Rk krawler joint
11-08-2019, 09:39 AM
#21
Former Vendor
Wow, this thread came back from the dead, just got an alert on it, wish I had gotten one yesterday.
Gergi, we have been emailing and I won't put anything different here than what is in our emails, I'm very plain and transparent. You said in emails that the ball was easy to move but without radial play, here you are saying that you have radial play, being easy to move is not indicative of a bad joint, having radial play is. Demonstrate that in a video and we will get a replacement part on it's way to you. The warranty process is simple but any issue needs to be substantiated through photo/video evidence.
Adam C
Gergi, we have been emailing and I won't put anything different here than what is in our emails, I'm very plain and transparent. You said in emails that the ball was easy to move but without radial play, here you are saying that you have radial play, being easy to move is not indicative of a bad joint, having radial play is. Demonstrate that in a video and we will get a replacement part on it's way to you. The warranty process is simple but any issue needs to be substantiated through photo/video evidence.
Adam C
11-08-2019, 11:31 AM
#23
JK Jedi
warranty process was anything but simple for me. jump thru one hoop and another and another until finally given a measurement to take and when that measurement was provided it was "oh our engineers said that was the wrong measurement".
11-08-2019, 11:57 AM
#24
JK Newbie
Thread Starter
Wow, this thread came back from the dead, just got an alert on it, wish I had gotten one yesterday.
Gergi, we have been emailing and I won't put anything different here than what is in our emails, I'm very plain and transparent. You said in emails that the ball was easy to move but without radial play, here you are saying that you have radial play, being easy to move is not indicative of a bad joint, having radial play is. Demonstrate that in a video and we will get a replacement part on it's way to you. The warranty process is simple but any issue needs to be substantiated through photo/video evidence.
Adam C
Gergi, we have been emailing and I won't put anything different here than what is in our emails, I'm very plain and transparent. You said in emails that the ball was easy to move but without radial play, here you are saying that you have radial play, being easy to move is not indicative of a bad joint, having radial play is. Demonstrate that in a video and we will get a replacement part on it's way to you. The warranty process is simple but any issue needs to be substantiated through photo/video evidence.
Adam C
11-09-2019, 04:52 AM
#25
JK Newbie
Thread Starter
Hii here's a pocture of the rear lower joint and you can see how the bushing are wearing out and here's a video to show how loose the thing is and the same for both in the rear, in the front only the driver side is bad
And here's a link to the video:
11-09-2019, 05:04 AM
#26
JK Newbie
Thread Starter
Now for the uppers the front on the passenger side is starting to get loose but the driver side it's good, for the rear there's only one that's good and i did include a video just so you can tell the difference
Here's a link for the joint that is having lateral movement :
Here's a link for how loose the rear joints are except one :
Here's a link for the good joint in my opinion :
Here's a link for the joint that is having lateral movement :
Here's a link for how loose the rear joints are except one :
Here's a link for the good joint in my opinion :
11-09-2019, 05:22 AM
#27
JK Newbie
Thread Starter
And here's a video of the front trackbar joint just so you can all see why I'm upset i did tighten the joint to 25 ft lb it did work better but it's back to have play and to be honest i did buy a used RC trackbar to see if the problem i was having with the steering is from the trackbar and to be honest it did help a lot but i wanted to give this trackbar a second chance and when i went to remove the set screw and tighten the joint it was actually loose i was able to do it with ease but the control arms i wasn't able to open a single one of them and i made the tool twice one was a little loose it started slipping so i made a second one that fitted snugly but i was putting a lot of force and it wasn't moving so i was scared to ruin the retainers so i left it alone
Here's the links for the bushing on the trackbar :
Here's the links for the bushing on the trackbar :
11-09-2019, 07:50 AM
#28
JK Jedi
That set screw is a piss poor design at least ballistic has notches around the joint for the screw to set in where the RK design tightens against the threads. What a dumb design as you are basically destroying the threaded retainer. Those joints have way too much play in them and all I can think of is they were not properly set from the factory with the proper preload.This is another poor design with the RK joints, you have to run them so tight with the preload that they can't take lubrication, as the ball turns on their race it basically is just wiping the grease off the ball. One other flaw I see in their joint is the fact you have to remove the joint to tighten it with their tool.
This is the joint they basically copied and then made worse by their manufacturing. https://ballisticfabrication.com/col...allistic-joint. You can see the retaining nut have 4 notches in them for the recessed allen to lock into without damaging the threads. They only use one retaining nut not two like RK uses. I don't know what the reason is to use two but it must be cheaper to make. It also has a polished to mirror finish and hardened ball to minimize wear on the races. You can also get a spanner wrench on the preload retainer while the joint is installed.
It think imo that RK has been obsessed with having the most misalignment in the industry for their joint and that is the reason they build them so poorly. While it is nice marketing speak, it is a absolutely not needed, as non of the kits they sell actually even come close to maxing out the articulation of the joints.
Joints are one of the most important parts of a lift kit because of the cost of 16 joints (12 on a 3 link) but most people over look that. On a daily driver Jeep I would go with either metal cloak or synergy joints. Both have more then enough misalignment and give you a comfortable basically maintenance free joint.
I am sorry I did not convince you how bad RK was when you were looking at lifts. They spend a lot of time on social media pushing their marketing terms and showing photos of cool jeeps. It too bad they don't have the design knowledge or spend that amount of time on the actual product they put out the door, but for what they are, a machine shop that makes some of their own components, I am not surprised. I get pm's and emails all the time from former customers of theirs that tell me just how bad of an experience they have had with RK products and their "service". Hopefully they will get better but I have not seen anything over the years to make me think any different.
