Check your ball joints

"HammerheadFistpunch" (hammerheadfistpunch) 09/24/2016 at 00:43 • Filed to: None

3

19

Just happened to some family of mine. Waiting to hear the full story but it certainly wasn’t done wheeling. It looks like the upper control arm ball joint decided it was done and left the party early. dayum.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > HammerheadFistpunch 09/24/2016 at 00:50

6

My solution to vehicle ownership is to never touch anything ever.

[stalls]

atfsgeoff > HammerheadFistpunch 09/24/2016 at 01:17

0

I’m amazed there wasn’t more damage. I’ve had a balljoint go out on the road too, it was not pretty.

Sovereign, Purveyor of Coupes > atfsgeoff 09/24/2016 at 01:39

0

Luckily this appears to have been done in a neighborhood, which would imply neighborhood speeds.

RallyWrench > HammerheadFistpunch 09/24/2016 at 01:40

0

Wow. Lucky they weren’t at speed on the road, that could have been a hell of a lot worse. In that location I wonder if maybe they just backed out of a driveway or otherwise articulated the steering on lock over a bump or dip to dislodge the joint.

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > HammerheadFistpunch 09/24/2016 at 01:43

0

Get aToyota they said. It’ll never break they said. I put over 15,000 km on my MJ with a lower ball joint I knew had separated, just never got around to changing it. I’ll admit though I didn’t expect the ball to just fall right out of the socket when I eventually took it out.

Tristan > HammerheadFistpunch 09/24/2016 at 02:40

0

I’ve seen a lot of that generation of Yotas with separated ball joints in Afghanistan. I just assumed it was hostile conditions+complete lack of maintenance, but maybe these trucks are just hard on ball joints?

TheD0k_2many toys 2little time > HammerheadFistpunch 09/24/2016 at 03:13

0

thats why im glad i paid for mine to get done on my f350 when i bought it

shop-teacher > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 09/24/2016 at 09:31

1

And buy another one every six months, you forgot that part.

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > HammerheadFistpunch 09/24/2016 at 10:59

0

IIRC this was a pretty common issue with these.

HammerheadFistpunch > Tristan 09/24/2016 at 11:29

1

Lots of miles + hard use + Lift. That’s why I tell people that lift ifs Toyota’s to replace their ball joints at twice the recommended interval.

HammerheadFistpunch > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee 09/24/2016 at 11:49

0

Ball joints wear out, I think this 3rd Gen has 250,000 miles or more. It was beyond time to check them

HammerheadFistpunch > RallyWrench 09/24/2016 at 11:50

0

That’s what it looked like. Hopefully that’s the case

HammerheadFistpunch > Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies 09/24/2016 at 11:50

0

Well it’s lived a hard life and has lots of miles...it was due

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > shop-teacher 09/24/2016 at 14:36

0

Longest I’ve owned any vehicle was 4.5 years, I suppose.

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > HammerheadFistpunch 09/24/2016 at 19:51

0

My MJ had around 300,000 miles when I first noticed that when I jacked it up by the axle, the knuckle dropped about an inch. The upper ball joint on a Jeep D30 is really just a sliding pin (making up for casting variations, flex, etc), so the 1" drop was the travel of the pin. The lower ball joint should be what keeps everything in place, but on both of mine given that the ball was coming completely out of the socket, it wasn’t doing that. Fair to say those were worn joints. I only really suspected something out of the ordinary was happening because I was getting a pretty severe clunk that I could feel in the floorboards every time I hit a bump, which is when I put two and two together and ordered new ball joints.

I was just ribbing you Toyota guys a bit. I’ve actually seen a couple occurences (including a 2005-ish Taco at the side of the road) where the upper ball joint has failed. I can’t recall ever seeing the same of a Jeep. But then there is the SFA vs IFS difference going on there.

shop-teacher > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 09/24/2016 at 20:20

0

I was going by a comment you once said about only ever having to buy tires once, because you usually don’t keep w car long enough for it to need tires.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > shop-teacher 09/24/2016 at 20:23

1

Oh it goes even further; the Hankooks on longbed were taken directly off of my ‘89 before I sold it

shop-teacher > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 09/24/2016 at 20:32

0

Nice!

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > HammerheadFistpunch 10/06/2016 at 08:15

0

So how exactly do you check ball joints? Is it something that should create some play in the wheel or make obscene sound? I am just curious if it is less obvious than that.