Whats with chevy ball joints?

TeamGreen · June 8, 2001

I just replaced my upper ball joints and now the lowers are bad. They have both been replaced at least once or more times not counting this time. Why do the ball joints suck so bad? Maybe ill have to go with a Ford? J/K

bowtiefan · June 8, 2001

o no he said the f word on here thats bad lol. a answer to your question would be i have no clue whats up with them. i was just picking on you saying the FORD word.

June 8, 2001

Teamgreen, you didn't give a description of your truck, but my experience with ball joints is this;

In the '62-86 1/2 ton 2x4's they just don't hold up at all. I don't know if it is the design or if people abuse them, but I've changed a lot of them.l

I don't have much info on '86 and up, 4x4 or 3/4 and 1 tons. Never spent a lot of time working on them.

76BBSub · June 8, 2001

The lowers usually go before the uppers. In fact, it is unusual to have to replace the uppers before close to 100K miles, depending on how you drive. My '76 Suburban had over 90K miles when I did the balljoints. The suspension shop said the lowers were shot but the uppers were OK. I went ahead and did them all, along with tie rods and idler arm.

I guess having all that weight on the front end and the places and ways we tend to drive our trucks takes a toll on ball joints. I hope I don't have to do mine again anytime soon.

A couple questions....

First, what year is your truck and is it 2- or 4-wheel drive?

Second, what brand of balljoints are you using? GM supplied stuff or Moog is best.

Jeff

Kansas Kid · June 9, 2001

His truck could also have come with those great :angry:non-greasable balljoints that GM used for awhile. I know my truck had them, and by 80k the grease boots had ripped, thus no grease. Kind of wore them out prematurely.

76BBSub · June 9, 2001

True, most if not all original GM ball joints had no grease fittings. It seems that even GM replacements had grease fittings, but I couldn't swear to it. That's why I recommend Moog front end components, they have grease fittings on everything, ball joints, idler arm, tie rods, etc. and are heavy duty.

Jeff

June 9, 2001

I'm with Jeff on Moog suspension parts. They make quality stuff.

TeamGreen · June 12, 2001

My truck is an 89 Sierra 2500 4X4. My lower ball joints squeek a lot probably cause there worn and there is no grease fittings.

76BBSub · June 13, 2001

A squeak sounds more like bushings than ball joints. The ball joints on my Suburban were totally shot, but they didn't squeak at all. Worn bushings will always squeak. Does it squeak when you push down on the body or go over bumps? Most likely bushings...

Still about the same amount of work to replace, though.

I would recommend doing it all if you do any of it. Once the control arms are off and you go to get parts pressed in/out it's just easier to finish the whole job.

Jeff

TeamGreen · June 13, 2001

Im positive its the lower ball joint though. Its really worn out and there is no grease in it.

Kansas Kid · June 16, 2001

I've got to agree with 76BBSub on the squeaking. The truck in my signature had 130k on the original balljoints (no grease fittings) on one side and made the same noise you describe. I had to replace the bushings on both sides to cure the noise....