Bad Ball Joint or What?
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Mountain Pass
Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 206
Likes: 7
From: Newcastle, CA
Bad Ball Joint or What?
Recently I had started to notice I was getting weird tire wear on my front tires. So I jacked up the front driver side and did the wiggle test. All was fine on the driver side. Then the passenger side. The bottom ball joint had failed. There was a massive amount of wiggle. So. I bought some OEM ball joints, upper and lower, and got to work. Everything came apart fine, went back together fine as well. I did pre-torque the bottom to 35 lb/ft and then re-torqued to 150 lb/ft. The top went to 40 lb/ft then to 69 lb/ft. After I got everything back together, I took it for a drive. Its horrible. Its diving all over the place, binding up, wandering. What's the hive mind think? Did I do some thing stupid or just a bad ball joint? Thanks in advance.
Lead Driver
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 5,790
Likes: 449
Recently I had started to notice I was getting weird tire wear on my front tires. So I jacked up the front driver side and did the wiggle test. All was fine on the driver side. Then the passenger side. The bottom ball joint had failed. There was a massive amount of wiggle. So. I bought some OEM ball joints, upper and lower, and got to work. Everything came apart fine, went back together fine as well. I did pre-torque the bottom to 35 lb/ft and then re-torqued to 150 lb/ft. The top went to 40 lb/ft then to 69 lb/ft. After I got everything back together, I took it for a drive. Its horrible. Its diving all over the place, binding up, wandering. What's the hive mind think? Did I do some thing stupid or just a bad ball joint? Thanks in advance.
Your tires are worn to mate the road the way the old ball joints made them sit, even with everything perfect, there will be a break in period for the tire wear. It's best to put the rear tires up front and the fronts out back for this period of time.
You need an alignment after ball joints and/or tie rod replacement.
Laughing Gas
Joined: Dec 2019
Posts: 896
Likes: 256
From: San Diego, CA
After installing the ball joints and knuckle back into the axle, did you rotate by hand to feel the resistance? Oftentimes you'll need to tap with a hammer to seat them correctly. That being said, driving on them with weight should do the trick.
I agree, the alignment may have been set with the worn ball joints and now is thrown back off. If I were you, I'd jack up the front, put the key into ON and see if you can rotate the tires with your hands and see how it feels. Also rotate tires to make sure there's no binding or issues with the front drive axle and hub.
I agree, the alignment may have been set with the worn ball joints and now is thrown back off. If I were you, I'd jack up the front, put the key into ON and see if you can rotate the tires with your hands and see how it feels. Also rotate tires to make sure there's no binding or issues with the front drive axle and hub.
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Mountain Pass
Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 206
Likes: 7
From: Newcastle, CA
I took everything back apart yesterday. I can barely turn the knuckle lock to lock by hand. It's that tight. Even after driving it for about 50 miles. I tried taking the steering linkage so it was just the knuckle and axle shaft. Still super tight. I took the axle shaft back out to make sure it's not the u-joint, and it's still ridiculously tight. I think I got a bad ball joint.
5th Wheeling
Joined: Apr 2024
Posts: 25
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I took everything back apart yesterday. I can barely turn the knuckle lock to lock by hand. It's that tight. Even after driving it for about 50 miles. I tried taking the steering linkage so it was just the knuckle and axle shaft. Still super tight. I took the axle shaft back out to make sure it's not the u-joint, and it's still ridiculously tight. I think I got a bad ball joint.
Thread Starter
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Mountain Pass
Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 206
Likes: 7
From: Newcastle, CA
So after much research, I think I made a mistake in torque sequence for the lower ball joint causing it to want to be pulled out of the top of the cup causing it to bind, and crushing the top ball joint into the bottom of the cup causing it to bind. Thanks everyone!
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Fastolds
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