Ball Joints and Stuff

Well, it's actually the other way around on joints for price. The cheapest ones you can find are the best. They come with grease nipples so you can pump the water and mud out of them after a run.

The expensive, 'heavy duty', lifetime warranty', no grease joints are total garbage!!!

I too thought I would be 'smart' and go with the 'best' or most expensive ones. I have been regretting it ever since. They started blowing out from water contamination after only 8 months!

I have had to replace 'every' one. I now only have one or maybe two left in her and one of those is toast, a bottom ball joint.

I hear from others here that the sealed joints do work...., if you live in the desert and it never sees water or snow...

Once you have the ball joints apart, I would recommend you examine the axle u-joints carefully. It is a pile of work to get to them, so while it's open. Same for the diff seals. I would be looking into the axle tubes with a light for evidence of oil. The tube should be dry because the seals are inboard.

You have no serviceable hub bearings, the hub is another one of those 'sealed units'.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail >

I can understand what you are saying, but after taking a quick look at the lower ball joint I don't see where you could get a grease nipple in there. It seems like there isn't enough room. (well maybe)

How does one tell if the hub bearings are good or bad?

Dean

Umm, the nipple goes bottom dead center on the bottom one and my new top one has a bottom dead center one with a 90 deg nipple or zirk pointing out sideways. It also came with a plug to use if the u-joint is too close. You move the u-joint by spinning the wheel in your case so you have room and open it up to grease.

One of my front axle u-joints also has zirks in the end caps with plugs to use.

I jack up the wheel and just shake the tire. If a bearing is bad, you will have a tire wobble when you do this. Another telltale is if the first time you hit the brakes, the pedal is low, then the pedal comes up normal on the second pump.

If the bearing is bad, it will push the brake caliper piston back in from the rotor wobble.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view! Jan/06 (More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page)

About the bottom ball joints you mentioned there doesnt look like there's room for a fitting... I bought my balljoints from Napa and the bottoms came with the zerk fittings and also with what I can only explaint as a bolt/cap... at first I put the zerks in but the ujoints wouldnt rotate because they hit the fittings. I greased it then removed the zerk fitting and screwed in the cap. I dont know if unscrewing the cap and screwing back in the zerk fitting repeatedly over time is gonna be good but that's how I grease mine.

Troy

The plugs work perfectly. I have then in one axle u-joint too, the other has a standard central zerk

I own a CJ7 and a Cherokee and the only thing below my bottom u-joints zerk fittings is the ground or pavement.

What the 'heck' are you guys driving???? LOL!

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail >

Thanks for the replies. Today I decided to get started, but before I started removing stuff I decided to get a helper to wiggle the tires and steering wheel so I could confirm that the ball joints are bad. Try as we might we couldn't get any side-to-side motion from the ball joints. Using a pry bar we were able to get maybe 1/32 up and down play.

Wiggling the steering wheel created a clicking noise that I traced to the pitman shaft moving side to side in the steering box. There is about 1/32 - 1/16 of movement back and forth on the shaft.

I'm running a Rubicon Express Long Arm lift, and the lift, shocks, and tires are all about 1,000 miles old. The front tires are wearing into a scalloped pattern on the outer side. The wear pattern is on the backside of the tire lugs when you look at the top of the tire.

Is the up and down play in the ball joints bad enough to replace them? And could the sloppy pitman shaft be the cause of the scalloped wear on the tires? Is the pitman shaft slop even a problem worth fixing?

Thanks Dean

(I'm half tempted to replace everyth> The plugs work perfectly. I have then in one axle u-joint too, the

On my TJ I have 33x12.50's on 15x10 rims, and they're kinda boxy when viewed from the front. I don't know what size/shape tires you have, but when I was told my ball joints needed replacing I took it home and parked it in the driveway, with the tires pointed straight. I then got a few feet back and looked at each side from the front and saw that indeed on the left side the tire was leaning just a tad. I tried to pry them up with the bar like the guy at the tire shop but he was about 50 lbs heavier than me, so I didn't make it move that much either. I didn't have any tire wear however cuz mine were tweaked outta shape from an accident that pushed me around and slammed me into a big curb.

You said the lift and all is only 1000 miles old, did you get an alignment after? I'm sure someone was gonna ask you that sooner or later. When I lifted mine I took it in and it didn't need alignment they said but some people's tj's do need one I read.

Hope this helps a little Troy

I believe I have a fried ball joint because my tire scalloped like yours and now my steering is jamming after finishing a turn And I can see that the boot is missing from the suspected joint.

However, I still haven't been able to move the SOB with a bar.... I think mine only moves side to side.

Only 'no' movement is acceptable. If you can get up and down movement, I would suspect the 'upper' ball joint of being bad as well as the lower.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail >