Lower Ball Joints

Pat · Post by **Pat** » Thu Jul 10, 2003 10:57 pm

My 2001 Crew has 30,000 miles and we took it in to have the tires rotated and get an allignment. We were shocked when Big-O refused to do the allignment stating that the lower ball joints had significant wear. We then decided that this should be covered under the warranty the dealership told us that they were within specified limits. Any ideas on what course of action we should take now?

Post by **HenryJ** » Fri Jul 11, 2003 5:22 am

You have to hit them with the numbers.

The maximum allowable is .125 which is 1/8 inch. That is quite a bit but mine exceeded that.

They will tell you that the measurement can only be taken on an alignment rack, but that is incorrect.

GM's own manual shows the correct procedure for using a magnetic base dial indicator to check them.

Basically you need to use a bottle jack to raise the tire off the ground using the lower a-arms as close to the ball joint as possible. Park near a fixed pole that the dial indicator can be attached. Zero the indicator on the lowest point of the wheel rim. Then push in and out at the top and bottom to get the horizontal run out.

If you don't have a dial indicator, you can get a rough estimate by having a friend hold a tape measure to a fixed object while you move the wheel back and forth. If it comes close to the 1/8" , get it checked at the alignment shop. Anything exceeding the .125 inch maximum allowable freeplay, should be replaced. It is a safety concern, not to mention the wear on the tires.

I'm in the process of getting mine replaced right now, but there is a nationwide backorder and I've been waiting two weeks so far.

The dealership called yesterday, I'll return the call today, hopefully they are in.

P.S. Watch those wheel bearings too. My LH wheel bearing is bad and being replaced at the same time (28,000mi.). There is no permissible runout for wheel bearings. Any horizontal movement means they are bad. Mine were noisy with a side load during cornering too.

EDIT: The ball joints showed up , I go in first thing Monday morning for warranty repairs.

quickbiker · Post by **quickbiker** » Fri Jul 11, 2003 3:55 pm

Pat wrote:My 2001 Crew has 30,000 miles and we took it in to have the tires rotated and get an allignment. We were shocked when Big-O refused to do the allignment stating that the lower ball joints had significant wear. We then decided that this should be covered under the warranty the dealership told us that they were within specified limits. Any ideas on what course of action we should take now?

I hate those vicious circles with dealers!!! Good luck and let us know what happens.

Pat · Post by **Pat** » Fri Jul 11, 2003 6:30 pm

Thanks for the help. Dealerships are a pain to deal with.

a2b · Post by **a2b** » Fri Jul 11, 2003 6:45 pm

pat, welcome to the site.

FYI: pat just sent me pics and he filled out the member join form. his page will be up soon

Post by **HenryJ** » Sun Jul 20, 2003 5:30 pm

HenryJ wrote:Posted: 22 Jun 2003 12:33 pm Post subject:

Well mine goes in for lower ball loints and a left side wheel bearing next week.

Still waiting...This will be the fourth trip to the dealership, if they do finally get thier act together.

My appointment Monday was superceded by the "Citation from H**L" . Tuesday they planned to have me done, I got a call about 10am that said it was done...NO WAY! , must have been a Nascar pit crew working on it! Little while later they called back and informed me that not all the parts were there and asked for me to leave it another couple days. So now Friday I stop by to check on it, big suprise still waiting on one ball joint. No way I was leaving it parked in the lot over the weekend, so I drove it home. (I'm pretty sure the service manager knows that I am not pleased)

The wheel bearing was no problem, one ball joint came from back East after a two week wait, and now they are trying to get one from another dealership.

What a PITA, If you need this done , I hope you don't run out of warranty before the parts arrive

Pat · Post by **Pat** » Sun Jul 20, 2003 8:32 pm

HenryJ wrote:
HenryJ wrote:Posted: 22 Jun 2003 12:33 pm Post subject:

Still waiting...This will be the fourth trip to the dealership, if they do finally get thier act together.

What a PITA, If you need this done , I hope you don't run out of warranty before the parts arrive

I do understand your frustration with them it seems that no matter what dealership or what car I have had to take in the dealerships have the worst service. I do hate the fact that the factory warranty for some reason just frustrates us more than just paying for the service or the work we want done. More times than not all they say is " Could not duplicate problem"

Post by **HenryJ** » Wed Jul 23, 2003 5:31 pm

I got my truck back today. It drives much better

I didn't realize just how bad it was, until it was fixed. The "push" in the corners is gone , and it takes much less effort to run straight now

They are required to send them back to GM, I was unable to disect them completely to see where the wear occured.

The ball didn't show any wear that I could see , so it must be the cage that wears.

The ball did have a rough cast texture. I wonder if the cage is just a little soft and the texture tends to wear it?

The new ball joints have a blue grease boot/seal, might be good to know if someone is buying used. At least you'd know that the ball joints had been replaced, that is unless, the newer crews ('02-'03) have blue boots?

quickbiker · Post by **quickbiker** » Wed Jul 23, 2003 7:16 pm

The reason it drives better is maybe cause they aligned it after the job?

Post by **HenryJ** » Wed Jul 23, 2003 7:27 pm

quickbiker wrote:The reason it drives better is maybe cause they aligned it after the job?

I'm sure that is a part of it , however I had it aligned soon after purchase since the right side T-bar adjuster was backed way off.

I guess the bad ball joints and wheel bearing took so long to become really noticeable , I didn't really know how bad things were.

In a hard turn I could hear the brake drag from the slack in the wheel bearing, and I probably lost about 5k of mileage out of the tires due to the uneven wear.

quickbiker · Post by **quickbiker** » Wed Jul 23, 2003 7:33 pm

Yea, the IFS takes a while to settle in an alignment. With the front driver side wheel bearing I replace, the wear in the wheel bearing was making it sag a whole 1.5 deg in camber. And of course when I replaced the idler arm at the same time, it knocked the toe outa wack, then I had to adjust caster while adjusting camber. Then adjust the toe again a few days later after it settles. Now I can drive with no hands on the wheel!

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Lower Ball Joints

Lower Ball Joints

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