Having replaced struts, sway bar bushings and end links, I was left with a couple of symptoms.....including an occasional clunk over small bumps and a drift to the left during low speed acceleration and sweeping right turns. I did the standard ball joint test (jack up, pry tire up & down) which seemed fine. I removed the wheels and had my son rock the steering wheel back & forth....I was almost positive that the left inner tie rod looked loose. So....I get the left and right sets (wanting to do it once), and proceed with the replacement. I didn't get as far as the castle nut cotter pin when I notice the lower ball joint was without-a-doubt the culprit.

Long story short, I thought I'd leave this tip: To really check the ball joints, you should remove tires (both sides), unlock the steering wheel (i.e. with ignition key), and turn the wheel assembly by hand (by the rotor) while observing the ball joint when the wheel hits the stop. If it's bad, you can't miss it....it'll move like it's loose.

Hope this helps someone out there.

 

Nice. Thanks for the tip.

Dave

 

Do you have a picture of what a bad ball-joint would look like. I'm trying to figure out if mine are bad. I'm not quite sure I understand your description

 

Actually the proper way to check ball joints is with the weight of the car on the ball joint with the wheels on. You can jack the car up by the lower control arm and then do the pull at 6 push at 12 test. If you can't get a jack under the control arm then you need to jack the car up somewhere else and place a jack stand under the control arm. Your method isn't incorrect but you don't have to take the wheels off to do it your way either.

 

It will look just the same but there will be play. If it is REALLY bad, the rubber part will be torn.

 

Ball Joints are designed to pivot smoothly without *any* wiggle room, aka play. The tricky part is testing them in-situ the weight of the car and the preload in the front struts puts them under load at all times, so the trick is to get enough leverage to overcome the loads on a bad joint and make it move.
Although it can be the other way around - a torn rubber boot will lead to grease loss, which then leads to mechanical wear and then play.

Anyway, I would replace any ball joint that has a torn boot or play.

Dave

 

thanx a lot man ...

 

Maybe that's my problem, how do you get enough leverage to overcome the loads? I can't push/pull the wheel to get the joint to move!

 

I tried this method and the result was no movement....which is why I moved on to the tie rods. It wasn't until I turned the wheel assembly to make it easier to change them that I noticed the ball joint movement....it was unmistakeable.

 

I tried your trick, but couldn't get the ball-joint to move (also tried moving the wheel side-to-side, but no luck). So it must be alright. Now if I only can figure out what the hell is that scraping noise when I make right turns!