Upper ball joint?

[Jon2099]

I just got new tires yesterday on my 2018 XLT HD Tow with 105xxx miles. The tire shop said the upper ball joint on the passenger side was bad. Front alignment was in spec. My observations are the truck tracks straight down the road, there are no clunks when turning or hitting bumps, the steering is not loose, and the front tires I replaced were worn down to between 2 and 3/32 and were evenly worn from edge to edge. The rear alignment was out of spec, but again, I have very even tire wear there and they had between 3 and 4/32 tread, so less wear than the fronts, and they hadn't been rotated for two and a half years at least. They quoted $804 to replace the upper control arm and align it. I looked at how to do the job, and while it had some really tight bolts, I have the tools. But with that said, my current plans are to just continue to drive it and see if any symptoms show up. I know tire shops love selling alignments and suspension parts but aren't always great at getting it right. If I go in experiencing great tire wear I don't think they can improve on it. The replaced tires were Michelin Primacy, and when I got the truck I figured I would have about 6 months before needing new tires based on tread depth. I actually got two and half years out of them and they could have gone a little further. New tires are Defender LTX m/S2. Am I missing something? Should I consider the upper ball joint is bad with no symptoms?

 

[99WhiteC5Coupe]

I just got new tires yesterday on my 2018 XLT HD Tow with 105xxx miles. The tire shop said the upper ball joint on the passenger side was bad. Front alignment was in spec. My observations are the truck tracks straight down the road, there are no clunks when turning or hitting bumps, the steering is not loose, and the front tires I replaced were worn down to between 2 and 3/32 and were evenly worn from edge to edge. The rear alignment was out of spec, but again, I have very even tire wear there and they had between 3 and 4/32 tread, so less wear than the fronts, and they hadn't been rotated for two and a half years at least. They quoted $804 to replace the upper control arm and align it. I looked at how to do the job, and while it had some really tight bolts, I have the tools. But with that said, my current plans are to just continue to drive it and see if any symptoms show up. I know tire shops love selling alignments and suspension parts but aren't always great at getting it right. If I go in experiencing great tire wear I don't think they can improve on it. The replaced tires were Michelin Primacy, and when I got the truck I figured I would have about 6 months before needing new tires based on tread depth. I actually got two and half years out of them and they could have gone a little further. New tires are Defender LTX m/S2. Am I missing something? Should I consider the upper ball joint is bad with no symptoms?

While at the shop - did you ask them to show you the bad ball joint and ask how they determined it was bad?

 

[Jon2099]

I didn't ask, although probably should have. I dropped it off and it was off the rack and in the parking lot when I went back to pick it up.

 

[Soliyou]

I didn't ask, although probably should have. I dropped it off and it was off the rack and in the parking lot when I went back to pick it up.

You can inspect yourself. Jack this corner up and grab the wheel from 6 and 12 o’clock position and push in and out. If it clunks then you have an issue. Other potential failure could be a torn boot and lots of grease covering the boot.

I doubt you have any issues since these joints would cluck loudly on bumps when they fail. They will let you know!

 

[Speedexpy]

Since you have a bunch of $$$ in tires, and a bad upper or lower ball joint can give uneven wear in even a few hundred miles before it is noticeable.... it may be worth verifying that upper ball joint really is good.

With a helper, you can jack the vehicle under the lower control arm. Find a nice 5-foot lever and a fulcrum of some kind, and have someone apply vertical up and down force to the bottom of the tire while your hand is on the upper ball joint/steering knuckle junction. There should be NO vertical movement at the upper (or lower) ball joint.

I am in the middle of replacing upper and lower ball joints on my 2005 Expy, followed by an alignment, as I will need to replace both front tires, even though it always tracked straight and felt okay. I just wasn't watching for inner tire wear close enough! OUCH!

 

[Jon2099]

Thanks everyone for your advice. I'll do some more checking into it. I originally thought that it was ok because there were no symptoms--completely even tire wear, no noise, no loose steering, good tracking, and the alignment report they ran showed it was in good alignment, and I haven't really seen others have an issue with this at 105,000 miles. Ford also says that part should last 150k miles, but they probably said that about the cam phasers too. With that said, it still could be in the early stages of failure and it will be good to check it out to know for sure, otherwise I'm just guessing.

 

[ROBERT BONNER]

Let us know what you find. One quick question, what diameter wheels do you have?

Thanks for the post. My neighbor's 2019 has 105,000 on it, we're planning a bunch of maintenance on it for June. I'll include a full front suspension check on the list based on your post.

Be sure to check both sides. At 105,000, I would check brakes, lower ball joints, front wheel bearings, tie rod ends, shocks (especially if never replaced) while you're at it. If the upper ball joint does have vertical and/or horizontal motion, it may or may not be the primary failure. Often times one such failure can be produced by another, or cause another in the same corner. Look for motion in tie rod ends, lower ball joints and wheel bearings as well.

To an earlier comment about a potentially ruptured boot. If the boot is ruptured and there is NO horizontal or vertical motion, replace the ball joint (serviced as part of the entire upper control arm) anyway, because it won't last long.

If you plan to keep the vehicle, I would suggest always replacing the corresponding part on the opposite side even if it appears OK.

Good luck!