Ball joint replacement at 49,000, questions.
 

After US DOT inspection it has been determined upper and lower ball joints are worn out and need to be replaced. Just curious how common ball joint replacement is on early model 2004 3500 single axle with 49000 miles. 75% of miles are pulling trailers loaded with 10,000 to 20,000 pounds.

Dodge service wants $925 to replace. My local repair shop offered to replace them at $700. Does the cost sound resonable? Should I try to save more? How good of quality is the ball joints from quad 4x4? Can I get greesable ball joints so they last longer? Is an average mechanic qualified enough to replace ball joints correctly. How long does it take to replace ball joints?

Thanks in advance!

I had mine done on my 03 at 23000 and again at 47000 upper and lower both times. under warranty,thank god

Quads are OEM same as what is on your truck now.
I bought the set from Quad and they are on my truck now.
My driver side upper joint was bad at 22k miles.

MOOG does offer upper ball joints for our trucks and TRW offers both upper and lower replacements.
Try www.rockauto.com for the MOOGs and Napa should have the TRW's.

The Joint that went bad was still full of grease. I don't think its a lubrication issue.
But yes, if you can get greasable by all means get them.

My ball joints were still ok but on the way out so I replaced them at 130k miles. I put the Moog's on the top and went with the stock on the bottom. The original bottom ball joints were still better than ok so I stuck with what worked the first time. Somebody said you could get all four for a couple hundred at Quad 4x4. I you get the parts yourself and have a frontend shop do the work it will be the cheapest. I tow heavy all the time also. ks

Might be in the same boat here...Are the ball joints considered normal wear items?? I have 41k on my truck, are these not covered under the 75k drivetrain warrenty? Seems to me ball joints going after 40k is crazy..I hardly ever even tow...

The 04 1 ton Ram came with a 7yr/100,000 mile powertrain warranty. However ball joint replacement is not covered after 36,000 bumper to bumper.
I talked to a Ford dealership who told me all trucks including Ford trucks all have problems with ball joints wearing out with less than 50,000 miles. He estimated one of every 2 trucks over 50,000 miles have ball joints that need to be replaced. Howerver trucks will go a long time with worn ball joints but could lead to more costly repair or safty issues down the road.

The truth of the matter is my Dodge still drives as good as when it was new. Until inspected it was impposible to know if the ball joints are bad. Had I not had the DOT inspection I would not have known about the problem & would have continued to drive it with worn ball joints. It's hard to say what might happen if these ball joints are not replaced for the next 25-50K?

I think I will go ahead and order from Quad4X4.com. I see the price is listed at $219 which is a lot cheaper than most sell upper & lower replacement joints.

Any consolation to this 3500 04 is it's by far the best breaks of any previously owned truck. My last 1998 & 2002 2500's wore brake pads out ever 17K with lots of steering problems. I still have about 1/2 the pad left on the orginal farctory pads in at 49K & no steering problems on the 3500 2004.

I give mine a shot of Mobil 1 grease until I see new grease oozing at every oil change, they seem fine, but I only have 45k miles on it.

The bad part of ball joints and tierod ends today is the quality of material being used. I have seen Dodge and Ford having worn out parts under 20k. I have also seen both makes go over 200k. The manufacturer's by thousands of parts at a time, and they buy from whoever is cheapest. I feel some wear is from driving habits also, like turning the wheels lock to lock when sitting still. How many of the older crowd on here has seen this kind of premature wear-failure on pre 90's solid axle trucks?

where do you shoot the grease? mine and all others I have worked on did not have greaseable joints. weight of the cummins and other diesels is what they blame it on. priced at the dealer here, retail ,no discount, packs of 2 both uppers and both lowers were around 103- 106 I believe. going to napa today and see ;) .

At the time of tire installation, tech pointed out that I needed bearings. I have a slight wobble from both wheels when pressure is applied at 12 and 6 o'clock on wheel. Truck seems to ride fine with no wobble or shimmy. Dealer said bearings were fine. This slight wobble is normal. Took it to suspension shop, and they said bearings were fine. I've been told by members here that it was probably ball joints or tie rod ends.

Today with truck up on jack for another inspection. Wobble is the same. No better, no worse. I took a member's advice and wedged a pry bar in upper ball joint. And, with the help of my six year old son, wheel would not wobble. Bad ball joints it is.

Now, as I said the wobble is very slight. I see that many have had to replace these more than once. Should I try to stretch this out and wait until it gets worse? I will be installing a Kore Chase system tomorrow. I want to avoid a future case of "Death Wobble"

I am planning on getting a Thuren track bar and DSS stabilizer as recommended by Don. Monday I will have the alignment set to Don's recommended specs. Anyone have any other ideas?

I probably could have had these ball joints replaced while still under warranty, because dealer was never able to keep truck from pulling to the right. Dealer always said it was road crown. Wish I would have been a member here a while back. I had no clue. I'm convinced that a lot of these trucks come off the line with potentially bad ball joints.

Rick

"where do you shoot the grease? mine and all others I have worked on did not have greaseable joints. "

zerk fittings on the ball joint.

Are you sure you're talking about the ball joints. Sounds more like tie rod ends.
Forgive me if you have aftermarket ball joints that have zerk fittings. I'll be in the market for ball joints soon. Mine are on the way out. Greasable joints would be a nice upgrade.

Rick

Are you sure you're talking about the ball joints. Sounds more like tie rod ends.

You're right, the tie rods have zerk fittings.