22.5 Silverado 1500 - lower ball joint bad at 28,000?

Mossyoakglock · February 10

Is it unheard of or common for a lower ball joint to go out at 28,000, specifically on the T1 trucks?

I have DirtKing coilovers and Cognito UCA with bolt-in ball joints. The Cognito ball joints went back pretty quickly and I replaced them with Moog. While that fixed most of the clunk, I'm still getting a slight clunk. Mostly when turning in somewhere that has either a decline or incline. I checked them and did not see any play either.

I also checked AllData and the only things listed is testing the lower ball joint or complete lower control arm replacement. Can the lower ball joint be replaced on the T1 trucks? I looks like they are similar to the GMT-900 where there is a lip that needs to be removed prior to pressing out.

I have also checked every other nut and bolt associated with the front suspension, drivetrain and steering and nothing else seems loose.

newdude · February 10

T1 are a part of the arm as far as GM is concerned. I do see where aftermarket makes joints, not sure how I feel about that though.

Premature failure is not unheard of if you are modified. Stock expect anywhere from 70,000-120,000mi depending on how its used.

We've seen UCA bolts come loose on these on stock trucks so check those out. Make sure your calipers are tight too. Any play in the steering rack bushings?

The active grille shutters can make clunk noises too if they are coming in contact with anything in their path. But that can be ruled out quickly by pulling the fuse for the shutters, fuse F92 and test driving it.

Edited February 10 by newdude

davester · February 10

most any part can fail, at most any time.

it's the failure bathtub curve.

it's why your truck, and parts have a warranty.

Mossyoakglock · February 11

I've only had the coilovers on for maybe 2,000 miles so most of that mileage is stock.

The active shutters are likely not an issue since I have most of them removed. I just kept the main one in that ties all the arms together. But I'll check it out to make sure nothing looks out of place.

Ive checked the UCA bolts as well and they are tight along with the caliper bolts. I might put a little bit of blue loctite on the UCA bolts just in case.

As for warranty I'm past the 3-year period so I'd likely have to pay for them. If I'm going to do that I might as well swap out the entire arm and not mess with pressing out the old ball joints.

Mossyoakglock · February 12

Update...

Spent some time going every nut & bolt I could find on the front even including the body mounts and I'm still getting a little clunk. I checked every other conceivable thing that could move and everything is solid. I also loosened the UCA bolts, rocked the truck to settle everything and retorqued.

It seems to be more prominent on the little bumps at 25 mph or less. Anything faster or bigger bump it doesn't seem to be there. I did find a random Facebook post in a GM truck group where the guy installed a level kit w/ upper arms and started getting a clunk soon after and it ended up being his lower ball joints.

This has me thinking it's either the lower ball joints or just the nature of the coilovers (I don't think a bad hub would clunk?) Or could it just be the valve/piston moving on the slow compressions that I'm hearing?

I'm at the point where I'm about to replace the lower arm. I figure I'll get a greaseable ball joint and maybe better lower arm bushings?

Mossyoakglock · February 20

Update two:

I was under the truck again and just by chance checked the in CV and noticed some play so I have a few questions...

1. Is this normal amount of play?

2. Could this likely be the noise I'm hearing?

3. Can the inner splines be greased? I had to replace the passenger side (my fault) and when I removed the OE one there was no fluid on the splines. Wasn't sure if the female splines on the diff side were sealed off or if they shared the front diff fluid

Other than that play, the front CV is solid. I'm wondering if adding grease to the inner CV splines will help with the noise.

Drive Side CV
Driver Side CV
Driver Side CV
Passenger CV
Passenger CV

Edited February 20 by Mossyoakglock

newdude · February 20

36 minutes ago, Mossyoakglock said:

Update two:

I was under the truck again and just by chance checked the in CV and noticed some play so I have a few questions...

1. Is this normal amount of play?

2. Could this likely be the noise I'm hearing?

3. Can the inner splines be greased? I had to replace the passenger side (my fault) and when I removed the OE one there was no fluid on the splines. Wasn't sure if the female splines on the diff side were sealed off or if they shared the front diff fluid

Other than that play, the front CV is solid. I'm wondering if adding grease to the inner CV splines will help with the noise.

Edit: Having trouble getting the videos to load but will try again later.