Ive had 3 different places tell me my ball joints are fine. I bought this from a dealer who said he put new ball joints and axle seals on. After all my mods, the steering felt a little on the wandering side. I lube the ball joints and it is significantly better. Im greasing them about every 2k miles. My bet is on cheap *** ball joints. The dealer put in a new battery---it was Advance Auto's cheapest bargain basement battery. I couldn't leave the radio on 30 min w/o the car running or there weren't enough amps to start. Opinions??

 

Are the bottom ones able to take grease?

 

Used car dealers have to do a safety inspection on a car and repair any unsafe items, however they don't have to use OEM parts, as a matter of fact , most will use the least expensive parts they can purchase to get the vehicle to pass the safety inspection.

You should be able to go back to the dealer and ask for a copy of the safety inspection and repair order and see if they did the ball joints. But if you have been greasing the joints every 2k chances are your options are limited by time and use.

You don't say what state you are in or how long ago you bought the vehicle but you can contact your states B.A.R. And find out the process for recourse if the dealer is not cooperating.

All that said, cheap *** joints is a good bet.

 

Have you tightened your steering box?

 

Everything has been done on this truck--spring swap, RAS, radius rods, new steering gear--the ball joints both (u and l) take grease but I guess this may be at the root of my thinking. The lower, as was asked, will take grease. However it seems to flow mostly one side and I have to try to massage it around. Some grease pushes out of the dust boot but I am still having to try to move grease inside the boot around the ball joint which does not want to cooperate. I live in MT and bought it online in NE so dealer really wont be any help. I bought an extended warranty and Ball joints are covered but I want it done right, not twice. I have not had it aligned. From where I started with this last Nov (had 82K miles on it), its like 300% better (now 91K) Everybody says the ball joints Are good--if you go by the "there's no play in them" test. I'm wondering if they move much at all. When I got this X home, I did all fluid changes. When I went to grease the BJ's, each of the lowers took 10+ pumps on the grease gun to get the dust boot to puff up even a little like they installed them but didn't grease them. I think the majority of people would say it steers really well but I know something is still not right. Another thing I notice is it sTEERS better on the highway in 4WD. Guess I'm looking for validation of my suspicions

 

Drilling and tapping my stockers at 110k took care of the last 10% of my wandering issue. Redhead box was 75% of it

I had good shops say the lower ball joints were good by just doing the wiggle test. Mine were sticking causing the steering not to self center. Been great for 10k miles.

 

That's a good depiction of what I was thinking--sticking. What type ball joints did you use to replace the defective ones?

 

Mine are the ones it came with from new. I drilled and installed a grease fitting on the bottom. I rolled the dice and it made all the difference. Otherwise I'd had to have replaced them.

 

I just replaced mine with XFR units. The PO had paperwork where the tire shop had redone them soon before I purchased. One thing I heard on YouTube was making sure you torque correctly. The instructions that came with mine were very specific and I followed them. The old ones were VERY hard to swivel. After, it had a slight resistance, but was night and day. I had to put all my weight into it before to make them move. No slop indicating they were bad, but I can't see how being bound up was good. Just a thought.

 

Check the unit bearings

 

Try turning the wheel to full lock and then try greasing the ball joint. Typically ball joints will have slots in the side of the ball to help distribute the grease, maybe that will help distribute it. Can't hurt.