ball joint woes Topic is solved

[jonesg]

I would have swapped it out at the sign of rust running down.

[Blacklab467]

That's really odd, just slap some new BJ's in and be done with it.

[oragex]

Not a problem, the rubber boot is protecting the ball joint inside, what you see exposed is the stud that goes into the control arm. Push on the boot upwards with your fingers see if there is any rusty liquid coming out. Careful under the car, always use jack stands

[xHeart]

Hey i'm back from buying another jack, and a new sset of ball joints on standby.

Is the ball joint suppose to do this?

This can't be the ball joint at LCA. If it is at the outer tie-rod, then it appears upside-down.

[GlennG2759]

Hmm? Something not right with that picture?

[erikv11]

It's the LCA ball joint, see OP's first pic:

[BlackBart]

If the BJ's need to be replaced, this is how I did it.

Tap the old ones out with a drift / punch... Clean out the recess.

Use a small piece of iron pipe with a cap from your local Ace Hardware plumbing dept. The diameter of the pipe sits right on the plate of the ball joint so it doesn't pinch the rubber boot. You can see the marks here on the plate. Tap it in nice and straight.

^^^ I put the ball joints in the freezer overnight to contract the metal a bit. There is a possibility of stripping those little bolts pulling the splines together, so that's why the pipe solution or the specialized tool.

Then torque the two bolts once it's bottomed. You can put a bit of upward pressure on the arm with a jack to bind up the joint to torque the big nut.

These are ipd HD control arms and ball joints.

[chris11211]

Hey folks bringing this tread back from the dead.

So my ball joint from ipd are worn out after 2 years of use and the alignment shop doesn't want to correct until I change the two BJ's. I don't know if it's just the rough driving of nyc, bad luck, or ipd does not hold up when it come to ball joints. Regardless, I do not have any warranties since it's an ebay purchase, and now my new problem is trying to get the BJ out of the control arm because for some reason it is just glued to the arm.

I tried hammering it out from the bottom but there is no give and i warped the hex slot. Also no reasonable way to hold down the LCM without getting straps involved but I don't want to deal with that. The mechanic wants $280 for the job and at this point I'm gonna just call it, but I am wondering if anyone has dealt with a glued in ball joint to a control arm. Thanks.

[jking4020]

That is not from your ball joint. The squealing is probably a loose serpentine belt. Check your power steering fluid. Ball joints do not make noise when you are steering.

[jking4020]

And I have incorrectly installed my ball joints on the lower control arm before. Had to have my mechanic correct it. If you have no other means than just eat the cost.