Another victim of BDS control arm ball joint failure

[MAJ_Charlie]

View attachment 245072 The JBA upper control arms are good. I have them. They make their own balljoints and I think they’re one of the best balljoints out there. A lesser quality balljoint can be bought at any auto parts store and will fit the UCA. It’s convenient, but I do not anticipate ever having a issue with them.
If you’re not a fan of the gloss red they come in, I wasn’t, you can have them powder coated at your local shop for about $40. I went with black.

https://jbaoffroad.com/jba-a-arms/ram-1500-uca.html

I had them before I got the BDS control arms. I would have kept them, but JBA told me their control arms are for factory spindles and stock to leveled height. They couldn't say if it would work with the BDS spindles since they never tested it that way.

Here's what it looked like when I had the JBA UCAs on the BDS spindles.

 

[JD522]

Im about to have the 6" Zone lift installed with Zone UCAs and Fox 2.0 coilovers in the front. With Zone and BDS being similar kits, am I going to have the same problem potential? I will not have the preload spacer to make the front a 5" lift, if that makes a difference. This is my first lift and I'm still learning this stuff. So this may be a dumb question.

 

[crazykid1994]

Im about to have the 6" Zone lift installed with Zone UCAs and Fox 2.0 coilovers in the front. With Zone and BDS being similar kits, am I going to have the same problem potential? I will not have the preload spacer to make the front a 5" lift, if that makes a difference. This is my first lift and I'm still learning this stuff. So this may be a dumb question.

The zone UCA is a different ball joint. I’ve jumped my truck and no issues. Yes. I got air in it doing 55mph down a dirt run and hit a whoop and came up the back side. Lol. Probably only about 3-4” off the ground but that’s still a jump in my books. Bilstein 5100 and eibach springs lifted to 3” and zone upper control arms.

 

[JD522]

The zone UCA is a different ball joint. I’ve jumped my truck and no issues. Yes. I got air in it doing 55mph down a dirt run and hit a whoop and came up the back side. Lol. Probably only about 3-4” off the ground but that’s still a jump in my books. Bilstein 5100 and eibach springs lifted to 3” and zone upper control arms.

View attachment 245086

Thanks for the reply. This thread got me really nervous. This post and another side conversation have helped a lot. I need a beer!

 

[RJL1]

Im about to have the 6" Zone lift installed with Zone UCAs and Fox 2.0 coilovers in the front. With Zone and BDS being similar kits, am I going to have the same problem potential? I will not have the preload spacer to make the front a 5" lift, if that makes a difference. This is my first lift and I'm still learning this stuff. So this may be a dumb question.

I’m in the exact same boat and my stomach dropped as I was reading this. Maj_Charlie, glad you’re ok. Pretty ****** of BDS to basically walk away. Thankfully crazykid1994 jumped in and explained the Zone UCA’s are good to go.

 

[RedSRT4Me]

Thanks for the reply. This thread got me really nervous. This post and another side conversation have helped a lot. I need a beer!

What you have to pay attention to are the ball joint angles. If you notice on @crazykid1994 setup his ball joints in the UCA are closer to being flat. If you look at the JBA arms those ball joints aren't close to being flat.

 

[JD522]

What you have to pay attention to are the ball joint angles. If you notice on @crazykid1994 setup his ball joints in the UCA are closer to being flat. If you look at the JBA arms those ball joints aren't close to being flat.

Dumb question alert. Isn't that the point of the lift kit is to fix the geometry? Are the BDS UCAs screwing up the geometry their lift kit has already addressed? Like, double compensating? Or, is the BDS issue more about a bad batch of ball joints / metal?

 

[Gary2]

I do not know if the Moog BJs for a ram are also considered junk but I stick with my Jeep experience and Moog was the last ball Joint you wanted to use on a TJ so I carry that over to Rams along with the Rough Country reputation of being the last brand ya want . Right or wrong I have stuck with it for years

 

[RedSRT4Me]

Dumb question alert. Isn't that the point of the lift kit is to fix the geometry? Are the BDS UCAs screwing up the geometry their lift kit has already addressed? Like, double compensating? Or, is the BDS issue more about a bad batch of ball joints / metal?

