2003 2500 4x4....Ball Joints?

[Turbo Kidd]

Quick questions:



1. ) How many miles did you get on your factory ball joints?



2. ) Reccomendations for replacements and cost for parts?



3. ) What signs did you have that you noticed your ball joints were going bad?



Any info. would be most appreciated.



Thanks!

 

[Amish Elegance]

1. 31k miles and fading, just startin to get sloppy. Gonna try and squeak one in on DC before I have to do em on my own.



2. Napa has em. I keep waiting for real HD ones, but so far none out there. I'd get some greasable ones, someone will chime in with part numbers shortly. If not use Search Function. Seems to be around $140 U+L a side if I remember correctly.



3. Try and catch it before you see it doing funny stuff to your tires, cupping, uneven wear, ect. Really bad ones can loosen up your steering some, too. I jack the front end up by the axle with the wheels a couple inches off the ground then use a pry bar under the tire to move the tire up and down. If there's significant movement at the joint, get yer butter; they're probably toast.



I've got a lifted S-10 blazer that eats balljoints. When it was my daily driver, I got so good at changin em I could do a side in 45 min! Not lookin fwd to learnin the tricks of this truck.

 

[2Gen3Gen]

my patriot blue 04 got 6,000 on the first set. Then needed another at 13k. Traded the truck in on a 04. 5 and it went 15k with no problem. I think it is a 03-04 problem

 

[RDyson]

Mine were bad at 24K. Did not notice any handling problems but found them bad when rotating my tires and did the pry bar thing. Got them changed under warranty. Have 70K now and they are bad again.

How hard are they to change? I know you need a tool to pull them. I'd like to do this myself. I figure the cost of the tool will be less than the labor.

 

[SKing]

102,000 miles and still going :-laf

 

[DPKetchum]

Mine has no miles on it really 21k BUT I have a neighber whom went 154k on a 03 4x4 with no issues and a 05 with 88k no issues and another 03 with 141k(2wd) no issues.

 

[jwilliams3]

Its not just an 03 04 problem. The 04. 5's and up have the same ball joints!



I had mine replaced at 22k.



MOOG makes a top joint and there are several who make a lower.

 

[mr.wilson]

1) Mine went out around 90K on my '03.



2) If you are a do it yourselfer then the best way is to contact the folks at www.quad4x4.com they have the best prices of anyone on replacement parts. They were half the price of the dealer or any of the other parts houses in town. They send you instrustions and tips for doing it your self. Also if you want to spend the money they sell the tool to remove and install the ball joints. I however did not want to spend the money so I made my own press out of a couple of pieces of 3/4x4 flat iron about 8" long. Torched a couple of holes for some 3/4" all-thread and a larger hole for the ball joints to press through. It took most of the weekend to do only because of the amount of tear down to get to the ball joints. :{



PS have a 3/4" drive break over bar to help get the large drive axle nut off when removing the hub.



3) The first sign of ball joint wear was the cupping of the tires, above that I did notice at slow speeds that I could hear a metal to metal chattering in the front end as I rolled down the road.



Hope this helps.

 

[LDM]

You really don't need to take the axle nut off. Just pull the complete assembly off and you don't risk the chance of the wheel bearings separating.

According to some if it separates it needs replaced, however I separated mine, greased them and they work fine with no more bearing noise.

 

[JSchutz]

184,000 and still good. Truck is stock. Jeff

 

[jwilliams3]

Did you check them?

 

[JSchutz]

"184,000 and still good. Truck is stock. Jeff"



Maybe I posted too quickly. Let's say they are good as far as I know. I'm a vet--if it bleeds I can fix it but I wouldn't know a ball joint if you handed it to me. Sounds like something I would disconect if I were castrating my truck.



The truck tracks straight, drives like new, and wears tires perfectly at 80# inflation. Tire guy says I'm wasting my time rotating them they wear so evenly. I've read posts of people aghast at having a tiny bit of play in the joints with the front end jacked up off the ground. This doesn't concerned me--should it, and what's the significance? Jeff

 

[RTillery]

I've got questions on this too. My truck has 105,000 on it and I just drove from Chicago to Denver yesterday. 1100 miles in 16 hours! Truck drove great, straight and true, was an easy drive.



I jacked up my front end at 35,000 after reading all the bad joints on here. I put a dial indicator/mag base on and I could get . 025" to . 029" vertical movement and I thought it was excessive. Took it to a 5 star dealer here in Denver and they said it was within specs, yeah right.



Well, I rotated my tires again at 100,000 and did the dial indicator check and it it virtually the same as at 35,000. Both sides are under . 030" verticle movement and I really can't measure any slop horizontal.



I was not comfortable with the vertical movement, but the proof is in the pudding. Tire wear in near perfect, truck goes down the road straight, and the clearance in the joints has not changed.



I did get a pulling to the right about 10,000 miles ago and I started to get suspicious. I checked treadwear on the Nittos and everything was pretty even. I reversed the front two tires and the truck started going down the road like it is on rails. I think alot of suspected ball joint trouble in these trucks is actually tires. Don't forget shocks too. I replaced the stock ones with Bilstiens at around 40k and I could play one of the front ones like an accordian. One of the rear shocks was almost gone too. They are crap and the Bilstiens just make the truck feel new again. They have felt great for 60k. Big tires and straight axles can work well but they can also be problematic.



All that said, I plan on keeping this truck for a few more hundred thousand miles and at some point I will probably just rebuild the whole front end just to keep it driving nice.



So the question is, how have you guys determined that your ball joints are bad?

 

[jwilliams3]

I jacked mine up and use a pry bar under the tire.

We got the bad one off and I could almost pull the bad ball out of the joint!! :--)

 

[CKruse]

Checked mine today as I finished up doing front and rear shocks. At nearly 37,000 mine have no movement. I guess I may have gotten a good set. Just replaced the factory Michelins which had nice even wear. Put a set of Bridgestone Dueler Revo on. Really like the tires so far. The Michelins would have went about another 3-5K, but we're pulling the TT out west next weekend for a big trip. I didn't want to be driving back on marginal tires! CKruse

 

[ACF]

Jschultz

Wow 184K on an 03! What problems have you had? And how do you use your truck?

 

[JSchutz]

"Wow 184K on an 03! What problems have you had? And how do you use your truck?"



I've got a vet box bolted in the bed full of drugs/tools (total vehicle ~9000#)and drive it 6-7 days/week. Occaisionally tow a two horse trailer. Almost no problems at all. One wheel bearing, rear u-joints, throttle position sensor. Most reliable vehicle I've ever owned. The exact opposite of my '01 Duramax. Jeff

 

[DPKetchum]

Know of several kinda high mileage. One 03 traded in a year ago with 154k and NO repairs,no alignments,no brakes ONE set of tires and a updated alt. bracket and maintance. Same owner has 89k on a 05 JUST NOW replacing tires,(RWL GENERALS)and replacing with same tire. One belt,one pully(unde 5k) and updated door moldings other then maintance. Another 03 2wd with about 150k and ONE set of tires. One set of front brake pads BUT factorys wern't shot! regular maintance kinda. FIRST trans service,diff service at 90k plus. One fuel filter he rolled some 30 odd k. Rest have been at 15k. NONE of these trucks have EVERY had any thing in the fuel tanks BUT FUEL. None ever got aligned and the 03 2wd on the FIRST set of tires only got rotated TWICE in 90k or so.

 

[ECappleman]

Anybody try the Moog adjustable ones?

 

[navyramman]

Bad ball joints today, This is the 2nd time, 60,000 miles on my truck.

285 tires, just put new shocks on it last week. Yes, the good one's