Ball Joints 09 Hoe/85K miles

[Tibo77]

Anyone else had any early wearing ball joints? Guy at tire shop said it's uppers, I'm trying to get in and get a second opinion but seemed a little low mileage (85K) for ball joints.

 

[NJ04HOE]

I recently changed mine @ 92k and they were shot. I did uppers,lowers & outer tie rods all of them were shot and probably should've been done around 85k or sooner


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[Tibo77]

I recently changed mine @ 92k and they were shot. I did uppers,lowers & outer tie rods all of them were shot and probably should've been done around 85k or sooner


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Hate to hear that, but at least it sounds like it's not all too odd for that to happen. I'm thinking along the same lines though, if I'm going to do uppers, I might as well rebuild as much of it as I can while it's down.

 

[Tibo77]

Second opinion on my ball joints. Some wear but not near enough to replace. Looks like the tire shop boys were wanting to make some extra cash.

 

[Wake]

These are heavy trucks and early wearing of the suspension components isn't uncommon.

UCAs are pretty easy, I just replace them as they're cheap and the UCA bushings are usually shot/cracked at that mileage anyway. I rebuilt my entire front suspension at 70K miles, right after I bought it because while it passes inspection it wasn't tight. Now it steers like a brand new vehicle.

 

[fiatdale]

Not odd for them to be worn out at that mileage.

 

[Nortex]

We see 2-3 a week at our shop.

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[sumo]

My lowers Started Creeking when turing the wheels. They were still tight. I went out to the local napa and picked up a Grease needle attachment, Stabbed the boot and greased the hell out of them. I put a little RVT silicone where i made the puncture. Worked the wheel back and forth, No more sound. I have a set of Moog Joints to install, but why bother if the old ones are still good for now?

 

[CrashTestDummy]

So I'm seeing the availability of complete control arm assemblies as replacements. While they're not cheap, going this way would cost about $700, it might be nice to have a spare set of arms that I can replace the bushings and ball joints on at my leisure, and not _having_ go get it all done in a weekend.

Has anyone gone this route? If not, how tough is it to replace the ball joints-only?

 

[sumo]

Hard if you don't hate the right equipment. You'd need a press or air impact with some ball joint attachments. Seperating the ball joints on the ground is a pain in the ass.
I seperated mine by using a BFH at the point where he joint goes into the knuckle. But since you're replacing you could use a pickle fork since you don't have to worry about destroying the boot. Also if you have 4wd, the axle got to be removed so you have room to remove the boot.
if you repalce control arms, you're most likely going to need an alignment after you're done. The new bushings are tighter and might throw off the alignment angles