Lower ball joint moves up and down in bore.

[carlover]

Damnit wouldt you know it. I was trying to track down a clunk in my suspension since i installed my spindles a few days ago. The lower ball joint moves up and down in its bore. Im assuming this is very dangerous. Is there anything that can be done or is replacing the lower control arm my only option??? i need to get it home from work so i might have to drive it the 6 miles...

 

[Turdle]

You mean the mount in the control arm is loose? Man! The control arm must be cracked. I don't think it is safe---

 

[carlover]

its not cracked. The whole lower ball joint assembly slides up and down with the suspension. its like the bore is to big now or stripped out. gonna look at new control arms and maybe having someone weld the top of the ball joint to the control arm for the meantime.

 

[skoal_mint]

Did you loose your snap ring?

 

[carlover]

nope both snap rings are intact.

 

[carlover]

i got a buddy thats gonna weld them to the control arms for me as a temporary fix. ill be replacing the control arms soon.

 

[gijoecam]

The only time that should be an issue is if the suspension unloads, but the forces are *only* vertical through the ball joint. However, that being said, the body of the joint should be a relatively tight fit in that bore (requires a ball joint press to remove and install them). If they drop in or out, there's a problem. The joint could be under-sized, or the bore could be blown out somehow...

I know we did some testing recently at work... On the forged LCAs off an Expedition, the fourth set of joints pressed out took somewhere around 1800 lbs of force. (The original set took around 3000 to remove) Needless to say, yours should be tight.

And, yes, as far as I know, replacement of the LCA would be the best option, unless you find that the joint itself is undersized.

-Joe

 

[carlover]

i got them welded in place for now. That will last long enough to get the set of custom boxed lower control arms for my LT kit.

 

[BryanB]

I had the same problem. When the ball joint was replaced, removing the old one knocked loose all the rust and scale. It was new control arm time for me. New bushing really made it drive nice.