Ball joint play

Ok, I'm a tad searched out so I'm gonna ask a couple questions. My 98 XJ is lifted about 5", and I'm starting to experience a harsh wobble at around 50-60 mph. It's not every time, but often enough to irritate me. I'd put it a couple notches below death wobble, which I have experienced in other rigs so I'm not confusuing a little shake with a real problem. ANYWAYS, when checking out the front end, the only place I can find any play is in the ball joints. I jacked up the axle, and with a channel lock squeezing the knuckle towards the top of the inner C I can get about 3/8" of vertical play on the drivers and passengers side, but no horizontal movement. I figured they are bad. So I looked up new parts on Napa's website and saw this note under the upper ball joint part description:

Product Line: Master Ride Chassis
Comments: By Design The Stud Does Not Articulate, It Only Spins. Up & Down Movement Is Normal
Per Car Qty.: 2

Up/down movement normal??? Are my ball joints bad or not? Note that only the description for the uppers says that, the lowers have no such note.

The upper has a floating pin that will have up and down movement. That's normal. And after some break-in, the lower could have a small amount. If they have any side-to-side play at all, replace them.

I would look closely at all bolts and torque them, control arm bushings, and steering components, too.

Up and down I would expect a little but 3/8" is getting somewhat excessive. I would NOT go with no-name brand balljoints if you do replace them, you can get Spicer (one of the best) joints for a d30 from alljeep.com for like 36 bucks a side.

The uppers are a rotating pin as Gaius said so some movement is fine. The lowers are actually ball shaped and shouldn't have much play in any direction.

Since the lower and upper ball joint are linked by the knuckle, wouldn't any vertical play indicate a bad lower ball joint since it should have no movement?

Talyn said:

Since the lower and upper ball joint are linked by the knuckle, wouldn't any vertical play indicate a bad lower ball joint since it should have no movement?

Click to expand...

Most lower ball joints after breaking in a bit will have a slight movement in them. Normal. But any side to side will cause oscillation.

on the topic of ball joints, does anybody have any guidance for the procedure? any pitfalls to watch for? was planning to "borrow" the press from vatozone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3jjPouRdFw

This should help some... And make sure you get the 4wd adapters with the joint press. I did mine not too long ago with the help of vatos press... Pretty simple dont let it make you nervous about replacing

ok, read the posts and still no dead set answer. I have a little movement up and down on drivers side and none on the passenger side. My question is can a ball joint cause resistance in the steering only when weight is on them? With my XJ jacked up I can grab the wheel and turn it freely but my steering is quite tough with weight on it. Oh and I have put 3 pumps and 3 boxes on with the same results so its not those....or the new hoses....or the new belt.:dunno:

Well, of course it is going to be stiffer with weight on it...

The ball joints could be responsible for your front end wiggle. As could tires (I had the same speed / symptoms till I balanced mine) and about a million other things.
If one side has play and the other doesn't, I'd do both sides - maybe after balancing my tires, though, and checking them for cuppage etc.