Replace Upper Ball Joints In Pairs?

[Beamie]

I have a sloppy upper ball joint on our '08 that needs replacing at 98,000 miles.

Should I have both sides done now to avert an issue in the near future or could the other one hang in there indefinitely presuming that the first is an odd occurrence?

 

Perhaps related, the driver's front hub went out about 20,000 miles ago and the other just got loose and I replaced it so I wondered if ball joints are similar in failure rates.

 

[Sharpz]

That is always the best policy, unless of course it was say do to an accident or hitting something on that side, and there is only say 10k miles on them.  For normal wear replace both sides, also a good time to do your shocks, inspect your wheel bearings and if 4 wheel drive your half shafts/cv joints.

[Beamie]

2 hours ago, Sharpz said:

That is always the best policy, unless of course it was say do to an accident or hitting something on that side, and there is only say 10k miles on them.  For normal wear replace both sides, also a good time to do your shocks, inspect your wheel bearings and if 4 wheel drive your half shafts/cv joints.

 

Front strut (shock?) assemblies were replaced a little while ago and as noted both front hubs. So now on to the upper ball joints. Thanks for the thought.

[redvett]

Yes always change both of any front end repair parts as it saves you money since you must get a front end alignment after the work is done and you will save the cost of a second alignment.