Finally rec'd my Rock Auto shipment. Replacing the majority of the worn out steering / front suspension.

Apparently the PO had little respect for potholes or bumpy roads.

Did a check-in of the new parts earlier.

Question: Is it normal that my Moog Lower Ball Joints came without dust boots?

Will I be reusing the originals or are they simply not used?

Every ball joint I've ever bought has come with a new dust boot on it.

Thanks!

 

I don't know about a 2wd but my 4x4 lower ball joints came with a dust boot. I would call rockauto and ask.

 

Funny thing is, I went up to O'Reilly to have the guy pull a couple Moog Joints - same part # - out of their inventory to check. None of them had dust boots either. They did not list the boot as a separate part number. (?) K8695T

I went to the RA Site and clicked on the Moog description. It clearly shows a Boots.

I'll call Rock tomorrow. Damn...Looks like it's not going back on the road this week.....

 

I installed Moog lower ball joints on my truck. They did come with new boots.

 

I got all my rebuild parts from RA also, I think what you are seeing is the difference in what I think is called "serviceable" and "non-serviceable" ball joints. Serviceable means they have a grease fitting and have to be greased periodically, these will have a dust boot. Non-serviceable are sealed and do not require any maintenance, they will not have a grease fitting or a dust boot. My lowers are serviceable but my uppers are not. There are a coupla schools of thought on this forum about which one is better, that's up to you to decide.
I've never had any issues with Moog or Rock Auto so I would assume your parts are fine.

Hope this helps!

 

I've had serviceable and non-serviceable ball joints on my old truck and both had boots, serviceable ones just have a grease fitting to allow you to fill the boot whereas non-serviceable ones the boots are sealed with grease already contained.

 

Called them this morning.

The guy I spoke with sounded as if he's received this called before. Not snotty; just prepared and informed.

He said that Moog recently changed their design on this item. It actually does have a dust boot, it's just smaller than the previous one. It's more built-in to the unit; doesn't extend way up the shaft like what I'm used to seeing. He asked if I had one handy and helped me identify it.

I told him that I found the picture on their site confusing, as it suggested that I'd been shorted. He said that that their waiting to run through old inventory and also for a new pic from Moog. Makes sense; I've worked with suppliers on providing images in other industries.

And....these Ball joints do have grease fittings.

 

Moog redesigned their lower ball joints. The new boot is internal and holds up a lot better.

Old style:


New style:


Learned this when I order new lower ball joints. Rockauto shipped one old style and one new style. I found another new style around town cause I wanted them to match.

Edit: repy above responded as I was typing this. Ha

 

Yep...the bottom pic is the same as the ones I rec'd. New style.

Work starting in a couple hours.

New LBJ's, new Upper CA's, new complete tie rods, new idler arm, new sway bar links.

 

Interesting, thanks for posting and keep us updataed!

 

Glad it's all figured out.

You should put in some new shocks while you're at it if the current ones are original. Not necessarily, but if you're doing all that work, it would help with the ride.

 

Found this thread last night after work (1AM). Spent most of yesterday afternoon looking for my missing boots. Major front end and brake work over 2 weeks (lots of empty boxes), led me to believe I misplaced them. Parts bag with upper control arm (when finally retrieved) states "Boot preinstalled" Found the MOOG update pics on their website earlier yesterday, but damn, it sure looks funny when assembled without that boot. Finally confirmation from you guys. I signed up to say thanks. By the way, Amazon just added this info YESTERDAY to their description, but only on one of the two control arms. Maybe they read this thread also.

 

Good thing for this thread!

I'm sure you can imagine my surprise when I opened the boxes and found one old style and one new style.

 

It looks like Rock auto has updated the ball joint information as well.

 

All done. No major hiccups. I also took the advice to replace the shocks while in there.

I had my friendly neighborhood mechanic inspect my work just to be safe. He said it all looked good.

Now onto replacing the trans cooling lines. I spotted a few drops hanging off the low spots behind the aux cooler wile replacing the idler arm. My buddy confirmed that they need to be replaced sooner than later.

Will post for advice in Transmissions....

Thanks for the help.