures. It seems like I got the wrong boots.

Upper:

Lower:

 

[johnnyjaws98]

looks normel to me

 

[jac04]

In case anyone is wondering, I spoke with Moog technical service this morning. The K7201 lower ball joints I purchased definitely came with the wrong boots. The correct boots should be much shorter and only compress a little at installation. They are sending out a new set of boots.

 

[johnnyjaws98]

ok........................

 

[jac04]

ok........................

OK what? I ran into a problem, posted to see if anyone ran into the issue before, got limited feedback, then posted my findings & the resolution. Maybe it will help someone out in the future. Then again, maybe nobody really cares if the boots on their ball joints are correct or not.

 

[03MopaRamman]

Looked Ok to me too However my experience is with the 3rd Gen and although I Like Moog I used OEM on mine. Some boots have a hard plastic washer in them with a bleed-off hole and that is where the rubber boot contacts so that was what I was thinking at first. Now I like your analogy on this and had I chimed in earlier would have suggested you compare with the other side, but obviously you have good mechanical abilities and was switched on enough to see there was a problem and with that smoothed out the contact surface for the interim fix.

I'm sure the folks that turn a wrench will appreciate the Info on this and at the same time I don't think johnny mean't any harm. This is a great forum too so keep up the posts.
Danny

 

[SmokedRam]

Yeah, the NAPA Chasis Parts ball joints I pressed into my 96 had boots that bit a little better than that.