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Ball joint question

lou3500

lou3500

Redneck Garage
Joined
Jun 15, 2011
Messages
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Location
Palm Harbor Fla.
My 2001 ram quad 4x4 gasser has bad ball joints [all other components look good] the driver tire was worn somewhat evenly [low air pressure i think] the passenger side was worn on the outer edge and pulling to the right. I rotated the rears to the front and the pulling has subsided. My question is do i need to install adjustable ball joints or just install standard ones [i know that oem was non adjustable] i'm running stock 245/75/16 tires with aftermarket rims 16/8 [these have not been installed yet till i get the ball joints replaced and aligned]. This was a one owner truck that was not abused [as far as i can tell]. In my reading i have found that it's a coherant issue with most solid axle rams pull to the right and wear right hand tires and they have adjustable lower trailing arms for some adjustment, i'm not sure what would be in my best intrest to do [i don't like wasting time/money. But i dont want to cheap out either.Anyone with experiance in this area comments are appreciated,thanks in advance.
 
"Adjustable ball joints" Thats kinda a loaded question. You read some forums and all you hear is how horrible they are, than you read other posts that they are ok. So I am not really sure what to say about them. The "coherant issue with most solid axle rams" you are referring to I am pretty sure that was with the early years of the second gen ram style and wasn't just a ball joint issue. Although I know from personal experience Dodge has had ball joint issues in many years of Ram mostly from them going dry and not having the ability to service them. My 06 Ram I only have 27K miles on it and I have owned it since it was new I just replaced them at 25K. A little ridiculous considering it only gets road driven.
 
Yes that's my issue from what i'm gathering if there is damage to the axle or spindle [bent] then adjustable ones will help mine has been a road vehicle so i don't think i need them. Other folks say go get an alignment and see if it's out [camber] then change out the ball joints and realign,shops here won't do that for nothing so i think i'm gonna go with the standard ones and see what happens unless i'm convinced otherwise.
 
One question I had is you said when you swapped the tires around the pulling went away? Maybe the past owner was just driving around with that one tire low on air for such a long time that is the cause the weird wear pattern on the other tire? Maybe even compounded by the fact the ball joints are bad? I agree with what you are thinking replace them and see what happens. I mean you need them anyways so to me you can't go wrong.
 
Also i don't think getting it aligned before replacing the balls joints will tell you anything cause if they are sloppy lose it won't hold the camber settings will it?
 
That's what i was thinking when i read that, with them bad the tire/rim will lean in causing the camber to be out so then you install the adjustable ones to overcome that, low and behold they are too far the other way.Yes the tire has wear patterns of low air pressure but it's worn on the out side too. It still pulls to the right but very slightly now [probly the bad ball joints] the wheel will stay centered with out fighting it like before. The adjustable ones are expensive almost 100$ for moog ones, regular ones are half that so thats what i'm going with. If it don't workout then i'll know adjustable ones will be next.
 
I'n my opinion you'll be fine with the standard ball joint's . I had my 95 ram with a 3 1/2" lift and 33" tire's for about 8 years and I only had to do the ball jount's twice in that one . The only reason why I had to do them the second time was because I had a shop do the first one's ( winter time and was way to cold for me ) and they did'nt put in the grease fitting's . I put ALOT of mile's on that truck . The 97 Sport with a 5" lift and 35" tires I have now , I did both sides when I got the truck about a year ago and still have no problem's . But do your self a favor and do the axle jounts to while you got the front end apart anyway's . This way you'll know that everything is new on that side rather then tear it apart again just to do them in a few months .
 
Thanks i was thinking the same thing last night about the axle u joints and also the hub assys then everything would be new.
 
Any time ! But just to give you a heads up . The hub bearings "will" be a little pricey . The parts store will probaly give you a choice of two of them . One is just a cheaper one of the two . Don't buy the cheaper one ! There's a good chance it will go bad in just over a year when the warranty run's out . Been there done that . lol
 
I'm gonna pass on the hubs at this time we'll see when i pull it apart if they seem bad [i did not feel any play].
 
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