Bad Ball Joints/ Would I notice?

[Lockedhearts]

Took Blue for alignment today and was told we have bad upper and lower ball joints on the left. Was wondering if I would have noticed any "symptoms" ? I was just a little shocked, thinking I had one amount for alignment and get a call saying $400.00 for ball joints. I didn't have them done yet, wanted to get some input from everyone here first. Also, I could have sworn that I had the ball joints replaced less than a year ago, my regular mechanic did it, I think. I plan to call him tomorrow and have him check my records.
Sorry if I sound too much like a girl here, but this is something I know nothing about.

 

[Russ]

I just replaced the ones in my 350. I was having some bad tire wear(feather edging of the tread) Not sure if the wear was from the bad joints or just out of alignment. I had one really bad upper, and one so so upper. But changed all 4 while I was there.

 

[Lockedhearts]

How hard are they to change? My dad is coming up in a couple weeks, maybe I could hold off and get him to help me. Qould get hubby but I hate taking up all weekend for stuff. I plan to take a few days off when my parents are here and Daddy would do about anything for me
No matter how old I get I'll always be his baby ;p
Seriously are they really hard to change? I noticed on the estimate, most of the cost was labor.

 

[RLDSL]

Ball joints can be a major pain in the hind end to replace if they've been in there a good ling time. If they were done last year , there's no way you need new ones now, unless you've been playing Dukes of Hazzard with the thing
If the ball joints were bad you should be feeling the thing wandering around on the road a bit and some funky tire wear, possibly strange noises if real bad.

---Robert

 

[Lockedhearts]

SO should I have mentioned that I was jumping ditches and tearing down dirt roads?????? Lik Blue could actually go that fast....
I honestly have even tire wear on both front and it does stray slightly to the right when I let go of the wheel (why I was taking it to be aligned) but nothing unusual.
I hate to be distrusting , but being female and taking a any vehicle to a lot of places for work, they tend to try and "take" you cause they think you are stoopid
I figured I would have noticed something if the ball joints were bad. My regular mechanic is now a little out of the way for me, but I will take a day off work and let him look at it. I trust him, he is honest and is a certified deisel mechanic and he does a good job.

 

[RLDSL]

Sounds like the plan. A little wandering to one side could be something as simple as swapping front tires side to side to take care of .
Definitely check with your regular mechanic and see what was already done before letting a front end shop loose. some of those places have a habit of going nuts selling extra parts if they think they can get away with it.
I can't count the number of times they've tried to sell me four wheel allignments on cars that can't be four wheel alligned

 

[LCAM-01XA]

Agreed, take truck to the regular mechanic and have him do his thing - many tire places are crooks, I had one telling me that all my ball joints are bad on my Lincoln even tho I had just replaced all of them with the heavy-duty DANA units (stronger than stock 1-ton Chevy ball joints), and that was the reason for my car to need an alignment to begin with! I was at work when I got that call, my boss damn near choked from laughing when I showed him the few-days-old $400+ receipt for parts only, tire place foreman didn't find it all that funny tho

 

[Mr_Roboto]

Is it possible that your mechanic only changed one side?

I see it all the time, folks will have "just the bad parts" changed out. Only to find out later that the matching parts on the other side were just weeks or months from failing also.

Ball joints and tie rod ends are spring loaded internally, so they will take up play until entirely worn out. So there may only be days between a "good" joint and a "bad" one.

 

[Lockedhearts]

I need to replace all 6 tires anyway, have just about worn them all out. Will do that and check with my mechanic on the rest.

 

[subway]

you can check them yourself quick, jack up the front end even one tire at a time and try to wiggle them. wiggle top to bottom is bad ball joints, wiggle side to side is bad steering joints wiggle all around can be both or loose wheel bearings. everything should be tight

 

[HammerDown]

you can check them yourself quick, jack up the front end even one tire at a time and try to wiggle them. wiggle top to bottom is bad ball joints, wiggle side to side is bad steering joints wiggle all around can be both or loose wheel bearings. everything should be tight

...also check wheel bearing endplay.

 

[Russ]

What Jred said. Jack up the truck (by the front axle. Then use a long bar, and pry up on the tire. The longer the bar the better. Any slop up and down would indicate a bad ball joint.

 

[RLDSL]

Definitely use the long bar to pry on them to check the things. You've got to be a lot burlier than I am to get wobbly ball joints on one of these beasts to move by hand

------Robert

 

[pat_da_man]

i replaced the ball joints and tie rods on my old truck to try and save money. and let me tell you i should have forked the money out to get it done right hehe was ale to get all of one ball jont out myself. luckily my friend has a 20 ton press an we were able to get the rest out. my ball joints were in serious need i was able to move my tire by hand like 3/4 inch up and down and like 3 inches side to side

 

[Mr_Roboto]

There is no need for a press for ball joints. They will come out and go in easily with a hammer and some steel stock to drive them with.

If they require a lot of pressure they aren't going in straight.