HOW TO CHECK YOUR BALL JOINTS.

AJAY · **Posted:** Tue Jan 31, 2006 1:57 pm

Hello all...I have recently become a new member of this site,even though I hate typing..I had to respond to this particular subject. In June 05' I purchased a new 2005 Jeep Liberty Limited 4x4. By August I had a 2.5" lift installed. My mechanic had a very difficult time adjusting the "camber". I suggested he call the company where I purchased the lift(Rocky Road). My mechanic called me & said they were a_ _holes!! I was surprised at Rocky Road's neglect to offer assistance after I purchased quite an expensive lift. At this point the alignment/camber was so-so.
I visit a repair shop in town, the guy does exactly what you've decribed in your post! Diagnosis: bad lower ball joint. Take a trip to my Jeep dealer(hav a couple friends there), tell them the issue. At the end of the day "Shawn" tells me: "Its not the ball joint,It's because of your suspension lift. We can't do anything about it, you've altered the vehicle & voided the warranty". So much for friends. I've decided that the mechanics @ this dealership are idiots!!
I suddenly recall I also have friend that's a service writer @ Dodge. Explained the whole story to her & the owner, they said they will cover the ball joints(if indeed the prob)under warranty & give me a rental car(ew..I'm driving a neon..lol). It's Tuesday 1/31 @ 12:53pm est. Wish me luck on the repair!!! I will write back soon. Sorry for the loooong post too!

Guyute1210 · **Posted:** Tue Jan 31, 2006 3:35 pm

AJAY wrote:

Hello all...I have recently become a new member of this site,even though I hate typing..I had to respond to this particular subject. In June 05' I purchased a new 2005 Jeep Liberty Limited 4x4. By August I had a 2.5" lift installed. My mechanic had a very difficult time adjusting the "camber". I suggested he call the company where I purchased the lift(Rocky Road). My mechanic called me & said they were a_ _holes!! I was surprised at Rocky Road's neglect to offer assistance after I purchased quite an expensive lift. At this point the alignment/camber was so-so.
I visit a repair shop in town, the guy does exactly what you've decribed in your post! Diagnosis: bad lower ball joint. Take a trip to my Jeep dealer(hav a couple friends there), tell them the issue. At the end of the day "Shawn" tells me: "Its not the ball joint,It's because of your suspension lift. We can't do anything about it, you've altered the vehicle & voided the warranty". So much for friends. I've decided that the mechanics @ this dealership are idiots!!
I suddenly recall I also have friend that's a service writer @ Dodge. Explained the whole story to her & the owner, they said they will cover the ball joints(if indeed the prob)under warranty & give me a rental car(ew..I'm driving a neon..lol). It's Tuesday 1/31 @ 12:53pm est. Wish me luck on the repair!!! I will write back soon. Sorry for the loooong post too!

If you are still having issues with your alignment, you can try to contact JeepinAl and see if his upper control arms will fix that issue. I people that are using them, but they have the Frankenlift, but this still might solve that issue.

Guest · **Posted:** Wed Feb 01, 2006 11:24 am

AJAY wrote:

Hello all...I have recently become a new member of this site,even though I hate typing..I had to respond to this particular subject. In June 05' I purchased a new 2005 Jeep Liberty Limited 4x4. By August I had a 2.5" lift installed. My mechanic had a very difficult time adjusting the "camber". I suggested he call the company where I purchased the lift(Rocky Road). My mechanic called me & said they were a_ _holes!! I was surprised at Rocky Road's neglect to offer assistance after I purchased quite an expensive lift. At this point the alignment/camber was so-so.
I visit a repair shop in town, the guy does exactly what you've decribed in your post! Diagnosis: bad lower ball joint. Take a trip to my Jeep dealer(hav a couple friends there), tell them the issue. At the end of the day "Shawn" tells me: "Its not the ball joint,It's because of your suspension lift. We can't do anything about it, you've altered the vehicle & voided the warranty". So much for friends. I've decided that the mechanics @ this dealership are idiots!!
I suddenly recall I also have friend that's a service writer @ Dodge. Explained the whole story to her & the owner, they said they will cover the ball joints(if indeed the prob)under warranty & give me a rental car(ew..I'm driving a neon..lol). It's Tuesday 1/31 @ 12:53pm est. Wish me luck on the repair!!! I will write back soon. Sorry for the loooong post too!

Should we be using a grease injection needle on these sealed LBJ boots every 5k miles to freshen up the grease???

jdreckard · **Posted:** Tue Feb 07, 2006 2:38 pm

I have an '06 CRD with 27000miles with very bad ball joints. The right side has 1/4" up and down play. The left is around 1/8". The dealer ordered new ones and I took it in yesterday to have them replaced but found the upper joints to be bad also. I had been experiencing a "clunk" when stopping and starting but didn't think it was coming from the front. Now I am convinced it is the ball joints.

I also had excessive tire wear on the front right tire. I took it in for an alignment and they said it was fine. I cant believe they didn't find the bad joints. I filed a complaint with the NHTSA this morning.

I have been experiencing the clunk for about 3000 miles.

It is an '05... Sorry for the mistake.

Guest · **Posted:** Tue Feb 07, 2006 3:07 pm

alljeep wrote:

Should we be using a grease injection needle on these sealed LBJ boots every 5k miles to freshen up the grease???