Yes. If the ball joint used is a misalignment ball joint then only certain ride heights can be used.

 

[RedSRT4Me]

Found this on there website.

Not sure when they updated it.

 

[CheechDogg.0n37s]

Found this on there website.

Not sure when they updated it.

View attachment 245236

I can tell you that they "DID NOT" have that posted anywhere on their site before ... that is new and they did it because of all the failures to the UCAs as of late ..... complete bs if you ask me lol ....

 

[RedSRT4Me]

I can tell you that they "DID NOT" have that posted anywhere on their site before ... that is new and they did it because of all the failures to the UCAs as of late ..... complete bs if you ask me lol ....

I believe you 100% I'm just throwing it out there for the guy who is still running the 4" kit with the misalignment ball joints right now. It's a PSA to the point we don't want others suffering the same fate.

 

[CheechDogg.0n37s]

I believe you 100% I'm just throwing it out there for the guy who is still running the 4" kit with the misalignment ball joints right now. It's a PSA to the point we don't want others suffering the same fate.

Oh yeah my friend never assumed you didn't ..... things are getting very interesting I can tell you that ....

 

[MAJ_Charlie]

I can tell you that they "DID NOT" have that posted anywhere on their site before ... that is new and they did it because of all the failures to the UCAs as of late ..... complete bs if you ask me lol ....

What he said. Interesting how this magically appeared after what happened to me! I saw they added this to their website yesterday. I still have the screen shot of the components their sales person configured in my cart back in February which included their control arms. Looks like they got free R&D at my expense!

I did order uni-ball control arms but I won't have them until next month. Still doesn't change the fact that those with the 6" lift are having the same failure of the BJ.

 

[CaptOchs]

I can tell you that they "DID NOT" have that posted anywhere on their site before ... that is new and they did it because of all the failures to the UCAs as of late ..... complete bs if you ask me lol ....

Was it on the packaging or installation instructions? If not I think you'd have a case with them. I'd be fuming if the only compensation offered was new product.

 

[MAJ_Charlie]

Was it on the packaging or installation instructions? If not I think you'd have a case with them. I'd be fuming if the only compensation offered was new product.

Nope. The only requirement was 5” of backspace and I got new wheels for that purpose.

 

[ram1500rsm]

Found this on there website.

Not sure when they updated it.

View attachment 245236

Funny the say it won't work with 4" but 0-3". Wouldn't 0" have the same angles as 4"?
Lol.
Plus the BJ is popping with 6" just like it did with the 4" in this case. What a POS excuse for a defective product.
They're trying to cover their backs. No fine print warrant BDS? They're a joke.

 

[MAJ_Charlie]

Funny the say it won't work with 4" but 0-3". Wouldn't 0" have the same angles as 4"?
Lol.
Plus the BJ is popping with 6" just like it did with the 4" in this case. What a POS excuse for a defective product.
They're trying to cover their backs. No fine print warrant BDS? They're a joke.

Totally agree. Their new “disclaimer” just appeared since I reported my issue. Like ram1500rsm said...the 6” lift owners are having the same BJ failure.

 

[Hawaii_Built]

I can tell you that they "DID NOT" have that posted anywhere on their site before ... that is new and they did it because of all the failures to the UCAs as of late ..... complete bs if you ask me lol ....

Very similar thing just happened to me with the warning label. When I bought my 6" kit, there was no warning about ecodiesel equipped trucks needing to replace the front driveshaft with a custom one. BDS swears it was there, I know for certain it wasn't.

That was a $690 problem I never knew I had.

 

[chri5k]

The web archive has copies of their site. You can look in the archive to see if was there a while back.

http://web.archive.org/web/*/bds-suspension.com