Lower ball joint leaking after lift!

UARandy3

UARandy3

New member
I just had my runner lifted over the weekend. When I was doing some trimming on Sunday evening and admiring the tires again (haha), I noticed my passenger side lower ball joint was leaking a little bit of grease. I wiped it off and didn't notice it Monday evening when I got home. Had alignment done yesterday and looked at the LBJ again last night, and there's more grease that leaked. :cry: Sad day.

Has this happened to anyone else? I'm sure w/ the angles being changed after the lift, and the 10 yr old parts, this shouldn't be a huge surprise. Should I just keep an eye on it for a few days and change it out if it keeps leaking and starts clunking? And if I have to replace it, should I just do the suspect one or both? The others look fine and aren't leaking, so I'd rather just replace the one since I've already spent over 2K on lift, tires, etc.

Any help or guidance is greatly appreciated!
 
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UARandy3 said:
I just had my runner lifted over the weekend. When I was doing some trimming on Sunday evening and admiring the tires again (haha), I noticed my passenger side lower ball joint was leaking a little bit of grease. I wiped it off and didn't notice it Monday evening when I got home. Had alignment done yesterday and looked at the LBJ again last night, and there's more grease that leaked. :cry: Sad day.

Has this happened to anyone else? I'm sure w/ the angles being changed after the lift, and the 10 yr old parts, this shouldn't be a huge surprise. Should I just keep an eye on it for a few days and change it out if it keeps leaking and starts clunking? And if I have to replace it, should I just do the suspect one or both? The others look fine and aren't leaking, so I'd rather just replace the one since I've already spent over 2K on lift, tires, etc.

Any help or guidance is greatly appreciated!
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Has not happened to me.
Sure there isn't a rip in the boot possibly?
 
Justin727 said:
Has not happened to me.
Sure there isn't a rip in the boot possibly?
Click to expand...

Possibly. Not sure though, as it was late last night when I thought to check it out. Regardless, if there's a rip in the boot, wouldn't I still have to replace it, as the grease will continue to leak and dry out the joint leading to failure?

I've never done ball joints before, but have been trying to do some research on it. It doesn't appear to be very difficult to change out the lowers if I need to......I don't want to take it to a shop for a seemingly simple task, as I got raped on my old car when I got it's ball joints replaced. The uppers look fine, so I would leave them alone since people have stated elsewhere that they are a PITA.

Any reccommendations on which ball joints to get? I've been seeing a lot of people getting the Moog joints bc they can be greased, unlike the OEM ones.
 
How much lift did you do? Are any of the webs on the boot touching each other? If you are at 2.5" or less, and none of the webs are touching, then I would say this is not due to the lift. Probably just normal wear and tear on the boot. However, if it is a higher lift, and several of the webs are touching, then I would replace the bad one with OEM, or both with the MOOG's, and then install a 1" diff drop kit to decrease the angle on the joints.
 
UARandy3 said:
Possibly. Not sure though, as it was late last night when I thought to check it out. Regardless, if there's a rip in the boot, wouldn't I still have to replace it, as the grease will continue to leak and dry out the joint leading to failure?

YES

I've never done ball joints before, but have been trying to do some research on it. It doesn't appear to be very difficult to change out the lowers if I need to......I don't want to take it to a shop for a seemingly simple task, as I got raped on my old car when I got it's ball joints replaced. The uppers look fine, so I would leave them alone since people have stated elsewhere that they are a PITA.

Any reccommendations on which ball joints to get? I've been seeing a lot of people getting the Moog joints bc they can be greased, unlike the OEM ones.
Click to expand...


go with Moog
 
Randy - Your truck's 2wd, what "boot" are you talking about replacing? Can you get a pic of what is leaking? The lower ball joint may just need to be replaced, it could have been bad before the lift and the sudden change made it visable... I know I never noticed my CV's leaking grease until after I lifted my truck, and I only noticed it then, because I was looking for it. A pic would be a great help.
 
kregg said:
Randy - Your truck's 2wd, what "boot" are you talking about replacing? Can you get a pic of what is leaking? The lower ball joint may just need to be replaced, it could have been bad before the lift and the sudden change made it visable... I know I never noticed my CV's leaking grease until after I lifted my truck, and I only noticed it then, because I was looking for it. A pic would be a great help.
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I'm talking about replacing the lower ball joint on my passenger side. Justin asked if there was a rip in the boot.....i'm assuming he meant the one surrounding the LBJ. Then manhunter brought up the diff drop to help CV angles, which I don't have since I'm 2wd.

I'm pretty sure I will just end up needing to replace the lower ball joint and will probably go ahead and do the driver's side while I'm at it. It's not making any noise yet or clunking like my old car did when it's bjs went bad. So I'm going to keep an eye on it since I won't be able to replace it until late next week or next weekend. I didn't drive it today bc my wife and I carpooled today, but I will try to get a pic of where it was leaking the grease.

For those that have done it, how difficult was it? Seems pretty straight forward. Anything I should be aware of or anything I may need?

Thanks guys!
 
Replace both of the ball joints because the other one is just as old, and you'll need to get it aligned after you do it. It would suck to do just one side, align it, then the other side goes in a month and you'll have to replce that one and get it aligned all over again.

The lower BJs are easy. No pressing in/out needed. It's just 4 bolts that hold it on. It took me 15 minutes per side. I would suggest looking over everything down there: inner and outer tie rod ends, steering rack bushings, and upper BJs too. If you're going to replace the lower BJs, it might be smart to just replace all that stuff at once, get it aligned, and be done with it for another 5-10+ years.
 
brian2sun said:
Replace both of the ball joints because the other one is just as old, and you'll need to get it aligned after you do it. It would suck to do just one side, align it, then the other side goes in a month and you'll have to replce that one and get it aligned all over again.

The lower BJs are easy. No pressing in/out needed. It's just 4 bolts that hold it on. It took me 15 minutes per side. I would suggest looking over everything down there: inner and outer tie rod ends, steering rack bushings, and upper BJs too. If you're going to replace the lower BJs, it might be smart to just replace all that stuff at once, get it aligned, and be done with it for another 5-10+ years.
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funny thing, the dealer took 3 days to replace the lower bj. they said it was fozen, but i wasnt sure if they were talking about the bolts or the joint itself. it drove fine witch leads me to believe it was the bolts
 
Honestly, it sounds like your dealer just got backed up and made a bullshit excuse assuming you wouldn't know any better. I just did mine recently and the lowers were cake. The uppers, on the other hand, suck to replace and took like 10xs as long for me.
 
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