Def stick with the AE ones.. I believe there has been a running change... years ago many were turned away from them with the issues of them popping off easy but not any more...

Like bob said u can drill a hole in them so u can unscrew the stud with out popping off the tie rod.. but i would only do that on certian ones.. no need to do that on all.. If u want to do this i would just do it on the front and rear inner camber cups.. which they are the most adjusted with washers..

But with the hole in the cup u will get dirt between the cup and stud and it will wear faster and bind..

RPM cups might have a tighter pop but the bind and bend BAD!

Had my car for 3 months, never had an AE stock one pop off.

I wish I could get my hands on some of the white ones that losi used to have back in about 02-03...those were hands down the best ballcups I've ever used.

Ive had a couple break, but not pop off.

How will that stop them from popping off?

99% of the time they pop off because they have been "opened" up a bit from popping them off and on to make changes. If you never pop them off, they will last longer. I forget who it was, maybe Hara, said if a ball cup pops off twice, it goes in the trash. Think he was one of the guys who drilled the holes in there too.

fwiw, I had don't remember 1 single ball cup pop off with this method. I was using the RPM, but switched when I saw the way the threads were jumping.

Oh and TK, Schumacher ball cups > everything else. when they went on... they weren't coming off unless you had 4 racers, 2 midgits two pairs of vice grips and some duct tape.

The lunsford ends are stronger than ae ones but not as strong as rpm, so your not bending or binding. I would like to see some white ends. That would be so cash.

Schuie ballgrippas hands down... the cost is another thing tho.

In offroad i just stick to the AE cups. The last thing i bought from RPM was a front bumper for my Tc3...

Only time I ever have issue with AE ball cups is when its really cold out. Then they break. But all the plastic gets brittle then. I have RPM ones on my buggy right now because the last race I ran it was really cold out. If your ball cups are popping off its time to replace them because they are stretched out too much like has already been said. Same thing if they are jumping threads. Time to replace them. Has nothing to do with what brand they are. AE or RPM will do the same thing after a period of time. They see a lot of movement and wear, just like hinge pins and arms. I always keep enough to replace them all if needed. Heck they are only a few bucks for enough to do the whole car.

you only ever had to buy 1 set

Not sure I want anything called ballgrippas near my tool, uh.... box....

I will admit that the FT tie rods that come in the kit are too short. That allows the tie rods to be able to move inward on a bad roll over crash, or a bad pipe slam. That's why I ALWAYS run lunsford tie rods that are 2 1/4" for the all the cambered areas, and 2 3/8" for the steering. Lunsford's are a little beefier, so therefore they are a tighter fit in the ball cups. And having the lengths that I mentioned, it allows the tie rod to "bury" itself into the ball cups and create more strenth to maintain your alignment angles in crashes. Also, if you use the newest "black" ball studs (or the trick gold nitrated ones) through out the car, they have a little larger ball head on them (then the chrome ones) that makes the stock ball cups a tighter fit as well.

Lunsford guy here too, never had a problem with them pulling out of the ball cups, RPM or otherwise. Good info on the TiNi and black ball studs being slightly larger diameter, is that due to the coating or is the ball made physically larger now. Thanks, the shopping list just got a little longer

i just installed aluminum 0* hubs and just wondering if everyone else had a lot of slop..more than normal i believe

I actually had one on the rear Hub slit in 2,never had that happen before

I've actually had that happen twice.

As for the aluminum hub carrier, if you do the set screw mod on it they tighten right up. That's drilling and tapping a hole for a set screw to clamp down on the hinge pin and force the hinge pin to rotate in the arm.