Take care of your ball joints

I've been thru so many ball joints (polaris and aftermarket) that I've lost count.  Some have different boot design that are better for keeping water and dirt out and some just plain suck!

Edge22 told me that the boots on his ball joints on his 1k are sealed good --Whoo hoo-- polaris starting to get a lot of stuff right! However, in the mean time I don't have a 1k yet - So.....

Anywho , it got me to thinking about my ball joints which are Polaris and are the same for the XP 900. Upon re-evaluation of these these ball joints, I discovered they suck more than I thought.The boots are very loose and when the ball joint moves it leaves a gap almost as wide as the Grand Canyon.





So the Fix. Green grease, needle and safety wire:







Just don't twist too tight and cut the boot. Then just bend it over...


Thought I would share because a lot of times simple things like this just seems to get over looked. Just a little bit of maintenance can save a lot of grief sometimes. So regardless of your machine check out your ball joints and at least greas them.

What's best aftermarket ball joints you've found. I'm getting ready to replace mine and have down to Epi, all balls, or American star. Leaning toward epi. I know American has some good heaven duty rod ends but not sure about their balljoints.

STR8RZR wrote:

What's best aftermarket ball joints you've found. I'm getting ready to replace mine and have down to Epi, all balls, or American star. Leaning toward epi. I know American has some good heaven duty rod ends but not sure about their balljoints.

I know I have used Epi and all balls before and to be honest with you, I don't remember one brand standing out any better than another. That's why I just went back with polaris with the longer shank but as I have found out I wished I would have not went back polaris.

Good tip Jerry, we done that on Chads 800 when we put ball joints in it. I didnt have any saftey wire at the time so I used some real small zip ties, seemed to work ok also.

Super daves ball joints are greasable. Ill probably try those for my next set.

STR8RZR wrote:

What's best aftermarket ball joints you've found. I'm getting ready to replace mine and have down to Epi, all balls, or American star. Leaning toward epi. I know American has some good heaven duty rod ends but not sure about their balljoints.

I bought some form Super Dave's and they have lasted twice as long as stock so far.

how long do they normally last?

I got 2500 miles out of mine on my 2011 xp

I just replaced my first one at around 1500 miles and went with EPI. Id also like to know how many miles people are getting on them before changing. I have also knocked my riding pace down a good bit which helped a lot with bushings, balljoints, etc......

bacon wrote:

I just replaced my first one at around 1500 miles and went with EPI. Id also like to know how many miles people are getting on them before changing. I have also knocked my riding pace down a good bit which helped a lot with bushings, balljoints, etc......

I can usually get around 700 miles out of the stock ones before I need to replace them. But you also know how I ride nick lol.

edge22 wrote:

bacon wrote:

I just replaced my first one at around 1500 miles and went with EPI. Id also like to know how many miles people are getting on them before changing. I have also knocked my riding pace down a good bit which helped a lot with bushings, balljoints, etc......

I can usually get around 700 miles out of the stock ones before I need to replace them. But you also know how I ride nick lol.

That is about the best I can get out of my first set in a new machine. Any replacement ones get about 300 miles before they become lose. The super daves have about 500 miles with NO sign of wear.

BluDevil wrote:

how long do they normally last?

You know, that's a good question to ask. I think the best answer is that it depends on how and what kind of conditions you ride in. And also, on how one defines "worn out" or "lasts". It is usually a wearing PROCESS. I can put a bran new set in with no play what so ever and in about two rides, they develop a little bit of play.  And over time the play gets more and more, so it then becomes a question of how much slop you can tolerate.

However, some people like edge has catostrophic ball joint failures by snapping them in half. He reminds me of that owl on that tootsie roll commercial... How many rides does it take to break a ball joint? One..Two... THREE!   

The secret to ball joint longevity is greasing them and keeping contaminates out. All ball joints are greaseable, but ones like superdaves with the fittings make it much more convenient. I think I will order my next set from him.

I really like super daves stuff. I have used his bushings before and they lasted twice as long as the stock - but that's just my experience.  So I most certainly will give his ball joints a try.

edge22 wrote:

I can usually get around 700 miles out of the stock ones before I need to replace them. But you also know how I ride nick lol.

Oh yeah lol, I used to ride a lot faster then I do now. I just cant afford to replace all that stuff every 3-4 rides. Guess im getting old haha

All this talk about ball joints I just went out and jacked her up and shook the front wheels. Drivers side good other side NOT. Only 800 miles. When I put my new bushings on last year ball joints were good not now. I will be placing an order to super Dave and get em on before April. Thanks guys!

I went out and checked mine too. The rex has 1700mi and 231hrs. ball joints still good.

BluDevil wrote:

I went out and checked mine too. The rex has 1700mi and 231hrs. ball joints still good.

  I don't know why it is but those Teryx's just seem to be tough machines. Everything about them just seems solid.

There not completely solid. The bushings went out at 400mi and I'm putting a belt in it right now with 1700mi. I tried to get away from the cheapo plastic bushings and went with the rubber ones. No more issues in that department now.

The last ball joints I ordered were from super atv and was very impressed! They have a wire ring on top and bottom of the boot sealing and the joint is so tight when new you have to tap it with a hammer to move it. I called super atv to make sure something wasn't wrong with them being so tight, they told me they test several different ball joints and the held up the best. The problem I kept having was the boot popping up off the bottom of the joint and by the time you notice it it's too late.