Ball joint weirdness
#1
Ball joint weirdness
So, I went to the shop (normally trustworthy, but starting to suspect not so great at complex stuff) and asked to do alignment. They said they couldn't as lower ball joints were bad. These had in fact been replaced by Toyota about 3000 miles previously (during steering rod recall), so I took it back to Toyota dealership, who looked it all over and said (at pain of owing me a lot of dough if anything goes wrong) all looked fine, and were stumped. Looks fine to me too. Any ideas? This all occurred after putting in new shocks, sway bars, bushings, tires, etc.
#3
Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: TN native stuck in AL
Posts: 256
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
So, I went to the shop (normally trustworthy, but starting to suspect not so great at complex stuff) and asked to do alignment. They said they couldn't as lower ball joints were bad. These had in fact been replaced by Toyota about 3000 miles previously (during steering rod recall), so I took it back to Toyota dealership, who looked it all over and said (at pain of owing me a lot of dough if anything goes wrong) all looked fine, and were stumped. Looks fine to me too. Any ideas? This all occurred after putting in new shocks, sway bars, bushings, tires, etc.
#4
Loose wheel bearings, caused by the spindle lock-nut backing off, will represent as a bad lower ball joint. If you have tools, it's not hard to check if that's the case. However, you'll need a spindle nut socket to tighten it back down. Torques are all specific, don't mess around there, either.
#5
Well, the dealer was the one that gave it the re-once-over and swears all is fine with the ball joints, and aligned. What I was interested in is really represented by the last post - i.e. "other stuff" that might be presenting the same way.
#6
Registered User
I was told the same thing when I went for an inspection last year, but upon closer inspection it was indeed determined to be the bearing torque.
You can check the balljoints yourself by jacking the front end up, and holding the wheel at 12, and 6, and attempting to wiggle it. If it wiggles theres an issue.
You can check the balljoints yourself by jacking the front end up, and holding the wheel at 12, and 6, and attempting to wiggle it. If it wiggles theres an issue.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
kawazx636
The Classifieds GraveYard
34
10-06-2021 03:03 PM
FS[MidWest]: 1.5" ball joint spacers
4x4YOTA
Axles - Suspensions - Tires - Wheels
2
08-23-2016 09:08 AM
FS[SouthCent]: TX - 4Crawler Ball Joint spacers
crash813
Axles - Suspensions - Tires - Wheels
0
09-27-2015 07:15 AM