How To Check Your Truck Ball Joints Aren’t Faulty Or Warn

Ball joints are a crucial component of a truck’s suspension system. They connect the vehicle’s control arms to the steering knuckles or spindles and are one of the key suspension pivot points. As the steering wheel is rotated while driving and the automobile moves across uneven road surfaces, the front ball joints allow the front wheels and suspension to move back and forth, as well as up and down.

Modern ball joints aren’t serviceable, and many of them are designed to last the life of your vehicle. However, because ball joints are such a key part of your suspension system, it’s critical to understand the signals that anything is wrong with them, as well as how to check for them. If you find a problem with one of the ball joints, you should repair the damaged one as well as the pair. This is because if one ball joint fails, the other is likely to fail soon after.

What exactly is a ball joint?

Let’s take a short look at what a ball joint is before we go any further.

A ball joint is often a ball-in-socket design with grease lubrication and a dust boot. Modern ball joints are sealed, which not only protects the joint from dirt, grit, and other impurities but also eliminates the need for maintenance. This implies that if your ball joint fails, the entire assembly will most likely need to be replaced.

There are several indicators that your ball joints are beginning to wear down.

Below are some of them:

• Noises that are clunky or squeaky
• Taking a detour to the side while driving
• Steering that is loose or unsteady
• Tyre wear that is uneven

How do you check for damaged ball joints?

It’s conceivable that the symptoms of worn ball joints appear gradually, so you don’t notice them for a while. However, if you have seen any of the symptoms listed above, or if you simply want to double-check your ball joints, it is advisable to check your ball joints while driving before performing a visual inspection.

How to Examine Your Ball Joints While Driving?

Checking your ball joints while driving is simple: simply:

1. Go for a drive in your automobile.

Drive the vehicle at the posted speed limit on a public road, paying special attention to the engine, steering, and general performance of the vehicle.

What to watch out for

Vibrations – When a ball joint wears out, it becomes loose, causing a vibration that you can feel while driving through the floor or the steering wheel. Wandering steering wheel to the left or right – damaged ball joints lead the steering to pull to the left or right on its own. This might also result in uneven tyre wear.

2. Drive through speed bumps

After driving at the speed limit, take it somewhere with speed bumps and drive slowly. Stop and go several times, as well as turn a few times.

What to watch out for:

Noise – this could be clunking or squeaking. Clunking noises are created by rattling worn ball joints as the suspension goes up and down the road. When the rubber boot that protects the grease inside the ball joint becomes destroyed, the ball joint begins to squeak. These noises will become louder when the ball joints wear out.

3. Squeeze the steering wheel

The final step is to park the vehicle and move the wheels back and forth many times while listening for noise from the ball joints.

How to Visually Examine Ball Joints?

Following a visual and physical inspection of your ball joints while driving, it’s time for a visual and physical inspection. Make sure you have the following tools ready before you begin:

• Jack
• Jack stand
• Flashlight
• a pry bar
• lug nut wrench
• Wheel chocks or wooden blocks

The following are the steps in a visual and physical inspection:

1. Examine your tyres for wear.

Loose ball joints are incapable of keeping your suspension aligned while driving. This increases tyre wear by causing the rubber tread to make infrequent contact with the ground. If you see feathering (uneven patches of wear on a tyre) or that the front of the wheels points out (i.e. toe-out), your ball joints may need to be inspected further. If the tyre wear is equivalent on both sides, the problem is most likely not with your ball joints, but with the under-inflation of the tyres.

2. Release the lug nuts.

Loosen the lug nuts to the point where they are hand-tight. This should allow you to rotate the wheel on its axis without totally detaching it.

3. Jack up the automobile and secure the wheels with wheel chocks.

Jack up the front of the vehicle and stabilize this with jack stands. To keep the car from moving, insert wheel chocks or wooden blocks behind the back wheels. It’ll also make inspecting the ball joints simpler.

4. Shake the wheel on its axis.

Grab the top and bottom of the wheel and rock it in and out along the vehicle axis of the wheel. If indeed the ball joints are functioning properly, this movement should have next to no play.

What to watch out for:

Noise or movement from the top suggests an issue with the top ball joint.

Noise and movement at the bottom suggest an issue with the bottom ball joint.

5. Take off the wheel

Remove the wheel and inspect the upper and lower ball joints using a flashlight.

What to watch out for:

Is there any evidence of rust, damage to the dust boot, oil leaks, or any other potential issue? If this is the case, it’s time to replace your ball joint.

6. Separate the ball joint

Using the pry bar, try to pry the lower control arm and steering knuckle apart (the two components connected by the ball joint).

What to watch out for:

Excessive play and movement, as well as clicking sounds, indicate that the ball joints are too loose.

7. Replace the wheel.

Replace the wheel, lower the car, and twist the lug nuts once you’ve completed visually inspecting and testing the ball joint.

8. Repeat with the remaining wheels.

After you have completed the first wheel, you must inspect the other three by repeating steps 2-7.