visual inspection of lower ball joint
- Thread starter slofizz
- Start date
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ok I figured you had to take the wheel off to make sure. Well today I had some extra time during lunch and I stopped into my local sears automotive and had them look at my suspension . They had the my suv for an hr and said "your suspension is tight" but you need two tires (which I already knew). I then asked him if he took the wheels off during the inspection and he said "no". Only good thing out of that was I wasn't charged, just wasted an hr.
mtbtim
Elite Member
[MENTION=102606]infamousRNR[/MENTION] and I did an inspection of our ball joints using the pry bar under the tire looking for play in the ball joint. We videoed it and it will be coming out soon.
We did a video of replacing the lower ball joints on my rig. If you go to 11:20 in the video, I have the ball joint out and I'm manipulating it looking for play. The ball joint felt smooth and had no detectable play.
Here's the video:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bfLvtEnX9qk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
We did a video of replacing the lower ball joints on my rig. If you go to 11:20 in the video, I have the ball joint out and I'm manipulating it looking for play. The ball joint felt smooth and had no detectable play.
Here's the video:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bfLvtEnX9qk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
mmml4
New member
DJF1953
Junior Member
If you find you need a ball joint, you may want to do what I did: replace all four as if one is bad, I'd bet all need attention as was my case. The lower ball joint are the expensive ones while the uppers are cheap. If you replace all four then you have peace of mind that you're starting fresh.
Penguin_Who_Laughs
New member
Thanks for this. Extremely helpful as I'd been having trouble visualizing just how much motion is too much. Seems to be pretty much any motion is bad lol.
oh wow, I sent you a comment on one of your videos that you responded to, i figured you guys were on this forum too.. nice work!
nevada
Senior Member
if its up on a rack and lifted correctly, the tires do not need to come off.
mtbtim
Elite Member
Ok Dudes, this is how [MENTION=102606]infamousRNR[/MENTION] and I inspected our balljoints for excessive play. I do think the method of getting the pry bar near the balljoint and applying force is probably better than our technique but here it is if you're interested.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rteeAOQlrKY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rteeAOQlrKY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
giovannie23
New member
Did you guys still have that same play after you replaced you bjs?
mtbtim
Elite Member
In the video, I see some movement, but I believe that was just the balljoint moving like it should. What we were looking for was up and down movement like the balljoint was separating and not rolling. When I took my balljoints out and clamped them in a vice, I pulled on the spindle and it felt tight. No play whatsoever. Out of curiosity, I cut one of the boots off and it still had plenty of grease.
I didn't bother doing the play test after installing the new balljoints. The way my balljoints looked, I'm guessing they probably could have gone another 100,000 miles unless I drove a ton of off-road and then maybe they would have deteriorated sooner.
battery1882
New member
got to check on mine..