Sorry to quote myself, but after seeing the above post on the '06 CRD, I would really like SOMEONE to chime in to this with an answer.

chemguy · **Posted:** Sun Feb 12, 2006 4:28 pm

Just replaced all mine. All stock joist were lttle more than dust a rust when we pulled them off.

K9tuckers03KJ · **Posted:** Tue Feb 14, 2006 9:49 pm

I bought an 03 used almost a year ago. I want to check the Ball Joints this weekend as its supposed to be warmer. Is there any way I can find out if DC has replaced mine already? AND do I have any recourse to get to DC to replace them since mine is out of the original 36K warrany? :?:

dkcase · **Posted:** Thu Feb 16, 2006 8:46 am

K9tuckers03KJ wrote:

.... 03 .... Is there any way I can find out if DC has replaced mine already? :?:

There was a build-date cut-off. I can't find a copy of the recall right now.

ALL '02 models and '03 models to a certain date were supposed to be REPLACED.

After that '03 model build date, they were supposed to be INSPECTED, replaced if needed.

Call the dealer with the VIN no. to see if the recall work was performed.

Eclipse20l · **Posted:** Fri Mar 03, 2006 4:05 pm

Oh my, i'm a new Jeep owner i have 05 libby renegade and i wheel it. (nothing hard) but i am getting worried about the ubj and lbj problem it sounds like a safty hazard, i guess i whoul take mine in to the dealer and have then check it with the 16k checkup, before i put the lift on. do alljay's have this problem is it because the grease dry's up? i don't want to spend 350 unless ineed to (trying to get out of debt) I got a jeep for there rep not to worry about my wheels flying off lol.... any input would be greatly appriciated. i'm getting rusty's coil lift would alljays work?

DarbyWalters · **Posted:** Thu Mar 09, 2006 11:16 am

I thought you just turn your head and cough...

chemguy · **Posted:** Fri Mar 17, 2006 5:15 pm

OMG, Wally is back from the grave LOL.

barnaggar · **Posted:** Fri Mar 24, 2006 1:47 pm

i can vouch for this as somthing you should definatley get checked...we have an 05 renegade with 31k miles on it and had to get both ball joints replaced not a very pleasant even leading up to the incident.

05kjrenny · **Posted:** Wed Mar 29, 2006 8:35 pm

when i installed my lift i put the nuts back on the upper and almost tight and it started spinning is this normal as it did it on both side probally is by thought i would ask

kickit_in4wheel · **Posted:** Mon Apr 03, 2006 3:30 am

Hey guys, where can I find the Moog K3199 greasable lower ball joints?

Rick

JeepnJer · **Posted:** Mon Apr 03, 2006 7:41 pm

I was thinking about getting my Moog's from Jeepin-Al's, but I found a local auto parts store that carries Car Quest parts. I told them I would only accept them if they were greaseables. They called their distributor and made sure they had zerk fittings before they shipped them. The pair cost me around $125 (including ship/tax).

S PEFFER · **Posted:** Tue Apr 25, 2006 1:17 pm

HELP I HAVE COME TO TERMS WITH IT I HAVE BAD BALL JOINTS...WHERE DO I GET NEW ONES ARE SOME BETTER THAN OTHER ANY IDEAS??? PLEASE HELP WITH WEB SITE OR STORES...THANKS

Guyute1210 · **Posted:** Tue Apr 25, 2006 1:25 pm

S PEFFER wrote:

HELP I HAVE COME TO TERMS WITH IT I HAVE BAD BALL JOINTS...WHERE DO I GET NEW ONES ARE SOME BETTER THAN OTHER ANY IDEAS??? PLEASE HELP WITH WEB SITE OR STORES...THANKS

Try reading the thread you posted in, or try search. The post right above yours is talking about getting MOOG ball joints from jeepin' al or carquest and the one above it has the part number.... :roll:

oh and quit screaming...

Tokyojoe · **Posted:** Sat May 20, 2006 11:42 am

I would be interested to know what the percentage is of bad LBJ's between non-lifted to lifted KJ's.

snowsport · **Joined:** Tue Oct 18, 2005 11:52 pm **Posts:** 1211

Tokyojoe, I have been thinking the same thing. I wondered how much impact the lifts have on the life span of the ball joints. Then I realized the different lifts likely have different amounts/types of affect on the ball joints. But then I thought it would be good to be able to take a percentage tally to DC to let them know what we are experiencing: lifted KJs have this many ball joint failures, non-lifted KJs have this many. But THEN I woke up and thougt: if DC actually CARED about ball joint failures, they'd stop putting the bad ones into the KJs. They KNOW how likely the ball joints are to fail, we can be sure of that. Still, personal interest makes me curious about the numbers. How can we find out?

DispatchedKJ · **Posted:** Tue May 23, 2006 7:38 pm

I have an 05 with just over 10k and my driver side lbj is toast. I took it in last week for a clunk and they said I had a bolt loose. While I was washing it I saw it today. I cant believe the dealership didnt notice something so obvious. I also checked my ubj. My passenger side ubj has a small tear in it from contact with the spring. Are the moogs going to suffer the same problem getting pinched by the spring? I wouldnt mind getting the ctrl arms al makes but from what I have read they cause other issues as well.

HOW TO CHECK YOUR BALL JOINTS.

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