Lower Ball Joint Replacement -> alignment necessary?

[budwich]

I have a lower ball joint problem (both sides... inside tire wear). No major steering issues just basically wear on the inside of both tires. Alignment guys "look / see" says both lower ball joint have "looseness".... ok no problem. I read thru the great write up in the section on replacement, doesn't look like an issue. Should be doable with a few rented tools as I have most of the other stuff. My "silly" question is based on what I see in the write up, and not knowing much about "alignment adjustments", IF I do both lowers, is it "imperative" that the vehicle has an alignment there after????.... assuming everything goes back together the way it came off... ie. tie rods are not bent, moved and upper control arm is left "as is" (joint just slid off). It would seem to me that if there is no physical damage to the front end (bending, etc), that once the ball joints are re-install, that the alignment would be back to "normal". Is this basically a "true understanding" or do/would the alignment guys do some "magic" adjustments thereafter?? or would they just do a "machine check" and give me a printout saying everything is OK?

 

[my98nnj]

Any time you replace or disassemble front steering suspension components it's best to have the vehicle realigned. You are having tire ware issues, who's to say that the ball joints are not the only cause of that? Toe could be off, as well as camber/caster.

 

[dean1997sport]

I drove mine about a week after I changed them before I went in to get an alignment. Once I got it to the alignment shop I told the tech I just changed the ball joints he took a look got it on the machine and told me it was just slightly off on my pass side (like 1 degree toe) but the drivers side was fine. told me I might want to change my tierods then bring it back they were loose on the pass side, so thats what i did.

 

[SoNic67]

Replacing the lower ball-joint is not affecting the alignment.
You might want to check the alignment after that because diving with those worn-out ball joints might pull off the frame - unlikely on a 2001 Explorer (body on frame), but very likely on newer ones or regular cars (unibody).

 

[budwich]

sonic67... that's my take assuming nothing bad happened during the change out (ie. bending the control arms, tie rods). I don't need some one to charge me $100 (after taxes) to have a printout saying everything is fine especially after paying $50 to tell me that the lowers joints were loose.

 

[SoNic67]

You can get a free alignment check. I don't want to advertise here, it's one of the big shops out there.
Or you could drive it like it is and hope it is right. Or not and ruin other set of tires.
The bad thing is that I did align three times one of my cars (at two different shops) and still it is "pulling" to left. So... you might be better as you are now