ball joint play video how bad is it?

[4x4run4x4fun]

I agree that the ball joint is hard to determine when it will fail by shaking it. Mine did not move the weekend before and it did this on Monday morning on my way to work. I wish I could have determined it was bad on Saturday afternoon it might not cost so much to repair all the other associated stuff. A plan could have been put in place to replace. Not the reaction to the supprise.. (if you see the tree in the back ground I luckily missed) this was a wild and scary 40 mph ride. I never want to again. Two weeks before I was doing a trail out side of Ouray CO. The failure there could have been a lot more tragic. This failure was on flat ground. I read to check there's out in the forms that's why I was looking at that time. Oops I must it I guess...

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[BrianSD_42]

Mine did not move the weekend before and it did this on Monday morning on my way to work

Stories like this lead me to push advice of replacing them:
* Every ten years
* Or 100K miles
* Always OEM for this one part
* And test fairly often if lifted

.

 

[4runnerfiend]

Am I the only one that thinks the video looks not bad? IMO the crowbar test is actually not that great of a way of determining the condition of the LBJs unless it's realllly bad. I believe the factory spec allows for something tiny like 1mm of play which is very difficult to observe by eye. It's a good method if you are using a special dial caliper to measure.

From now on I'll by doing not only the crowbar test, but also unbolting the large main bolt (maybe every few years) to feel how loose the joint is. There should be a fair amount of resistance when you try to move the ball & stud.

yeah that is what I thought at first... I was really cranking on that crowbar also.
Either way I have no service history on them and the boots are cracked leaving me to believe it has been a long time.

Either way parts are on order for this week hopefully!

 

[nevada]

Am I the only one that thinks the video looks not bad? IMO the crowbar test is actually not that great of a way of determining the condition of the LBJs unless it's realllly bad. I believe the factory spec allows for something tiny like 1mm of play which is very difficult to observe by eye. It's a good method if you are using a special dial caliper to measure.

From now on I'll by doing not only the crowbar test, but also unbolting the large main bolt (maybe every few years) to feel how loose the joint is. There should be a fair amount of resistance when you try to move the ball & stud.

ive watched it several times, its hard to tell. im not sure if I am seeing any movement in the joint itself. it looks like it because there tire is moving up far enough to actually cycle the suspension, then the stud on the ball-joint is swinging in/out. this is normal movement, and happens when the suspension goes up/down.

however, this is such a bad design, and failure ends up being very severe, if you even THINK about the ball-joints its probably time to change them lol.

 

[phattyduck]

From now on I'll by doing not only the crowbar test, but also unbolting the large main bolt (maybe every few years) to feel how loose the joint is. There should be a fair amount of resistance when you try to move the ball & stud.

DON'T DO THAT. The torque spec is for the first tightening of the nut onto the stud. Each subsequent time you put it on there, you can apply too much load to the ball joint stud, increasing your chance for a failure (one of the failure modes is the stud breaking). If anything, remove the 4 bolts, as they aren't considered one-time fasteners.

If you are concerned, do the FSM test. (truck off ground, prying, test deflection with dial indicator). 30kgf/66lbs of force should be less than 0.5mm/0.020in deflection. Basically, if there is ANY free play, the ball joints should be replaced.

-Charlie