Hey guys,

So I feel like its getting to be about that time for me to replace my ball joints (and possibly U joints too I'm guessing). I rode in a buddy's 06' Ram 2500 Mega Cab a few days ago and WOW it is just night and day difference in the ride between mine and his. His rides like a Cadillac compared to mine. Mine has 119k and it rides like a dump truck and is only getting worse.

So anyways I was just wondering if it is time to replace them and how much it will cost? Either just buying the parts and doing it myself or the dealer (which I'm sure is ridiculous)?

 

What makes you think the ball joints are bad? A poor riding truck isn't a symptom of a ball joint issue. Easy enough to check. Jack up a front wheel, grab the wheel at the noon and six o'clock position and see if there is any play. Some will tell you a 1/4 inch of play is within spec. But I say not. Any play - it's ball joint time.

However, i suspect you are suffering from what my truck suffered from. My shocks we shot. As well, the sway bar end links were spent to the point that one side was not even connected. The wasted links were making one hell of a racket, not to mention delivering some craptastic handling. Once I replaced those items, the truck litteraly rode and drove like new.

 

I have an 06 and just had the front ball joints, tie rods, shocks, and front axle u joints done for $1400. I have 122k on mine and it was riding like a dump truck plus no one would drive it but me because it was so bad out of line.
So after all that plus a new alignment it now drives like new again.

 

I had to put a big prybar between the knuckle and rotor, pointing down to find the slack in my ball joints. Shaking the tire showed nothing. New ball joints didn't improve the ride any. But it sure made the banging noise go away.

 

Ah ok. Well thanks for the input guys! Yeah I've been told three times in the past year that my ball joints need to be replaced (once when I got my new tires put on, another when I got my Kore suspension kit on, and then when I got new brakes/rotors).

So I'm thinking they will need to be replaced but I will put her up on jacks this weekend to check for play to make certain. This may be a dumb question but as far as U Joints go is there a way to check them or do they just go? Also, if I'm gonna do the ball joints is there anything else I should do while its being done? Tie rod ends, bearings, u joints, etc?

 

As far as the "ride" or handling goes in the front end, is there anything I could do to improve that like maybe a Thuren adjustable track bar?

 

I was told that it is good practice to replace the shocks when you do ball joints and front end work bc if the shocks are wore out that it will put more stress on the new parts you just installed.