Balljoints already?? how to diagnose??.....got DW pretty bad....help asap!

Ok, I get DW pretty bad whenever I hit a bump going more than 50mph. It is happens whenever the front left tire hits something, and 75% of the time when the right tire hits something. I have replaced the TRE at the pitman arm, and the heim on my RE trackbar and no other TREs appear to be the least bit loose. The Control arms have new rubber joints in them and the JJs have been tightened aggresively and greased. This leaves me with the Balljoints I think. How can I diagnose them and how much can I expect to pay for parts and labor?? The shop down the road said 1hour per side at 62 per hour + parts. Is that reasonable?? He also said I could bring him my own parts if I wanted for some reason. Thanks for any help, I need to get this taken care of by tomorrow afternoon as I need to drive 4 hours to DC for thanksgiving.

Ary

More info:

If I swerve HARD right it stops, and if I slow down to about 5mph it stops as well.

I have got a really funky wear pattern on the passenger side front tire, but the driver's side is normal. I admit that I tend to corner pretty hard to the left which would cause acclerated tire wear as described. The tires is entirely bald on the outside and has 3/8" of tread on the inside. The tires are MTRs on aluminum wheels and have stick on weights. Never had a problem with the balance before. I'm going to switch my ATs onto the rims and have them balanced for winter use, so I will see if that makes a difference but I doubt it. The Jeep is lifted 4.5" and the tires are 33s. Thanks.

Ary

Try the toe in before anything else,set it a little more than stock.
Then if you have adjustable arms get it on an alignment rack and make sure the wheel base is the same side to side..
I,ll try to be off I81 and I66 when you come by-------
Wayne

hahaha, I'll try to stay on 81 and 66 on my way, if the Jeep lets me

I just went and did the tape measure check and the tires are half an inch closer in the front than the back. I'm dropping the Jeep off in 45 mins to have the tires changed/rotated/balanced and will ask the mechanic to give the balljoints a look and see what he thinks. I will also adjust the toe when I get home(been told 0-1/4" difference is ideal). I doubt that it's tire balance since it only sets in when I hit a bump, but it can't hurt, and I needed to put the tires on anyway. Anymore ideas??

Ary

Its probably your toe then. I just adjusted mine when I put new springs in. My toe was about .75" in. I adjusted the toe to about .25" out and my d/w went away.

Just my $0.02

Scott Suyeto

Ary'01XJ said:

hahaha, I'll try to stay on 81 and 66 on my way, if the Jeep lets me

I just went and did the tape measure check and the tires are half an inch closer in the front than the back. I'm dropping the Jeep off in 45 mins to have the tires changed/rotated/balanced and will ask the mechanic to give the balljoints a look and see what he thinks. I will also adjust the toe when I get home(been told 0-1/4" difference is ideal). I doubt that it's tire balance since it only sets in when I hit a bump, but it can't hurt, and I needed to put the tires on anyway. Anymore ideas??

Ary

Click to expand...

An inch and a half toe-in? You're scrubbing your tires HARD. Get that taken care of ASAP. Don't even look at anything else.

I'd try to get the toe-in down to less than 1/8" personally.

Ary - Can't comment on the DW problem other than to mention the axle mounted uca bushings if it's that axle housing you got from me. Ya mentioned new bushings but those stay in the housing when control arms are swapped so didn't know if ya'd changed those. (PITA, btw...)
Hey, I recently did my balljoints & while it's not as bad (in hindsight) as some say - if you can get it done at that price it's worth payin' to do it. I even managed to bend the ball joint press...

Jeff, 1/2" of toe-in, not 1-1/2" of toe in

lunghd, I actually ended passing that housing on to a friend, I've still got my factory '01 D30.

I had the mechanic take a look at my balljoints while he did the tires and he said they were nice and tight.

The tires didn't make a bit of difference except that I can accelerate faster since they're smaller and I've got 4.56s:angel:

I'm off to adjust the toe and report back, but I doubt that it will make THAT MUCH of a difference.

Thanks

Ary

BTT, anyone??

I think I fixed it. Went to adjust the tierod and realized that the TRE at the intersection of the DL and TR was pretty well shot. Replaced it and now I just have a shimmy, no "head for the shoulder, clean your pants, and proceed type of wobble". I'm pleased, now I just gotta fix the toe and I think I may have resolved all my problems. If only the TR wasn't frozen to the TRE at the knuckle, I might be able to turn it

Ary