Hi guys,

I was going to tear into my truck this weekend but before I do I'd like to see if a few of you guys have ran into this problem.

When you had a ball joint go bad on the lower control arm or tie rod, did you get a popping noise upon going in and out of drive ways, making full cranked u-turns, or driving on a really uneven surface? I think the cup inside the socket on my tie rod is loose from hitting some crap off the back of a big rig at speed on the freeway when he lost his load...

The 37's and massive spindles from my Rize kit really don't help these funny little ball joints at all. I'm thinking in the future of maybe replacing the factory gimpy tie rod with a heim joint and some 3/4-1" dom tubing and a 5/8 inch bolt at the knuckle, all custom fab'd most likely. The lower control arm still will be the weak link though.

 

I'm familiar with the noise you are describing. My upper left ball joint was the culprit. I think I was to blame for it to go bad. I drove way too long on warped rotors. The inside of the left front tire was down to the cords due to the excess play in the ball joint. I was able to move it in and out about 3/4 of an inch. I used all Moog replacement parts( upper control arm, lower ball joint, outer tie rod ends). Since I had it all apart I decided to put on the Hell Bent Steel 2.5 leveling kit. Good luck with your project.

 

Did you have to take everything apart to check it? Unbolt the spindle from the ball joint? Or could you feel the play with the spindle still bolted on? I think I'm going to find a very similar problem.

Thank you!

 

With the truck on jack stands, I could wiggle the tire around. I could tell it was bad, but I didn't realize how bad it was till I took it all apart.