Upper amd lower ball joints

[Souders]

I had the tires on my 2006 4x4 rotated yesterday, it has low mileage 29K. I was told the upper and lower joints are bad. Has there been a problem with them being bad with only this low mileage ?. My 99 4x4 had 150K and did not have a problem.

 

[Prairie Dog]

Some guys have reported them bad by 4k while others, like me, have 70k with no problems (just checked mine).

 

[ENafziger]

The problem (or one of them) is that "bad" is kinda relative. The dodge spec is very loose for allowable play, and many shops will diagnose a bad joint even though it's within what dodge considers to be design spec.

Ball joints in general are a common weak point on these trucks. The once-and-for-all fix is Carli.

--Eric

 

[JoshuaCummins]

Eric has a great point... I've had a couple of shops (alignment, general) tell me that mine are worn and need replaced, but they all seem to have different degrees of concern regarding how bad they really are. Alignment shop pros said they're getting worn, but nothing that will fail immediately. Dodge said one upper was getting worn. Another shop said all 4 are shot and need replaced.
Just hit 80K this week, all original ball joints. I'll be fixing with Carli sometime this winter.

 

[MMeier]

I had the tires on my 2006 4x4 rotated yesterday, it has low mileage 29K. I was told the upper and lower joints are bad. Has there been a problem with them being bad with only this low mileage ?. My 99 4x4 had 150K and did not have a problem.

Whichever route you go with replacements do not, and I repeat, DO NOT, go with adjustable uppers. Maybe the Carli ones are better, but with my experience with adjustable uppers, they do not hold their setting in a heavy CTD.

 

[rscurtis]

Not that it matters to the discussion at hand, but keep in mind that the upper is not a ball joint, it is a pin that is free to move vertically. When you have in and out movement at the top of the wheel, the uppers are history.

 

[S.Morris]

IIRCC uppers are allowed by factory spec . 06 vet and . 09 horizontal play as a maximum serviceable limit?



Steve

 

[rscurtis]

That spec. could be good for horizontal movement, but the vertical movement is determined by the condition of the lower ball joint. New uppers right out of the box have over 1/4" of vertical travel.

 

[JCockerill]

any play to me means the joint is shot. my uppers were clucking over bumps and were sloppy. i changed my stockers out at 53K with dynatrac prosteers. real nice, and they haven't had any problems like the carli's have. I wanted to get the carli's but with so many going bad i didnt want to take a chance of doing this pain in the *** job twice. the dynatacs are 200 cheaper and last 4 times longer than stock and are rebuildable. no reported problems in the feild as of yet either. It was an easy sell for me! i have plenty of carli parts on the truck and i love them, they just don't seem to have all the bugs out of the joints yet. couldn't take the chance of being a geinea pig.

 

[AlaskanCummins]

I second JCockerill - I'm running a full set of Dynatracs now due to being a guinea pig and just simply don't have confidence in the Carli lowers at this time. Maybe, after a couple of years and watching the board with members' experiences, I'll change my mind.



And, to be frank (and clear) having my truck's front end apart 4 times over the last 6 months costing way over 1K dollars in labor (even though Carli paid 225 for one tear down) I find is unacceptable.



So, I believe the Dynatracs are field proven and an excellent option.

 

[brods]

Per the 05 FSM

4x4 upper ball joints 0. 060" total in and out. No up/down spec.

4x4 lowers 0. 090" total up and down. No in/out spec.

I had the tires on my 2006 4x4 rotated yesterday, it has low mileage 29K. I was told the upper and lower joints are bad. Has there been a problem with them being bad with only this low mileage ?. My 99 4x4 had 150K and did not have a problem.

Do you have any reason to believe they are bad (other than the shop’s recommendations)? If not you might want to follow jelag’s lead and not worry about them until you have uneven tire wear or other noticeable signs they are bad.



Like Jcockerill, I have a hard time with any slop let alone the huge amount AAM allows. I saw the slop when installing a freespin kit (which for any other ball joints would mean the were done) and didn’t even bother to measure the play before replacing them. To do over again I would probably leave the stock ones in until they measured bad or caused noticeable issues, which ever came first. Its still hard to accept that it is ok for the lower ball joint to drop down almost 3/32nds of an inch and then get hammered into its seat when going over potholed roads... ... .



If you do decide to replace them, avoid moog lower ball joints. Many have had wandering issues after installing them, myself included. XRF lower joints solved the problem on my truck. Once out of the truck the moogs did not move smoothly and felt “notchy” as others have described.

 

[ddivinia]

I am getting all new ball joints - 89K miles.



D.