Hey guys I have another question for you, but first thank you all for the help lately. It seems that my truck is taking a huge crap on me at the moment, but its ok because it has 210000 miles on it and I have only had to replace brakes this far. Ok now down to business I read in the manuel to jack the truck up on try to move the tire in and out to check for slop in the ball joints. The left one was fine, but the right one moves ALOT, on the top and it makes a loud clicking noise when I turn and I can also feel it jerk. I am sure that I have a bad upper ball joint because they said it shouldn't move, now what do you guys think and also replace just the top or do both? Is there a good ball joint to go with or just pick up anything from the parts store. Thanks for everything

 

the upper ball joint always goes bad before the lower. i'm not sure if you can just replace the upper... i replaced both on mine with TRW, mostly because it made removing easier. another way to tell is by tire wear on the inside edge, or look at the pickup from the front if the tires don't look like they're perfectly vertical, you probably have ball joint wear. on mine, the jack it up and move the tire test didn't work, because the ball joints were packed full of dirt.

 

Jacking a wheel off the ground and shaking a tire is only going to show you majorly worn ball joints. You need to jack the tire a few inches off the ground and get a good long pipe under there (5 feet or so) and pry up and down and side to side on the tire. Then look for movement in the ball joints. If your upper is that bad I would assume the lower is shot, too but you never know. Good Luck

 

I wore out my lowers first, I have been using the NAPA Premium grade stuff-they have two grades. These are fully greaseable and are working great for me. The uppers are a pain to grease but well worth it to me. I think the premium grade stuff is made by DANA corp.

 

I know that you can replace just one or the other. I replaced one on mine, just can't remember which one it was. I think upper. Went the NAPA route as well. 65,000 miles and the other ones are still tight.

 

Did you look in behind the wheel to make sure it isn't a wheel bearing gone south? I thought i had bad ball joints , and was going to replace them , until this happened on the highway:

 

WOW!! I hope no one got hurt!!

 

where do I go to look for the wheel bearing and how do I know if it is bad or not? Thanks everyone

 

My son's 94 did the same thing. The only thing that kept the wheel on was the brake caliper. We replaced all four ball joints and both wheel bearing hubs. Almost $1000 for all the parts at NAPA.

 

try quad4x4.com there prices are good

 

Your 96 has the ball joints pressed into the knuckle. Use the method described above with the pipe or bar to check for play. I'd change both as it's a PIA to remove the hub - especially the first time. Take the knuckle to an auto machine shop and have them remove and install the new joints for you. You'll have a lot less headaches than trying to press them out yourself and it doesn't cost much. While you have the axle out, check the front u-joint too. Put it all back together with LOTS of never-seeze.

I got mine from www.rockauto.com

 

To check for the wheel bearing, shake the tire and if you have play like you said and don't see any movement in the ball joints, it's probably the wheel bearing. Our rule at Tires Plus was we shake the tire for wheel bearing checks and use the pipe to check ball joints.

 

Everyone survived it ok , i was the only one in the truck that night (sunday night) I fixed it the next morning at work , cost me 400$ all said and done, like was stated above , the only thing that kept the wheel on was the brake caliper and the stub shaft , it had been rubbed up against the back of the bearing housing for the last 5 miles ( i had to limp it in).

On a side note , that wheel bearing is what took away all of the bombing money i had set aside for a paricular set of towing mirrors, now i gotta save up again

 

Just finished changing my ball joints. Ran into a problem with the lower ones. I had ordered TRW ball joints, the top ones pressed in fine, the lower ones wouldn't stay in the socket. The old ones had knurl marks on the sides, according to part source the parts they sold are to speck, after further conversation we discovered they have an oversize part #, by then I was pretty fed up with their service and had sourced some Moog lower ball joints which are 10 thou oversize. They pressed in real nice also.

The old ones showed pretty clearly that they had been mig welded. My buddy was slightly perplexed as he couldn't think of a good reason, being that the Moogs are seating in there just right. Just curious how 3 or 4 Mig tacks would effect the micro-structure (must be some type of special alloy steel to withstand all the front end weight)???

Thanks Gentlemen (I use the term loosely )

 

this is goin to be a dumb question but what is the best way to grease my upper ball joint the zerk in facing in toward the u-joint?