Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
Originally Posted By: Jimmy9190
Has anyone else had a strange problem like this with a bad ball joint but the steering appeared to be OK?
Just to answer that one question... I have had upper ball joints that seemed perfectly fine on the vehicle- couldn't find any play with pry-bar, no noticeable steering weirdness, etc. But when I did a complete front-end rebuild and replaced them "just because I was that far in there," they were COMPLETELY loose and sloppy when I got them out of the upper control arm. No surprise, the steering also tightened up and felt TONS better too, even though it seemed OK before. IMO it can be very hard to really find looseness when the joints are in the vehicle, just due to the weight of the steering knuckles and other parts- even when you jack it up to unload the suspension.
I took a vacation day from work today to fix my truck. I also had to get to the DMV to renew my registration. The first thing I did when I got back home was change the oil, it was time. Then I spent 30 minutes checking the u-joints and driveshaft very well, and found no problems at all there.
Pulling and rocking the front tires showed none of the signs of bad ball joints, wheel bearings or anything else. There was no play or slop in the tie rods either. So I removed the left front wheel, caliper, tie rod end and steering knuckle and found the factory upper ball joint was so shot I was amazed it was still on the truck. The boot came off while I was cutting the heads off the rivets that held it to the control arm and I saw that it was bone dry and had no grease at all in it. The ball joint was so loose I could move it almost by blowing on it and it had a lot of grinding and gritty noise in it when I pushed it up and around by hand. The right side was not quite as bad but it was also very loose, had very little grease left in it and had way too much play in it.
I replaced them both and it really was not too hard, the upper ball joints are a lot easier to get at and drill out the rivets than the lower ones. I reassembled everything and the test drive was perfect. There is no clunk or noise of any kind from the front end now, and that is whether moving in reverse or forward. The steering is tighter and more responsive and the truck is much better behaved when going over bumps in the road. It drives and steers like a new truck now.
I should have done the uppers at the same time I did the lowers back in January, but I thought they were OK. Maybe in January the uppers were still OK. I had read that the lowers take most of the abuse anyway. So, like you said it definitely is better to take everything apart to check ball joints. All 4 new ball joints are greaseable so I believe they will last a very long time.
Thanks everybody for all your help here. Maybe this thread will help someone else out with a similar problem.
