Lets talk ball joints

[Tony_SS]

The tire shop who installed the tires told me my upper ball joints were bad.... I told them to show me.. and the guy grabbed the wheel and shook it.. there was some very very slight play.. it didn't look bad to me but what do I know?

What do you all think... do I need these? They do look to be original, 177k riveted in place.

 

[bluex]

Go get a second opinion at another shop. If they are riveted in they are original. I described how I replaced then in my rcx tips thread.

Mine were original an completely wasted at 250k+ so they could be fine, but if your truck has run large tires or crank then they could be worn more.

 

[JollyGreen]

What Paul said. Mine were getting close @ 154k and it was driven by an older man its whole life with no crank and stock tires. It also depends on the roads it was driven on too.

Sent from my DEERE powered Droid

 

[dirtridinz71]

Jack the front end up of your truck, have a friend with a pry bar under the tire lift up and watch the upper balljoint for movement. There is a certain tolerance of play for them, but IMO with any amount of visual play its time to be replaced!

 

[91Bluestreak]

^^^what he said, you'll have a much better front end if you replace them. Otherwise they will just get worst.

 

[oohunter04oo]

Jack the front end up of your truck, have a friend with a pry bar under the tire lift up and watch the upper balljoint for movement. There is a certain tolerance of play for them, but IMO with any amount of visual play its time to be replaced!

Do this. But jack the truck up from the lower control arm. This will make the angles close to the same that they are at normal ride height. This is the correct way to check balljoint slack.

 

[Snotrocket]

If he was wiggling the tire by hand and saw movement they're probably shot. Using a pry bar with the tire off the ground will put more stress on them and that is the proper way to check them.

Living in Maine and our ty bumpy roads I have replaced many a ball joint.

Moog used to be the #1 as far as a quality ball joint goes, but Napa has a new design out that in my opinion is more durable.

 

[jps4jeep]

I replaced my original BJ at 175K with top of the line Moogs, did all 4 and ony got about 25K miles out of the lowers before they were junk. uppers were still solid.
as mentioned, factorys will be riveted, replaced will be bolted. if they are bolted, your looking at about 45 minutes (and 3 beers) per side to replace.

New Ball joints are cheap insurance if you do not know how old they are.

disclaimer if they are riveted, time to do the job will all depend on your your air hammer, my snap-on air hammer will knock the rivit heads off and punch them out in about 3 minutes flat per side, a cheap Cambell Hausfield type air hammer wil be about 10 minutes per rivet, but will eventually get it done.

 

[91Bluestreak]

and if your balljoints get bad enought those rivets will fight you all day and you'll have to drill them out. Trust me I know I beat the crap out of mine and had to drill 3/4 of the way threw the rivets to get them to finally break loose. (they had 220k on them) Driver side are still tight and orignal.

 

[DRAGGIN95]

I would bet with that kind of mileage that they need replaced, and like already mentioned I would use Moog!