ball joints, how bad did I screw up?

[coffee_hound]

I replaced my ball joints in an attempt to tighten up the suspension of my 93 limited. It was definately time, the old ones flopped around like joysticks. The drivers side was very tight when i put it back together but it was getting dark so I had to get it done so i could drive to work the next day. it drove very tight and wouldn't center on the road. The next Saturday I took the wheel off again and found the rubber cap on the upper ball joint on the drivers side was torn, it got caught on the top and was in the way. it tore it out and things started working a little better. is that cap critical? can I just leave it off??

Thom

 

[JDraper]

That rubber cap keeps the grease in and the dirt out. Yes it's critical if you want your balljoints to last more than a couple thousand miles.

 

[Anime]

If you still have the torn rubber cap, they will usually stay on if you use something like a zip-tie around them to stay on. Otherwise, you can get universal rubber caps at the parts store, or even better, Energy Suspension makes red polyurethane ones, its like $4 for a 4 pack at AutoZone or Advance/Checker. You will probably want to grease the new ones with a grease gun, they don't usually come with enough grease on them to move smoothly, which might have contributed to the tight steering, or the rubber cap may have just been pinched.

 

[DeRocha]

If the steering wont return to center then you over torqued the lower ball-joint castle nut.. How much torque did you apply? Normally I will setting my torque wrench to the mid setting for the bolt and slowly tighten it. I will keep checking the steering knuckle to ensure it still moves relatively easily while slowly tightening the lower ball joint.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! You might still have a warranty on those ball joints. See if the store will give you new caps. Which store did you buy them in? What brand were those ball joints? Did you use a grease gun to fill the ball joints after you finished?