Finally found my truck

-

spl440

Everybody's Fool
Joined
Feb 2, 2011
Messages
1,454
Reaction score
1,624
Location
Hot Springs AR
At last found my Cummins. found locally, 1999 4X4 King cab 2500 SLT with 24 valve and just turned 250,000 miles. Got it at a good price, will need ball joints. Question is I have heard that even Moog ball joints are not the quality that they where. Who makes good ones for a reasonable price? Also looking for a 50's to 60's power wagon to do a body swap, then will sell cab and bed. small dents on bed side but cab in pretty good shape, interior pretty rough, and will be using the a/c, electric windows etc in cab swap.
20180604_174216.jpg
 
Try XRF brand for the joints. Its an automotive jobber joint. Not retail el cheapo special
 
I have never had a problem with Moog stuff. Where did this all start? Like always I missed something :-( Just put a set of four in my A body. Only a few thousand miles but so far so good. Fingers crossed. WTF? We use them in trucks as well and haven't had any problems.
 
Last edited:
I have XRF for both of my cudas. Moog quality has gone steadily down hill. Heard too many horror stories about their new product. Their old made in USA stuff wasnt bad at all though. They are now just pushing a name, and people are buying because of the name.
 
I have been installing mevotech. Moog isnt what they used to be,and mevotech is climbing the ladder.
There was a good explanation about big manufacturers dropping the ball,where the volume matters more than the product.
 
Well I got mine from NAPA about six weeks ago and all four boxes said made in the USA. Maybe I got the last old stock they had? Hope so....
 
The only thing good about moog is the warranty.
Chevy 4x4 ball joints toast after 1 year. 3 out of 4 were garbage.
Last moog i ever sold. 1 year?with regular maintenance i might add.
 
My next truck will also be a 2nd gen Cummins frame swap. But I’ll be using a 1st gen crew cab body
 
XRF all the way!! Thats the good stuff. My 94 chevy 1500 however is still on its stocker oems at 160K . I pop a little grease into all the front end joints every oil change. Only had to change out a worn pitman arm this whole time. Maybe part of the deal is the greasing, the other half is the quality of the part being used.

I read up on the XRF parts. Found out they are a parts supplier to service garages, and dont do retail parts stores. This allows them to keep the quality up. Service garages dont want to have the replacement part fail because it makes them look bad. Canadian company. I have read the reviews on them, then bought their parts for the front ends on both barracudas. I dont like doing the same job over and over. One time and done.

One of their reviews came from a guy with an F350 diesel he used in off road in conditions alberta in the oil fields. I believe he stated at 70K stock ball joints gave up. They put the xrf joints in, and 200k later they are still working fine, and slop free. I am never going ro put these cars through that kind of abuse, so they should last forever in my application. Prices are about inline with moog joints too, so your not paying much more.

They use moog part numbers with an XRF prefix. Makes em easy to look up. Example mopar big upper ball joint moog PN is # K772.
Or with prefix # XRF K772
 
Last edited:
Looks like the Power Wagon is a no go, radiator is way to wide, looking at maybe 53-56 Ford f100 or mid 60's dodge pickup. trying to use as much of factory equipment so no custom rad.
Shortening the frame for a panel would not be an issue. And thanks all for the sugestions for ball joints. will be going with XRF.
b75ef924368995166dda89df6b1f00f4--cars-and-trucks-old-trucks.jpg
g075-1.jpg
 
Got a friend here in Tx that has a 1940 dodge cab, and front clip if interested.
Interested, would need to get some measurement,mostly frame width and how wide the grill opening could be enlarged to to fit the cummins radiator. And of course price. PM me please. Thanks
 
Its basically same cab and doors as a WW2 power wagon. Not sure if that will work. Its not very wide in the grille
 
Last edited:
Interested, would need to get some measurement,mostly frame width and how wide the grill opening could be enlarged to to fit the cummins radiator. And of course price. PM me please. Thanks
something like this is popular for a chassis like yours. The cummins swap is very popular. This one has the 413T engine.

IMG_0025.JPG


IMG_0026.JPG


IMG_00241.jpg
 
Brought this back to life to put my .02 in on MOOG, I just tried to install a left lower ball joint on the Dart, the machining on the surface that bolts to the steering knuckle was not flat so it would not fit flush on the knuckle nor was the machining finished where the shoulder of the mounting bolt was, it had a high area which would want to fatigue the head of the bolt.
I looked online at the XRF product but, I only see a ball joint for a 1969 (disc brake) application. I know in the MOOG brand there are different part numbers for a non disc brake application versus drum brakes.

By the way, some very sweet trucks posted here!!!
 
Just an update, wrecked my right knee, could not climb up or down into the 4X4 99 Cummins. Sold it and purchased a 1990 D150 short bed, very little money. Needs interior, wiring harness and paint. body mostly just surface rust. Am going to pull harness and run dist w electronic ign and since I have a bunch of Thermoquads and intakes, going that route. Checking to see if wheel bolt pattern is the same as the large bolt pattern on my dart, if so run the wheels and tires off of the dart, the get the Cobra 17 inch wheels for the Dart. Will be my daily driver when finished, then back to the Dart.
 
Bolt pattern on that 1990 D150 I believe is a 5 bolt 5" circle. Not sure when they changed it to that. My dad had an 81 D150 with 5 bolt 4&1/2" pattern. I think 5 on 5" is the same as a Chevy truck.
 
-
Back
Top