This is the joint they basically copied and then made worse by their manufacturing. https://ballisticfabrication.com/col...allistic-joint. You can see the retaining nut have 4 notches in them for the recessed allen to lock into without damaging the threads. They only use one retaining nut not two like RK uses. I don't know what the reason is to use two but it must be cheaper to make. It also has a polished to mirror finish and hardened ball to minimize wear on the races. You can also get a spanner wrench on the preload retainer while the joint is installed.
It think imo that RK has been obsessed with having the most misalignment in the industry for their joint and that is the reason they build them so poorly. While it is nice marketing speak, it is a absolutely not needed, as non of the kits they sell actually even come close to maxing out the articulation of the joints.
Joints are one of the most important parts of a lift kit because of the cost of 16 joints (12 on a 3 link) but most people over look that. On a daily driver Jeep I would go with either metal cloak or synergy joints. Both have more then enough misalignment and give you a comfortable basically maintenance free joint.
I am sorry I did not convince you how bad RK was when you were looking at lifts. They spend a lot of time on social media pushing their marketing terms and showing photos of cool jeeps. It too bad they don't have the design knowledge or spend that amount of time on the actual product they put out the door, but for what they are, a machine shop that makes some of their own components, I am not surprised. I get pm's and emails all the time from former customers of theirs that tell me just how bad of an experience they have had with RK products and their "service". Hopefully they will get better but I have not seen anything over the years to make me think any different.
11-09-2019, 08:35 AM
#29
JK Newbie
Thread Starter
That set screw is a piss poor design at least ballistic has notches around the joint for the screw to set in where the RK design tightens against the threads. What a dumb design as you are basically destroying the threaded retainer. Those joints have way too much play in them and all I can think of is they were not properly set from the factory with the proper preload.This is another poor design with the RK joints, you have to run them so tight with the preload that they can't take lubrication, as the ball turns on their race it basically is just wiping the grease off the ball. One other flaw I see in their joint is the fact you have to remove the joint to tighten it with their tool.
This is the joint they basically copied and then made worse by their manufacturing. https://ballisticfabrication.com/col...allistic-joint. You can see the retaining nut have 4 notches in them for the recessed allen to lock into without damaging the threads. They only use one retaining nut not two like RK uses. I don't know what the reason is to use two but it must be cheaper to make. It also has a polished to mirror finish and hardened ball to minimize wear on the races. You can also get a spanner wrench on the preload retainer while the joint is installed.
It think imo that RK has been obsessed with having the most misalignment in the industry for their joint and that is the reason they build them so poorly. While it is nice marketing speak, it is a absolutely not needed, as non of the kits they sell actually even come close to maxing out the articulation of the joints.
Joints are one of the most important parts of a lift kit because of the cost of 16 joints (12 on a 3 link) but most people over look that. On a daily driver Jeep I would go with either metal cloak or synergy joints. Both have more then enough misalignment and give you a comfortable basically maintenance free joint.
I am sorry I did not convince you how bad RK was when you were looking at lifts. They spend a lot of time on social media pushing their marketing terms and showing photos of cool jeeps. It too bad they don't have the design knowledge or spend that amount of time on the actual product they put out the door, but for what they are, a machine shop that makes some of their own components, I am not surprised. I get pm's and emails all the time from former customers of theirs that tell me just how bad of an experience they have had with RK products and their "service". Hopefully they will get better but I have not seen anything over the years to make me think any different.
This is the joint they basically copied and then made worse by their manufacturing. https://ballisticfabrication.com/col...allistic-joint. You can see the retaining nut have 4 notches in them for the recessed allen to lock into without damaging the threads. They only use one retaining nut not two like RK uses. I don't know what the reason is to use two but it must be cheaper to make. It also has a polished to mirror finish and hardened ball to minimize wear on the races. You can also get a spanner wrench on the preload retainer while the joint is installed.
It think imo that RK has been obsessed with having the most misalignment in the industry for their joint and that is the reason they build them so poorly. While it is nice marketing speak, it is a absolutely not needed, as non of the kits they sell actually even come close to maxing out the articulation of the joints.
Joints are one of the most important parts of a lift kit because of the cost of 16 joints (12 on a 3 link) but most people over look that. On a daily driver Jeep I would go with either metal cloak or synergy joints. Both have more then enough misalignment and give you a comfortable basically maintenance free joint.
I am sorry I did not convince you how bad RK was when you were looking at lifts. They spend a lot of time on social media pushing their marketing terms and showing photos of cool jeeps. It too bad they don't have the design knowledge or spend that amount of time on the actual product they put out the door, but for what they are, a machine shop that makes some of their own components, I am not surprised. I get pm's and emails all the time from former customers of theirs that tell me just how bad of an experience they have had with RK products and their "service". Hopefully they will get better but I have not seen anything over the years to make me think any different.
11-09-2019, 05:38 PM
#30
Super Moderator
The design of the joints are to provide the best flexibility in a low friction setup. They would work but like Dirtman stated they are a poor design. Unfortunately, Jeeps go through mud, sand, dirt and they all get in the joint and eat it away so yes I would believe a few thousand miles and they are shot. Just go back to a Johny Joint or similar.