HBS level on 13-14 Issues?

[11BPSMIKE]

I looked at four brand new trucks with levelling kits today at the dealer and all four of them had the upper ball joint popping out and they are not even sold yet. Dealer is most likely unaware of the issue. I feel the Zone products are the only proper way to go at this time.

 

[11BPSMIKE]

The way it looks to me is the spacer with the factory shock allows the suspension to droop further. This puts the ball joint beyond it's limit causing them to pop like they've been doing.

The Outdoorsman won't droop as far keeping this from happening. Even Bilsteins don't droop as far as a stock shock and a spacer so they might avoid it.

Realistically, if you're careful during install, and never see anything but pavement you might be able to avoid the issue if the suspension doesn't droop out fully, but why chance it? There are even some out there who are running them without issues, but with the amount of problems experienced, it seems like addressing the issue is needed.

I have a HBS 2 inch that I will be putting on my '14 this week. I purchased the Zone upper arms to prevent the issue altogether. It's only two more bolts and should barely add any difficulty or time to the install.

Did you get the 2" HBS kit and zone arms installed yet, I'm about to order the ball joints as I want to keep the stock ones good in case I ever want to go back to stock. If you got it installed how is the combination working out?

 

[BMD]

Would the upper control arms be worth adding if using the rancho loaded quick lift?

 

[BMD]

Would the upper control arms be worth adding if using the rancho loaded quick lift?

And if so which control arm the ones I see are in the $700 range?

 

[GreenGoblin]

I have a 2013 big horn and got the HBS 2.5 level kit and my ball joints are lifting. I read about the problem BEFORE buying and still decided to try it, I was very careful on install and everything was good until I started to tighten the control arm to the spindle that's when it started to lift. Both sides have lifted a little and I've only got 1000 miles on the truck since I bought it in December so I know it hasn't been driven rough enough for them to be lifting. For now I'll just keep em on an see what happens..sure does look good leveled though!

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk

 

[11BPSMIKE]

430 from zone off-road for two

 

[oz97tj]

Yes my HBS 2 inch level and Zone uppers are installed as are 35 inch Toyo ATIIs. Alignment was done and everything is good. Drives great with zero issues.

To answer the question about uppers, go with the Zones as was already said. Cheaper and has a greasable ball joint vs the uni-ball like the others. Uni-balls are prone to wear much faster but will provide more range of motion but thats only important in the higher end offroad scenarios.

 

[11BPSMIKE]

Cool thanks

 

[SouthernBIGHORN]

so then it is not a good thing to but front spacer on a 13 or 14 bc of the ball joint problem will the zone offroad 2" stop this from happening and does anyone know if you can put the zone on a 2wd

 

[BMD]

430 from zone off-road for two

Thanks good to know if needed

 

[dirtridersr]

so ive had my leveling kit on for about 2 weeks truck has not seen any dirt, hasn't even gone over a curb and my ball joints coming out. ridicules I think its safe to say if u level a 13-14 ram this is pretty much guaranteed to happen. Going to go to 4wheelparts tomorrow to see what they can do for me

 

[11BPSMIKE]

Ordered Bilsteins today and they shipped so it looks like places are getting stock.