BDS Suspension - Hard Lessons Learned

[FishOn]

If you aren't privy to the original post, start here:

BDS ball joint gives way... What a mess.

Not romping it hard, literally flipped a U turn in a rutted dirt lot and got the *** end a little loose. Then she stopped moving... Ball joint blew, which let the spindle fall, which let the CV shear/snap, which railed the lower ball joints, tie rod ends, sway bar links, etc... Calling BDS in...

5thgenrams.com

Most of us BDS owners opted for the "higher end" products and were drawn in by the "NO FINE PRINT WARRANTY"... I'm not a cheap guy and did plenty of research before dropping the cash on the suspension lift I've always wanted. I've had nothing but good experiences with ALL Fox suspension stuff over the years, so it should go without saying that this whole situation is a major bummer. I was willing to accept my disaster as a "one off" situation and thought I'd share with our little community here, then@RAMROB91 had the EXACT same thing happen a couple weeks after me, and now we hear of a 3rd recent BJ failure. Doesn't sound so isolated anymore. All in all, they offered to cover their BJ and tie rod end, but I'll need to get hold of the shop to get that started... Paperwork, explanations, details, emails, and pictures are hassle enough, then add in the the looks I get from the wife any time someone comments on my truck or I want to take it and not her truck, and I think I'm done with it all. Just done. Built the truck of my dreams and it's become a P.I.T.A.

Here are some of the "finer print details" that aren't very clearly disclosed in BDS's "No Fine Print Warranty" and the reasons they can't/won't cover anything...

1. Since the truck is my daily driver, I opted to pay for the repairs and move forward... The shop didn't keep any of the failed components and BDS wanted to conduct a "metallurgical analysis" on the ball joint. I must have missed the part that says "send back all of your broken stuff so we can conduct analysis before progressing with warranty issues." No analysis, no help.
2. I didn't immediately register (nor was I aware that I was required to) for the 560plus warranty program. I don't know about you all, but I didn't receive (or request or desire) the instruction/installation manuals from a BDS authorized shop after the install, and that is the only place I found mention of the 560plus program, until I spoke with their techs after the failure. If you haven't registered your BDS stuff on 560plus.com, I recommend you do it now for a little C.Y.A. What they are willing to cover will NOT be covered if the -ish hits the fan and you haven't signed up.
3. Salvage Title Vehicles DO NOT QUALIFY. This would have been nice to know before I dropped $6k (now closer to $8k after the repairs) on their lift, due in part to the "No Fine Print" warranty and Fox's reputation in the off road community. Could've went King and any number of UCAs if I wasn't concerned about warranties.

I will say, the truck rides AMAZING on the road and handles like a champion. Easily the smoothest 6" lifted truck on 37's I've ridden in... But I'm still pretty apprehensive about getting too comfortable romping it. Not sure my marriage could handle another "Honey can you come get me because I broke my truck" phone call.

 

[redneck]

always loopholes that sucks bigtime

 

[Ram Man 727]

I'll be taking BDS off my shopping list. You can always judge a company by their after sales service. If they're quick to take your money and not stand behind their product I'll go elsewhere.

 

[brodieg]

Sorry to hear the struggles youre experiencing, that majorly sucks. Wish you the best of luck ☹

 

[Night Rebel]

this sucks. I was and might still be looking into the 4” kit from BDS. But what uca to use? And is the any kits that use a dcs coilover on a 4” lift?

 

[FuriousDZ]

this sucks. I was and might still be looking into the 4” kit from BDS. But what uca to use? And is the any kits that use a dcs coilover on a 4” lift?

I think the only other BDS for our trucks with dcs is the 2” kit.

My opinion is BDS is still a good product. The red tape always sucks no matter what company you go with if there is a failure. There are lots of these lifts still on the road and if you do the research this kit is one of the best rated.
It also sounds like it’s not the UCA but the moog ball joint installed in it. Moog also has a good rep for their products. If there is a defect in a batch of these produced it’s up to BDS and Moog to work them out and find out how many went out and send out replacements to those registered on 560plus.com with their UCA’s. Unfortunately they need to get a hold of the failed joint in order to analyze that. I was surprised the shop discarded it knowing it probably should have been sent back to BDS to look at. I’m also curious as to what other UCA’s use Moog for their ball joints that could have a potential issue.
Since I have this kit I contacted BDS directly and they got right back to me saying they are aware and looking into each incident but as I stated before they will need the failed part to know what happened. So for now I will just have the joint checked at each service.
Really sucks the OP is going through this...
Maybe have them send out another ball joint and give them the one that didn’t fail to be analyzed. Chances are they should be from the same batch and maybe they can at least analyze that one?

 

[SurfRebel20]

this sucks. I was and might still be looking into the 4” kit from BDS. But what uca to use? And is the any kits that use a dcs coilover on a 4” lift?

you can't do an aftermarket UCA with the bds 4in kit because its designed to keep the suspension geometry the same as factory by dropping everything. fox makes a 2-3in dcs coilover as well for our trucks. or you can have filthy motorsports get you a custom length set of king coilovers.

 

[FishOn]

I would agree that BDS is still good stuff and that these are probably fairly isolated incidents. BDS/Fox/Moog have all carried good names for many years and you don't get that reputation by building P.O.S. parts... Doesn't mean I'm not bummed, though. My intent was strictly to share my experiences, (and vent some of my frustrations since the wife doesn't want to hear it) not to slight any products or companies.

 

[FuriousDZ]

I would agree that BDS is still good stuff and that these are probably fairly isolated incidents. BDS/Fox/Moog have all carried good names for many years and you don't get that reputation by building P.O.S. parts... Doesn't mean I'm not bummed, though. My intent was strictly to share my experiences, (and vent some of my frustrations since the wife doesn't want to hear it) not to slight any products or companies.

Have you asked BDS if they would be willing to analyze the passenger side joint even though it did not fail? My thinking is if they can verify both joints came from the same batch (not sure if they need the failed arm anyway) and there is no structural or metallurgical defect that would at least line up with these were isolated and not an entire batch of joints that have been compromised and distributed which would justify a recall. Just trying to think of a way to at least get some closure out of this whole thing...

 

[FishOn]

Have you asked BDS if they would be willing to analyze the passenger side joint even though it did not fail? My thinking is if they can verify both joints came from the same batch (not sure if they need the failed arm anyway) and there is no structural or metallurgical defect that would at least line up with these were isolated and not an entire batch of joints that have been compromised and distributed which would justify a recall. Just trying to think of a way to at least get some closure out of this whole thing...

Since it's my daily driver, it's really not an option to pull the passenger side without having a replacement on hand. BDS has given me enough grief over the legitimate failure that I can only imagine what it would take to get a "loaner" BJ so they could analyze this one... And another $200 to pull/press the BJ? No thanks. This whole experience has taken the wind right out of my "sweet jacked up truck" sails that I waited 40yrs for. Good chance she goes up for sale this summer and I'll build something else without BDS. Talk about disheartening...

 

[FuriousDZ]

Since it's my daily driver, it's really not an option to pull the passenger side without having a replacement on hand. BDS has given me enough grief over the legitimate failure that I can only imagine what it would take to get a "loaner" BJ so they could analyze this one... And another $200 to pull/press the BJ? No thanks. This whole experience has taken the wind right out of my "sweet jacked up truck" sails that I waited 40yrs for. Good chance she goes up for sale this summer and I'll build something else without BDS. Talk about disheartening...

Sucks....sorry this has been such a bad experience