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Lower ball joint replacement vs Control arms ? Is it worth it ?

Yotaman

By Yotaman
in Troubleshooting & Recalls

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Yotaman Enthusiast

Yotaman

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I brought my 2014 GMC Sierra SLE in for a tire rotation today and they summoned me to the shop area. The lower ball joint on the passenger side has about 1/16" or so slack in it. The guy says it is not that bad yet and truck has 77K on odometer. They quoted me about 700 bucks to replace both lower ball joints. I called another shop I usually use for mechanic work when it is more than I want to handle and they was 900 something. So after some googling and youtubing etc I found that I can get from Rockauto both the upper and lower control arms with ball joints installed for about 220.00 these are the  Mevotech brand. Is it worth it to just have the ball joints replaced or wise and easier to just replace both control arms ? Any danger or quality issue getting away from the OEM control arms ? I am just collecting data to make a decision on which way to go and if I want to do the work myself or buy the parts and pay a mechanic to do it. 

And the truck still drives fine so  I wonder if they are really bad are maybe they just pushing a upsell ??

 

Thanks,

Yotaman

CamGTP Senior Enthusiast

CamGTP

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I wouldn't even bother with that minimal amount of play. Check it again in 5-10k miles and see if it's the same or worse.

 

I'd go with MOOG or Delphi/AC delco before going with Mevotech. The Mevotech line of parts aren't bad but the better or OEM parts on rockauto aren't that much more money. You do need to know what controls arms you have now though. They make aluminum and steel and the material the knuckle is made out of matters too.

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Yotaman Enthusiast

Yotaman

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Thank you for the advice and I will check them again after the first of the year. I have read a thread where Moog is not what it used to be as it is what I always used in the past. The OEM to me has only lasted 77K miles so I  am not sure any are better than the others. My arms are steel as I did check. Thanks again for the advice.

 

Yotaman

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  • 3 years later...
anthonymason59223051 Enthusiast

anthonymason59223051

Posted
Posted
On 11/12/2021 at 10:33 PM, CamGTP said:

I wouldn't even bother with that minimal amount of play. Check it again in 5-10k miles and see if it's the same or worse.

 

I'd go with MOOG or Delphi/AC delco before going with Mevotech. The Mevotech line of parts aren't bad but the better or OEM parts on rockauto aren't that much more money. You do need to know what controls arms you have now though. They make aluminum and steel and the material the knuckle is made out of matters too.

i had gone with the mevotech ttx lower joints when i rebuilt the front end on my 2018 LT texas edition ccsb 4x4 (roughly 90-95k miles) 13 months in and one of the grease zerks wont take grease, the other took grease but broke off trying to get the hose off. both of the boots were split after 3 months... discovered that fact when they started making noise. still have no play, just noisy. my opinion is the joints are good, but the boots are junk. now that i cant grease either one i am either going to "downgrade" to the supreme to get the better boot or go OE when they start to get excessive movement.

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