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Stock JK TechBulletin board forum regarding issues with OE (original equipment) components of the Jeep JK Wrangler (Rubicon, Sahara, Unlimited and X) such as factory suspension parts, engine, transmission, body parts, interior fixtures and the on-board computer.
So I measured the play in the ball joints with a dial indicator and got .015” on both sides. I think that’s about .38mm. Almost none. It took a lot of force with a piece of 4’ tube steel to get the movement. It’s accompanied by a slight click on both sides. The sound and play is strangely consistent on both sides.
Is the vote vote still for ball joint replacement? I sure wish I would have gotten 10x that much play as I would feel more confident in a diagnosis.
possible to shoot a quick video of you testing the BJs with focus on that upper C? I'm very anal about ball joints cuz have had this issue several times. reading you're description, I'm envisioning you using 4' pipe under the wheel, and then trying to lift the pipe up. am I wrong on that? it's actually easier to use something like a shovel, with the spade under the tire, then step on the handle, using the leverage to force upward pressure on the tire. Maybe you've used something as an axis with the tube and I'm just thinking about it wrong.
when someone is turning the steering wheel back and forth (sometimes useful when both no power and with vehicle running), you see very little movement in the TB joints?
wish i still had a video of movement with one of my bad BJs. The sound is concerning to me.
So I measured the play in the ball joints with a dial indicator and got .015” on both sides. I think that’s about .38mm. Almost none. It took a lot of force with a piece of 4’ tube steel to get the movement. It’s accompanied by a slight click on both sides. The sound and play is strangely consistent on both sides.
Is the vote vote still for ball joint replacement? I sure wish I would have gotten 10x that much play as I would feel more confident in a diagnosis.
Here's a couple pics of using an indicator on mine. For the up/down play I just jacked it up, zero'd the indicator, then let it down -- It's easier this way when alone. For lateral play you still have to horse it by hand. If they are in spec, no reason to fix what ain't broke.
There is no room for play in that joint….not like what is being shown on that video. I don’t care what any dial indicator says, BJ’s don’t have that much play, nor make a knocking noise. I'm sorry to report I still believe those BJs are bad.
Just eyeballing, it looks like about 0.030", but it could be more. The video is showing the axial play from the lower ball joint, and the spec is 0.050". Mine have ~0.027" and the video looks similar -- A dial indicator properly setup is going to measure it. The 0.050" is a maximum, and it would be interesting to know what an OEM joint has after several thousand miles.
To reiterate, that up/down play is from the lower joint. The upper joint takes a radial (side to side) load but not any axial thrust (up/down) load. RonJenx did a nice write-up on this with pics. The specs are less than 0.050" axial (up/down) play (from the lower joint) and the upper joint is allowed up to 0.060" radial play.
Because of the way the taper bushing in the upper joint will take up wear to a point (see RonJenx ball joint link above for pics), near zero radial play (not up/down axial play) is what I've measured on mine. Once the play starts increasing, the tapered bushing has done all the wear compensation it can. I'd replace it well before 0.060".
So I bought a set of Teraflex ball joints last Christmas knowing that my stock joints would be needing to be changed sooner or later (85,000 miles) 35 Cooper STT Pro approximately 20,000 miles rotated every 3,000 miles with the 5th spare. Tackled the job today and glad I did, the bottom ball joints were pretty worn. Rented ball joint kit from Advance Auto and took me 9 hours from start to finish by my self. So I would venture to say if you got 120,000 miles they probably are shot. I would definitely be changing your ball joints but may have multiple worn joints if everything has been left stock.
12-20-2018, 05:27 PM
