68,000 miles:
Went in for an alignment yesterday and was told "We can't align this, you need new ball joints and front bearings."
Of course I had them show me the play.

Here is what they did:
1. Showed me the up/down movement in Ball Joints by putting a breaker bar under the tire and the lift, then lifting up w breaker bar. Some up/down movement, which I knew was there but didn't know it was bad enough to need replace.
2. Had me grab the tire at the top and bottom and move the top in and bottom out or vice versa to feel a slight "clunk" which he said was the bearing play that justified needing replace.
In addition to this I have plenty of rust on the front rims, which I thought was brake dust.

How much play in these areas is enough to have to replace this stuff? Really, 68k and this stuff is all worn out? I'd like to go another year or at least until next Spring, but don't want to be driving in an unsafe condition. Also, I read somewhere that all the red rust is indicative of something about to go but I cant remember what. Ujoints?
Thanks for any help, and when I do the job, I'll be using Gadget's great write up that I just found!

 

seems like avg mileage from what I've read here, my 06 just did them all myself around summer. took a good friday night and saturday.

i used rockauto.com to get all my parts, did 4 bj's, 2 ujoints. used the greaseable ones.

my wheel bearings were ok, just put new pads/rotors prior around 90k.

yes the red rust around the ujoint caps, and red rust around the lower ball joints as they wear first is indication its time to replace.

irregular tire wear, clunky noise while turning, vibes in steering wheel while turning are other signs that say its time to go.

expect $600 per side at any shop. might get lucky with $400 per side.
screw that I'll do it myself.

I did my 94, saved a ton of cash, plus i learned alot and my 06 was practically the same, so saved another ton of cash.

 

Not bad to fix it yourself as long as the hubs and ball joints aren't rusted in to bad.

 

buy a big bottle of antiseize, make sure to lather everything up putting it back in. will save you tons of time next time.

this is a handy tool to remove the hubs, i just improvised, worked the same.

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item....group_ID=21345

expect to use lots of PB oil penatrate on the hubs, and let sit overnight. makes it 10x easier.

 

Thanks guys. I plan on doing it myself when the time comes. Hoping I can hold out till spring!

 

I`m not saying that you don`t need to replace them , but on my 06 I`ve had alittle play for the life of the truck. The dealer told me I needed to replace ball joints (for $1300). The parts at my parts store is $380. I have over 120,000 miles on mine & I don`t think there`s any danger. Now if my tires were wearing, I`d fix them.

 

They aren't feeding you a line, BUT I also do them myself. It takes long time, and is hard work the first time . . . . BUT you will save a TON of cash and make it MUCH easier the next time.

My factory stuff lasted 75K I think. I slathered everything in anti-seize and put it all back together. I also used greasable everything. I won't use the greasable stuff again. I just did the driver's side axle u-joint last night and it was much easier the second time. The hub puller actually pulled the hub off without any banging. I didn't even have to hit anything with a hammer or bend the puller this time. It just pulled right out. I anti-seize the u-joint caps and yokes and that made it much easier this time.

A couple of tips: add grease to the hub when you put the new one it. Pull the speed sensor and pump grease into the teeth while spinning the hub. I did that and my hub was perfect when I took it out yesterday. I put a couple more pumps in to be sure. The u-joint (precision 464) that I pulled out had three nice greasy ends, and one TOTALLY dry end. So much for greasable u-joints. I put the Duralast from Auto Zone in last night, it's got a nice new design and pocket for adding grease in the main body. I added some of my own grease and slapped it in. The previous version only lasted about 45-50K miles. I also found that my lower passenger ball joint is starting to loosen up, and I've greased it every 5-7K miles since I put those in too. Forget the greasable crap from now on. They aren't out lasting the non-greasable. I found the same thing on my old Tahoe. Greasable does not outlast non-greasable (if I add grease to the parts before installing that is) on my vehicles.

 

banyon- how do the tires wear when this stuff is getting bad? Should I be looking for a specific wear pattern?

BMH95- Thank you for the great tips. It appears to be such a daunting job, not having done it before. But, after the first time I bet it will be easier. Interesting take on the non greasable. We read so many threads about absolutely going with the greasable version. But if they arent lasting longer, why bother with them, right?

 

Just finished doing mine last weekend. I have a little over 150k, ball joints and axel u joints were the only thing it needed. Bearings were good to go, so I added a little more grease through the abs hole and slapped them back in. The toughest part of the job was pulling the bearings. I soaked all of the components the night before. One side with PB blaster, the other with Kroil....just to see which one was more effective. The side I used Kroil on came apart much easier. I also rented the 23 piece ball joint kit from Advance Auto, vs buying the $300 OTC kit that is designed for our trucks, and it worked perfectly.

 

Double plus yes on the kroil.

 

When you check the slack, the ball joints will have bottom to top slack. ( Pull on the bottom of the tire while pushing on the top) So if they get bad enough it will lean the tires too much to line up the front end. With the tires "leaning" they will wear. My truck needs new joints at 122,000 miles but I don`t think they are dangerous.I plan to put new ones on this winter when work slows down.

 

With 114k miles, I was going for an alignment this morning and the shop told me something similar - the bearings/seals and the outer tie rod ends.

I'm not a mechanic, but I can follow instructions. Curious, this tool looks like a long-neck impact wrench socket. Did I describe the right "improvised" tool?

 

the up and down play in lower joints isn't a show stopper but when the top/bottom of the tire lean in and out very bad for tire wear. was it actually in the hub or the upper pin style ball joint?

 

I suspect that tool is designed to press the bearing assembly out by the bolt heads, by wedging it against something on the axle and using the power steering.

This thread has an excellent write up with photos.

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...ht=ball+joints

 

dont bother trying a hub puller either, i broke one today