Lower Ball Joint Question

[Sheldon88]

I have slight play on nsf front wheel, garage diagnosed it as lower ball joint but i believe it to be inner track rod ends.

My question is whats the symptoms of the swivel hub ball joints as I’ve had no knocking or noise. Ive removed the whole assembly, would i be able to tell if there is play in the lower ball joint by using a pry bar ?


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[turkie172]

The front suspension is difficult to work out I was fooled with track rod ends but found the steering rack internals was the problem disconnect both ends left and right then push and pull the steering rack through full travel and feel if there is a skip in the movement, here was play when the steering wheel was straight but none at full lock left and right. Track rods ends can be masked by the anti rotation link taking the load. It could be the lower arm ball joint or the hub assembly lower ball joint, for it undo the ee bracket bolts and check for vertical and horizontal play.

 

[Sheldon88]

This is the state of my lower ball joint, not as bas as the one you posted but clearly needs changing. Hopefully this is the reason behind the 3 & 9 movement at the wheel

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[turkie172]

Yea what you would have found is you turn into a corner and the car would feel that it turned in a little more after you stopped moving the steering wheel, use heat on the casting to help press out and in the new ball joint to avoid cracking the casting and be careful on alignment as the casting might not sit flat on a hydraulic press and you wind up pressing the ball joint in at an angle making the hole too loose normally as I see the passenger side goes first I drove on that one in the video and took the opportunity to change all both sides upper and lower raptor6767 sells good ball joints upgraded with a boot which I think would extend the life of the ball joint from dirt and corrosion, other than that I would use the Renaultsport ones yours looks like the original rubber necked ones. You seem to be on top of the mechanicals anyway as the pinch bolt on the ee bracket is the most difficult part.

 

[Dutch_197]

Very good info, almost never seen ball joints go so bad, what is the life expectation for normal road use?