Thanks for all your reply's. At the moment, you can move the lowers a about quarter inch front to back. If you pull down on them there is some movement, but not bad. With the told tires on, I had noticed the steering seamed to wander a little more that it use to. With the new tires on, it seams to have gotten worst. Not as bad as the wander in the Ford F350 that I had before. I guess the ball joints may have something to do with it. I leaving for vacation today pulling my 5th wheel. We will see how it does on the trip. I will deal with this when I get back. Thanks for all the help. Anthony

 

You can add me to the ball joint group. Got a clicking noise in 4 wheel last week and took it to the dealer this morning. God bless extended warranty, upper and lower on both sides replaced with U-joint and axle seals. Oh yah 89,000 kms!

 

look closely at your new OEM joints for grease zerts. if no grease ports exits. keep your new joints pumped full of grease with a grease needle.

poke needle through rubber boot, then pump until grease comes out. keep same maintenance interval. every other oil change should do it. I'd pump it full after rough 4x4 sessions.

if you keep your joints full of grease, they will last next to forever.

 

about 50k on my stock ball joints, and they are still in great shape.. I wonder if this is a hit and miss thing?
Scott

 

Agreed.. Now all my ball joints have grease zerts as well as the front u joints... Feels good to keep things lubed!

 

nope.. it's a usage thing. some folks drive over rougher roads than others. putting more cycles on joints.

if your joints are still good at 50k miles.... load em up with grease via a grease needle at regular intervals. every other oil change should be good. unless you go 4x4, then service is needed right afterwards.

don't wait until joints go dry... then it's too late.

 

So, since the dodge factory balljoints are not serviceable, can I just poke a hole in the boot and shoot them with grease?

 

Poke a tiny hole with a grease needle.
http://www.sjdiscounttools.com/plw05-037.html

 

I am going to be doing my ball joints with in the next couple weeks. Does any body know of any write ups on how to do them.

 

There ae a couple of good writeups on the ball joint replacement. Check over on TDR too. That's where I found the best one.

You'll need a ball joint press. Also do the axle U-joints while you're there. They are not greaseable either. You can get heavy duty Spicer joints from Napa.

After you get done and get an alignment you can see if an offset joint would serve you better and "next time" get one with the right offset. I bought an adjustable BJ but didn't use it.

If you really want to do a nice job put the Dynatrac kit in at the same time. This gives you serviceable wheel bearings as well as hubs. Very nice! And it gets rid of the unit bearings that will eventually fail because they are not serviceable either.

Once all of this is done the truck will steer better and you can maintain it.


John