Mopar 2" lift with Mevotech UCA and 35" Tires, now have ball joint issues

[Tubbs]

Hello all, hoping for your help. I have done some digging but can't quite find any help with my issue. I have a 2018 ram 1500. I put the mopar 2" lift with bilstein 5100 shocks set at 2.1 and I also replaced the UCA with mevotechs just for cheap insurance as they should be better over stock. I then put 35"s tires on with a 10mm spacer to avoid any rubbing. I have had it on for about 2k miles and it rides great and have been very happy with everything. A couple weeks ago i noticed a creaking noise when I would turn and could also hear it when driving straight if it would hit bumps, but when sitting in the driveway and just turning back and forth it creaks the whole time I turn the wheels. I had the dealer look at it and they said both the upper and lower ball joints are bad. I took off the mevotech UCA and put the stock ones back on so I could look at them. The mevotechs definately have an almost rough grind feeling when you move the ball joint around, which leads me to believe they are bad. The creaking has possibly gone away. I thought I heard it a little bit driving around, but did not here it just turning the wheel in the driveway. Does anyone have any thoughts on what may have caused this. I see some bigger lifts replace the spindles as well. Is the 35"s tire on top of the 2" lift too much for the standard geometry of the mevotech UCA. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for all your help.

 

[novelmike]

What size wheels do you have and what’s their backspacingand offset?

 

[Tubbs]

What size wheels do you have and what’s their backspacingand offset?

I have stock sport wheels as in the added picture with 35x12.50x20 tires so not sure what the backspacing or offset is on them. I also have a 10mm spacer behind the wheels

A quick look I found shows 19.1mm offset and 5.75 backspacing on the stock 20x9 wheels that I have

 

[novelmike]

Having wide wheels with backspacing and offset that make the tires stick beyond the fenders adds to stress on suspension components. That doesn’t seem the case here though.
I have 40k miles on my Rancho quicklift/Fox shocks which lifted the from of my Ram 2”. I still have the original control arms and ball joints. My Ram has 115k miles on it. Everything is still tight.

I don’t have any other thoughts on what caused your issue.

 

[ram1500rsm]

Who did the install OP ? Is it possible somebody forgot to put the UCAs at their normal resting angle with the weight of the truck on them before tightening down the bolts and the bushing got damaged ?if it's not that, you got defective bushings. I thought of doing Mevotechs lowers when that time comes, but the more i keep reading about issues like this with their UCA's the more i want to get away from this company.

 

[Tubbs]

Who did the install OP ? Is it possible somebody forgot to put the UCAs at their normal resting angle with the weight of the truck on them before tightening down the bolts and the bushing got damaged ?if it's not that, you got defective bushings. I thought of doing Mevotechs lowers when that time comes, but the more i keep reading about issues like this with their UCA's the more i want to get away from this company.

Me and a.buddy did the install. We tried to be very careful when we did this part so I had read the horror stories of the ball joints on the uca. I'm gonna leave the stock uca in for now and see how those go. If no issues I will assume faulty ball joints in the mevotech uca.

 

[SportyJames]

Having wide wheels with backspacing and offset that make the tires stick beyond the fenders adds to stress on suspension components. That doesn’t seem the case here though.
I have 40k miles on my Rancho quicklift/Fox shocks which lifted the from of my Ram 2”. I still have the original control arms and ball joints. My Ram has 115k miles on it. Everything is still tight.

I don’t have any other thoughts on what caused your issue.

What year is your truck?

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[Tubbs]

What year is your truck?

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

It is a 2018. I was able to put the stock upper control arms back on, and the dealership replaced the lower ball joint under warranty. So I currently am back to my stock upper control arms and the lower ball joint was replaced. I am hoping that it maybe was a fluke deal, but time will tell if the issue returns.

 

[novelmike]

What year is your truck?

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

My truck is a 2012

 

[6.7CumminsDrvr]

You might have just had a bad set, did both lower ball joints get replaced or just one side?

I’ve been rocking stock UCA’s & ball joints now for almost 85k miles, been lifted and/or leveled for 60k.

Blown ball joint coming tomorrow..............

 

[Tubbs]

You might have just had a bad set, did both lower ball joints get replaced or just one side?

I’ve been rocking stock UCA’s & ball joints now for almost 85k miles, been lifted and/or leveled for 60k.

Blown ball joint coming tomorrow..............

Just passenger side lower ball joint got replaced as that was the only side creaking. Driver side still seems ok.

 

[Blackdodge2010]

I had a similar issue with my truck. I decided to replace ball joints using MOOG problem solver ball joints in my stock control arms. They are lifetime warranty and I have had zero issues since.

 

[2018NightRam]

Did the issue return?

 

[Tubbs]

Did the issue return?

So dealer ended up covering replacement of upper and lower ball joints on passenger side for warranty. And I have left the stock UCA on since and have had no issues. I'm assuming just a faulty mevotech UCA led to the issue.