2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Ball Joints

[THess]

My front tires are both wearing on the outside. Can bad ball joints cause this? The mechanic at my local shop said that the upper and lower ball joints are worn out on the passenger side. How much is a good price for the parts and labor for this job?

 

[JFought]

i just had the dealer do mine!! $100 all four!! how cool is that!! (extended warranty)

mine was wearing the inside of the tire, and i talked them into doing all four. For once in their stupid life they fixed 2 joints that were completely shot!!

 

[THess]

That would be awesome, but my truck just went out of warranty(about 10 years ago). Did the joints correct your uneven tire wear?

 

[JFought]

so far yes only got about 300 miles on the new joints. but the constant wander laft and right at highway speed is almost gone!! now just gotta do the steering upgrade.

 

[guldam]

I just paid $375 labor to have my upper and lower balljoints done. I supplied Moog balljoints.

I got my ball joints from Rock Auto:

MOOG K8607T Ball Joint $ 56. 99 $ 0. 00 2 $ 113. 98
MOOG K80026 Ball Joint $ 37. 79 $ 0. 00 2 $ 75. 58

GulDam

 

[CBlack]

Paid $400 labor for upper and lowers.

I also supplied Moog parts.

 

[charlessmith]

THess didn't say whether he has a 2WD or 4WD truck. The numbers are different.



My recent experience was replacing the upper and lower ball joints on a '96 2WD 3500.



A real big caution here.



The '96 and '97 lower ball joints are ALMOST the same, the '97 is 0. 010" larger where it presses into the A-arm. The early part is 1. 981" - 1. 985" and the later part is 1. 996" - 1. 999" diameter. This picture shows the splined area that is a different size. The smaller size part will slip into the larger sized A-arm without a tight press fit, so watch for this.



And just because you have a '94 - '96 doesn't mean you need the smaller part. A few years ago I had a '96 2WD 2500 and the dealer repaired a worn lower ball joint ... by replacing the A-arm! They told me the ball joint was riveted in - and I didn't know any better and paid them lots of bucks. I'm sure this ended up with a truck that had an early size joint on one side and a late size joint on the other side. In my just-completed repair of my '96 3500, both sides needed the '97 size part, so evidently both lower A-arms had been replaced earlier. They don't call the Dodge places "Stealers" for nothing!



My recent repair was done by Enterprise Engine Performance and the ball joint labor was $280.



Watch your prices on the Moog joints, the later (larger) parts are almost twice the price of the early part.



I'm told that somewhere about 2000 or 2001 Dodge changed to bolt-in lower ball joints.



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[THess]

Thanks for all the replies. The truck's a 4wd.

 

[rabsyeeha]

I got a quote from a frined of $500 for both, all included. Checking on bringing my own parts. Is it out of the question doing them yourself then? Any info out there?

 

[TBartlett1]

Yes it can but typically worn ball-joints will cause wear on the inside of the tire because the top of the tire wants to lean inward due to the weight on the suspension.

Excessive toe-in will cause outer tire wear and also feathering of the tread.

Toe-in can be easily checked. Park the truck on a smooth level surface with the steering wheel in the position required for the vehicle to go straight. Take a fine point pen and put a mark the tread (front of tires) at the 9 o: clock position on the driver's side and the 3 O: clock position on the passenger side.

Have a helper hold the tape measure precisely on the mark while you read the distance to the other mark and record. Roll the truck until the marks are exactly opposite facing the rear of truck or until the tape measure can go from mark to mark without interference from the suspension and record.

The differences in readings are toe-in or toe-in out. The reading from the front of the tire should be slightly less than the rear.

Today the specifications are in degrees but I'm old school.

Specifications vary but 1/8 inch toe-in is a good place to start on rear wheel drive trucks with 16 inch wheels.

I usually start at 1/8 inch and test drive vehicle if it handles well no wandering then I lock it down.

Too much toe-in and the tires wear on the outside and feather, excessive toe-out will cause the truck to wander all over the place.

If you do make adjustments tighten one clamp first then roll the adjustment sleeve to align the tie-rods with each other so they do not bind. After locking the adjustments you should be able to roll the tube on the tie-rods.

 

[Schumacher]

How often do you rotate your tires? I rotate mine every 5k miles, it works for me. Although I do alot of u turns in parking lot when I'm delivering.