That is a soultion for someone that has no fab skills or tools. Its a simple fix that takes about 20 min and you don't even have to remove the coils. You just need a cut off wheel on a grinder, a pry bar and a welder. Trim the two tabs on the back of the axle coil perch, jack the weight off the coils (makes it easier) with a long pry bar pry the back of the perch up until it is level, about 3/8" and weld a peice of 1/8" steel along the back of the perch. A decent fabricator should only charge $40-$50 to do this.

 

These threads are so important to list all available options for solving issues no matter what the budget, High end, low end and weekend warriors such as myself. I appreciate all comments and suggestions from everyone.

Can a visual inspection point out a worn ball joint like the pic I have above? I will jack the front end and do the pry bar check and wiggle check of the tires, but I feel that I've been staring at those for 10 years now, and they didn't look that squished. Especially since they have fresh grease Mobile 1 synthetic before my trip and then again in that picture. 2 pump chump.

 

I don't see a BJ pick above. IMO, you're not gonna diagnose via a visual inspection with everything assembled. It's gonna take a pry bar or shovel under the tire creating direct upward pressure and then look for movement between the gap where the knuckle and C meet....at the upper BJ is usually the easiest to spot for me. Any "flex" is ok, but you shouldn't see that moving up and down at all. Again, I don't see a picture so hard to tell what you're seeing, but I'd say most people probably overfill with grease and use the boot as a reservoir of grease....and the more you pump in there the more it's gonna bulge or appear "squished".

I've not looked at Synergy BJs in quite some time. If you've had those for 10 years I'd say they are not lifetime warranty. I had several sets of Synergies back in '14-'15 and recall them being 1-year warranty it seems. That said, I think you might just be being a little worried about nothing. Usually a bad BJ doesn't conceal itself very well when driving. I think if you had a bad one you'd be feeling it here and there.

 

Sorry it didn't upload with the other pics. The front end seems a little rough with brand new shocks. I'll tighten the control arms tomorrow also.

 

Ok so I re-torqued all my control arms and checked the ball joints. There is no play in the ball joints and the drivers side front lower bolt on the control arm was either seized on or way too tight. As soon as I loosened them all up and re-torqued it's driving like a dream again. It seriously felt like my tires were out of balance because of the control arms.

 

Thanks for updating. It reminds me that I've got cleanup to do and part of that needs to be checking torque.

 

I want to recenter my front sway bar disconnects as they are a little annoying to get on and off. Tight fit. I get having the vehicle on level ground but in what position should the upper sway bar be in? Horizontal? And how hard should it be to slide the sway bar on and off? I guess enough so that there is no play?

 

Angle it up just a couple degrees. The links should be nice and smooth while on a level garage or pavement, but the reality is you're never 100% level out when reconnecting out in the field so the links never gonna slide back on with the same ease at that time. I usually have to press down or pull up on the bumper just a slight bit to line the 2nd link up perfectly.

 

OK good to know information. I will make these adjustments. I remember I purchased new bushings a few thousand miles ago and installed them and it was a major difference for $12. I used sockets and a c-clamp to install them. Highly recommend a quick rebuild if you have not already. The rear sway bars are actually the stock fronts moved to the rear. I damaged one of the nuts on the sway bar so that an open end wrench won't fit on it anymore. I rounded it with my impact wrench. Yikes. I got it back together using vice grips. Would I benefit any in the rear by installing a new set of sway bars? All of the ones I've been looking at online look a ton beefier than my stock ones. Then again the stock ones have been just fine so far I suppose? Just curious as it was something I never explored options and I see options ranging from $60 to $160.

https://www.northridge4x4.com/part/b...erical-bushing

 

If your stock rear links are the appropriate length, no, there's no benefit in installing something super beefy. The rear sway bar isn't thick enough to need heavy duty links. I bought rubicon express or rough country rear links (don't recall which) but they were dirt cheap and the right length.