05 Renegade 31k miles and had to replace both ball joints!!

barnaggar · **Posted:** Fri Mar 24, 2006 1:39 pm

Last Wednesday my wife was working late and didnt leave work until 7:45pm. We live in the mtns of western north carolina and she has to travel some pretty steep and curvey roads..so she called me when she left work to let me know and i was expecting her to be home around 30 mins later..well she calls me and says as she was going up the dirt road to our house that she got a flat but couldnt move the jeep. I thought that was weird so she walked the rest of the way home and stayed with the kids while i walked down to check it out...when i came upon it somthing didnt look right it was the drivers side up front that the tire was busted but it was sitting really low to the ground. I called my buddy who lives next door and he drove down. Soon as he got out of his jeep he said somthing is wrong. He got his flash light out and we looked under the jeep..sure enough the A-Arm had completely come off and when it fell it busted the tire up. I had my wife call the roadside assistance and about 45 minutes to an hour later the tow truck came and hoisted her up on the flat bed. He towed it to the local dealer and the next day we called and they lent us a mini van while they were fixing it. So a few days pass and we hadnt heard anything from them, i called them up and asked the status of our renegade. They were still waiting for parts. A few more days pass and they call and say its ready. When we came to pickup the jeep they had replaced the tire with a brand new one under warranty and also replaced both ball joints. He said they were completly messed up. Now i dont know too much about it but does anyone know why this would have happened?

Guyute1210 · **Posted:** Fri Mar 24, 2006 2:39 pm

barnaggar wrote:

Now i dont know too much about it but does anyone know why this would have happened?

Bad engineering on DC's part. This has been and will still be an issue unless you go aftermarket, or DC gets off their butt and does something about it. make sure you contact the NTSB and report that. If you don't report it, then DC will never do anything about it.

barnaggar · **Posted:** Fri Mar 24, 2006 2:58 pm

Guyute1210 wrote:

barnaggar wrote:

Now i dont know too much about it but does anyone know why this would have happened?

Bad engineering on DC's part. This has been and will still be an issue unless you go aftermarket, or DC gets off their butt and does something about it. make sure you contact the NTSB and report that. If you don't report it, then DC will never do anything about it.

Also another note i see you have the 245/75/16 tires how did u get them installed and mounted? I have tried a few places and they say they wont do it because its not the reccomended tire for the renegade.

Guyute1210 · **Posted:** Fri Mar 24, 2006 3:51 pm

barnaggar wrote:

Also another note i see you have the 245/75/16 tires how did u get them installed and mounted? I have tried a few places and they say they wont do it because its not the reccomended tire for the renegade.

I ordered them and had them installed at an independent tire dealer. The box shops like wal-mart and sears wont install any tire that is not listed as a stock tire b/c of liability issues (that's what they told me). FYI, those tires will rub unless you have a lift. Some people have said that 245/70/16 AT style will fit w/o or little rubbing, but those are not listed as stock either.

Se7enLC · **Posted:** Fri Mar 24, 2006 4:22 pm

Guyute1210 wrote:

I ordered them and had them installed at an independent tire dealer. The box shops like wal-mart and sears wont install any tire that is not listed as a stock tire b/c of liability issues (that's what they told me). FYI, those tires will rub unless you have a lift. Some people have said that 245/70/16 AT style will fit w/o or little rubbing, but those are not listed as stock either.

So I take it you have a lift, then?

The dealership replaced both balljoints on a lifted jeep with no questions asked? What dealership was that?

Guyute1210 · **Posted:** Fri Mar 24, 2006 5:14 pm

Se7enLC wrote:

So I take it you have a lift, then?

The dealership replaced both balljoints on a lifted jeep with no questions asked? What dealership was that?

I have a Frankenlift, and it was installed a few weeks ago. I haven't had any ball joint issues YET. There is a thread here: http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/vie ... php?t=6965 that has people listing lift friendly dealerships. My advise would be to talk to service managers until you get you that you like. Dont let them push you around, learn your rights. Do a google or search this site on the Magnusson-Moss Act.

Se7enLC · **Posted:** Fri Mar 24, 2006 6:32 pm

Se7enLC wrote:

Guyute1210 wrote:

I ordered them and had them installed at an independent tire dealer. The box shops like wal-mart and sears wont install any tire that is not listed as a stock tire b/c of liability issues (that's what they told me). FYI, those tires will rub unless you have a lift. Some people have said that 245/70/16 AT style will fit w/o or little rubbing, but those are not listed as stock either.

So I take it you have a lift, then?

The dealership replaced both balljoints on a lifted jeep with no questions asked? What dealership was that?

Whoops, I mis-read and misquoted! I saw one person with a lift and somebody else with balljoint issues.

I would think balljoints are one of the things they can get away with calling related to a lift, so they could pretty easily call it not covered.

CaKJFreedom · **Posted:** Fri Mar 24, 2006 8:24 pm

Glad to know that your wife was so close to home and going a slow speed.

2003KJ · **Posted:** Sat Mar 25, 2006 11:10 pm

CaKJFreedom wrote:

Glad to know that your wife was so close to home and going a slow speed.

ditto, but still, 31K on a 2005 and they ALREADY snapped....thats just flat out rediculous.....you definately need to go to NHTSA (National Highway Traffic and Saftey Administartion)'s website and file a complaint. The more complaints they get, the more they're gonna put the pressure on DC to get off their tails and do something. I've got 32K on my 03 and haven't had any problems....yet. Had them checked a couple of months ago by my dealer and got it in writing stating they were still in good shape.

I hate to say it, but somebody, god forbid, is going to have to get seriously injured, or even killed before DC comes out with a better solution.

barnaggar · **Posted:** Sun Mar 26, 2006 9:30 pm

yes i have a lift installed..did it last year a few months after we got the renny. Good to know bout the tires will get an independant shop to do it when the time comes.

dog_party · **Posted:** Tue Mar 28, 2006 11:08 am

Sorry to hear that your Ball Joints failed. Glad to hear that your wife only seemed to have a flat time. That's about the best I can imagine those things failing. Please do report this failure. If we don't all report our failures, it will take a whole lot of very public accidents involving deaths to make them step up to the plate and admit poor design.

Please follow this link to report ball joint failure to the NHSTA Office of Defects Investigation.

05 Renegade 31k miles and had to replace both ball joints!!

Who is online