Ball joints.... what to look for

[roperteacher]

I did a search on Ball joints on here. Seems there has been some problems with premature failure on the 3rd gens. WHat are the symptoms, wobbling on the road? Vibrations? Noises? THanks!

 

[jchapin]

Two ways to "officially" inspect:



Standard time-honored technique:

Jack up front end of truck, slide a 6' tire iron or pole underneath tire and check for play by prying up and down.



Dodge-Chrysler tech manual:

Specialty guage that fits near the ball joint somewhere and measure the play distance.





I got rejected at a State Inspection last year. The guy used the standard technique and it's prolly the easiest way for you to check too.

 

[bombero]

Back in the 60=70's every car or pickup that went into Sears or some other tire dealer had worn out ball joints. Your bar way of checking is BS. There is a loaded way using a fealer gauge that will tell you if they are bad. But I dont want to hurt the local economy so what ever your grease monkey says it must be right.

 

[Tony T.]

Ball Joints

I checked mine last week after doing the oil an filter change, They checked out ok. You will know it for sure when there starting to get bad. I done the standard time.

 

[Bill Stockard]

Hey Tony,



Did Johnny T aka "Twine" check the ball joints for you?



Bill

 

[jchapin]

Back in the 60=70's every car or pickup that went into Sears or some other tire dealer had worn out ball joints. Your bar way of checking is BS. There is a loaded way using a fealer gauge that will tell you if they are bad. But I dont want to hurt the local economy so what ever your grease monkey says it must be right.

I gotta call you on this one, Bomb; this is the method I learned back in High School Autoshop... . yeah I know: Auto Shop. But we had one helluva teacher that we all trusted for good reasons. Anyway, I questioned the same last year when the mechanic used the bar method. So when I took to dealer for 2nd opinion and watched as they lifted and inspected with "official" gauge, the result was the same.



It's not surprising that somebody could fool an uneducated consumer that his/her BJ's were bad by prying up and down with the bar, your gonna have a little bit of play within spec. tolerances and I'm sure you can exagerate if you've got some talent.



Cheers.

 

[bombero]

When I said "loaded" I meant on the ground. The vehicle sould be sitting with the weight on the joints. I have sure been wrong before but I would love a DC tech to chime in how a dealer checks them.

 

[Tony T.]

Hey Tony,



Did Johnny T aka "Twine" check the ball joints for you?



Bill

You bet Bill! He said "Well it's only got 20K on it. An also he said to tell you an your wife "hello".

 

[RAMINSPEED]

With only 19K miles on it I had all 4 ball joints replaced. The tire shop used the pry bar to determine the problem. I can tell you that the truck and trailer tracks better now.

 

[buddys06]

I thought ball joints were covered under 3/36 warranty, am I wrong?

 

[RAMINSPEED]

I thought ball joints were covered under 3/36 warranty, am I wrong?

After the tire joint found the problem, I took my truck to the dealer and they fixed it even with the larger tires and wheels. No questions asked.