ball joints on wheel bearing?

what are the symptoms of a bad ball joint or wheel bearing? i got a shake coming from the passenger side front when i grab onto the wheel while jacked up it will move almost two inches. hate to replace the hub assembly for $200 and find out its the ball joints

While someone is moving the wheel, stick your head around back and see which part is moving.

so the part thats moving is bad?

Your ball joints shouldnt let the wheel move at all (other than the obvious pivot to turn), if they move at all, they are bad. If they arent moving and the bearing is, its bad. Could be both are bad.

jack your axle up at the Lower control arm. the tire should not move, only spin. most likely the hub assem. if you can move it by hand. what size meats are you putting on those wimpy units

RyanM said:

jack your axle up at the Lower control arm. the tire should not move, only spin. most likely the hub assem. if you can move it by hand. what size meats are you putting on those wimpy units

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X2. IF the bearing is bad you will be able to move the tire back and forth. Also grab ahold of the u-joint on the inside of the wheel and yank it around. If it moves then your bearing is toast. You can by bearings on EBAY for almost 1/2 the price of the part stores.

Onkover said:

X2. IF the bearing is bad you will be able to move the tire back and forth. Also grab ahold of the u-joint on the inside of the wheel and yank it around. If it moves then your bearing is toast. You can by bearings on EBAY for almost 1/2 the price of the part stores.

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AS FAR AS I KNOW THAT WILL DEPEND IF YOU HAVE THE THROW AWAY HUB ASSEMBLY

ever since i went to 35s 2 month ago, ive already been through a set of hubs. granted they had been on for about 160,000 miles, but larger tires wear them fast, and ive seen the same thing happen with everybody i wheel with. it seems like once we hit the 33 mark our wheel hubs start going out. its not a big deal. i got both mine for about 90 each, and i can replace them in about half an hour

www.offroadoverstock.com has them for a good price.

Be sure you properly torque the axle nut down, its pretty important for hub life. I want to say its 175ft lbs? Its been awhile since I did mine.

Jack up the bad side. Grab the wheel at 12:00 and 6:00 try to rock it. If it moves then ball joints are part of your problem. If not do the same test at 9:00 and 3:00, if there is movement it could be an indicator that your hub assembly is worn.

I bought my replacement hub assemblies at NAPA (Carquest is another good source). I purposely bought a set that have a lifetime warranty. Running larger tires on wheels with more aggressive Back Spacing on a quite a bit heavier vehicle than stock in terrain that is harder on components means things are going to deteriorate quicker.

With the lifetime warranty I can drive without thinking about my pocket book.