Dial indicator on ball joint, acceptable movement?

[RTillery]

Just did my 30,000 mi service and while rotating the tires I decided to check the ball joints. Been hearing about pre-mature wear. I lifted up the spindles and could see a fair amount of vertical movement. I set my mag base on the top of the ball joint and the indicator on the top of the rotor. Lifted up with a small bar and got a consistant . 028" on the drivers side. . 024" on the passenger side. Seems like too much to me. Does anyone actually have a spec on allowable movement? I have recently noticed a slight drift to the right.

 

[rbattelle]

An excellent question!! Don't know if you realize it, but you carried out the exact procedure outlined in the factory service manual for checking the ball joints. I am genuinely impressed, because I doubt I would have thought of it on my own.



Anyway, the factory specification is 0. 020", so your joints are BAD.



-Ryan

P. S. - with regard to the quote in your signature, The Outlaw Josey Wales is my favorite western of all time. On various other forums I go by the user name "Grey Rider" specifically because of that movie.