Am I neglecting these ball joints?

[BeanCounter]

Originally Posted By: rationull

How bad would it be to let my wife tow without doing anything about the upper ball joint pictured above?


On an upper ball joint? If it isn't worn plum out I'd pop fresh grease into it and go on.

 

[rationull]

Originally Posted By: bigmike
Have you cleaned the ball joint off and checked it? Maybe I missed that if you mentioned it.


Originally Posted By: BeanCounter
Gunk around the ball joint doesn't mean it is in bad shape if there is decent grease inside the boot, though.


Thanks. The indentation on the boot visible in the photo above really looked like a tear but after reading these posts I went out this morning and cleaned the grease off and -- it's just an indentation, not a tear.

Now I feel like a jerk. I'm just glad I didn't call the shop back about it

So I guess all's well for now. Time to get some more quotes on replacing the lower joints.

 

[bigmike]

Not a big deal. I'd grease them though if they haven't been done in awhile. I use Valvoline SynPower with Moly in mine. It's working great and it made some noises go away as well.

 

[Chris142]

Originally Posted By: rationull
He did say that both lower ball joints (load bearing ones) have about 200 thousandths of play in them

Thats nearly 1/4 inch of play in them! I'd replace those now before one breaks and sends your wife carreening into oncoming traffic.

 

[mechtech2]

200 thou of play? Uhhh.... that's a lot!
Replace them ASAP. They can pop out of the socket while driving and throw you into an oncoming lane.
Another way of looking at is it since you are going to have to replace them anyway, do it now .
See about a better price somewhere.

You gotta suck it up and do this maintenance, in other words.

 

[rationull]

Forgive my ignorance but since they're load bearing, wouldn't the wheel basically have to catch air for the ball to pop out of the socket?

 

[BeanCounter]

Originally Posted By: Chris142
Originally Posted By: rationull
He did say that both lower ball joints (load bearing ones) have about 200 thousandths of play in them

Thats nearly 1/4 inch of play in them! I'd replace those now before one breaks and sends your wife carreening into oncoming traffic.


Maybe I am having a brain [censored], but how is two hundred thousandths = to 1/4"?

 

[BeanCounter]

Originally Posted By: rationull
Forgive my ignorance but since they're load bearing, wouldn't the wheel basically have to catch air for the ball to pop out of the socket?


I think it revolves more around the idea that the ball joint could come apart/break and the wheel would would have virtually no support for its share of the weight of the vehicle.

 

[d00df00d]

Originally Posted By: BeanCounter
Originally Posted By: Chris142
Originally Posted By: rationull
He did say that both lower ball joints (load bearing ones) have about 200 thousandths of play in them

Thats nearly 1/4 inch of play in them! I'd replace those now before one breaks and sends your wife carreening into oncoming traffic.


Maybe I am having a brain [censored], but how is two hundred thousandths = to 1/4"?

200 thousandths = 200 x (1/1000) = 1/5.

 

[Chris142]

.200 is only .050 less than 1/4 inch.

 

[BeanCounter]

Originally Posted By: d00df00d
Maybe I am having a brain [censored], but how is two hundred thousandths = to 1/4"? [/quote

200 thousandths = 200 x (1/1000) = 1/5.


If that's what he means, then I am on the same page.
It would be better to write it as 200/1000 though.

There is such thing as .00002

Which would lead me to my next question:
Where did some random shop get such accurate equipment?

 

[johnd]

.200=200/1000 (also .2=2/10 & 1/5)

 

[bigmike]

Originally Posted By: BeanCounter


If that's what he means, then I am on the same page.
It would be better to write it as 200/1000 though.

There is such thing as .00002

Which would lead me to my next question:
Where did some random shop get such accurate equipment?


My question as well. I'm wondering if greasing them would help the play at all? In fact, I'm wondering wth the shop did other than give a large price estimate.

 

[rationull]

Originally Posted By: bigmike
In fact, I'm wondering wth the shop did other than give a large price estimate.


Nothing, but they weren't really supposed to. I basically took it in asking about the upper joint I thought was leaking, and asked them to check all the ball joints. They found the play, reported it to me, and gave me a quote to fix it.

To clarify, we are indeed talking about 0.200 (on one side, and 0.180 on the other) inches of play, so yes, a lot. The spec allows up to 0.125 inches from what I've read.

The outlying part of the quote seems to be the labor rate. I called another shop and they quoted $430 including ~2 hrs of labor rather than 4.5 hrs, which sounds more reasonable to me. I'm going to call the original shop back today and see why they estimated so much.

 

[onion]

4.5 hours is not unreasonable at all for that job.

 

[mechtech2]

"catching air' is a very good way to cause a separation.
But all sorts of conditions like potholes, turns, hard braking, etc can cause this very loose joint to separate.