I'm doing a front-end suspension rebuild on my 4x4 Blazer and I'm looking for quality parts. I picked out a kit sold on Amazon by Detroit Axle because it seemed like a really good deal, but now I'm questioning the quality and reliability of Detroit Axel parts.

The kit came with upper control arms with pre-assembled bushings and ball joints. The ball joints are bolted in, but when I went to check all the bolts after installing, the bolts holding the ball joint do not torque down tight enough. In fact the nut never stops turning, and so I stripped the threads with ease. These nuts and bolts that came with the kit appear to be aluminum.

Has anyone else bought Detroit Axle suspension parts before? What's your story?

If Detroit Axle suspension parts ate low quality, who's a reliable manufacturer? Moog? Mevotech, ACDelco?

This the kit I bought


Another Detroit Axel product with scary reviews.

 

Normally Moog parts have been well thought of but there is also Proforge that makes some high-quality parts. For idler arms, you definitely want to use the Moog or Proforge parts. The OEM direct replacement ones are weak like the originals.

 

XRF are popular with my Ford P/U. MI Bearings carries them at decent prices. Does anyone here have any experience with them? I had to call them with some questions and got a knowledgeable human being that I could understand pretty quickly.

 

Moog has been my go-to and I haven't had an issue since using them.

Stay away from the eBay crap "OE Brand". When I first got my Blazer I bought a whole front end rebuild kit of the "OE Brand" branded stuff. Ball joints, idler arm, pitman arm, tie rod ends, the whole deal. Less than 6 months later, all the ball joints and the idler arm had to be replaced again... Still using the pitman arm and tie rod ends, but I've got some steering slop and I'm beginning to think it's the cheap tie rod ends...

 

Yeah, I understand cheap parts will need replacing within a year. Especially the miles I pile on.
I'm more concern about a tie rod end or ball joint snapping in half while on the freeway.
I just want to avoid parts that would do that at all costs.

I can for sure for the sake of this thread, don't buy Detroit Axle. I've had questionable customer service and been on hold for nearly ever,
When I got this kit, I didn't receive the pit-man arm or idler arm. 2 pieces advertised that are missing. And one of the sway bar links is missing a washer (in the sealed packaging).
Then I discover that the bolts that came with the ball joints are not a strong enough grade I feel comfortable with.
I tried to torque the nut down until I couldn't turn it with a 10 inch wrench anymore, and it just stripped the thread with ease.
I'm not happy with this brand at all.

 

My cheap ball joints let me know they were shot before anything catastrophic happened lol, they got pretty noisy, clunking mostly. Not saying that would always be the case though. I'm lucky and very glad that mine did give me a warning...

 

I went with mevotech for everything doing mine, upper and lower control arms, inner outer tie rods, pitman arm and idler arm, and I havent abused them much as I'm having some t case problems, but compared to what I pulled out I have A LOT of confidence. Much more than the moog parts I put in my girlfriends car. Mevotech on first glance at least impressed me immediately. And has felt really good since getting it on the road

 

I’m curious BR4x4, a lot of off road abuse or normal street driving? What were your intervals for greasing?

 

Normal street driving, and they were sealed so I could not add grease to them. Moog's on the other hand ARE greasable, haven't had an issue on them since I installed the Moog greasable joints

 

Ok gotcha. I’ve got Moog on mine and installed them when I had the front end apart last year. I re-grease entire front end and driveshaft ujoints every oil change.