Looks like I have the infamous ball joint issue on my 99 Durango 4x4.

To begin with - I don't drive the vehicle much so I don't really notice problems with the D until they are pretty bad.

I bought the thing used and have had nothing but trouble (expensive trouble!) but I keep thinking "surely this will do it..." I really do like the look and feel of the Durango.

About 6 months ago I bought 2 new tires for the front end. My brother drove the vehicle shortly thereafter and said it felt like it had a lot of "play" in the steering. Well from then on I noticed it too. Don't know why, but I just chalked it up to an idiosyncracy of the vehicle.

A month ago I checked the tires and the two (new) front tires were totally worn on the outside and looked fine on the inside tread -both front tires exhibited this.

I parked the vehicle again. Got in it a few weeks ago and pulled out of the driveway and heard a grinding sound. Figured it was the brakes. As of this point your 'not so swift' author here figured I just had some bad front tires! and I noticed that one of the roters looked bad. Also, at that time I noticed that one of the tires looked like it was sitting funny when parked.

Well finally got around to changing the tires so I hopped in it this morning to take it and have new tires put on. got out of my driveway and heard the most awful grinding noise! Figured it was the brakes but not wanting to take too much of a chance I turned it around and parked it again.

When I got out of the vehicle the Right front tire is sitting totally askew. from the front of the vehicle the tires look like this: / |

I looked at the wheel and the grinding noise I heard was the luminum on the wheel being ground into. YIKES!

Ok, so what am I in for? Brakes and roters I can do. Replacing ball joints sounds like a PITA and seems like I'll need an alignment anyway.

I have read other posts on this board which differentiate between the upper and lower ball joints -with the price being $450. for lower and $800 for upper and lower. Is that "per side" or is that "total vehicle?"

Also, looks like it requires a good bit of specialization so I think I'll have a mechanic do this job. I don't want to get rooked into paying for a lot of unnecessary add-on stuff. What type of service is typical in this case and what might they try to talk me into that might not be necessary?

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

There is a recall on the upper ball joints so get it to the stealership and it is free.

*edit*
Nevermind that it's only on the 00' and newer models. The upper ball joints are riveted in so that's a lot of work to get them off. Or you can replace the entire upper control arm which has the ball joints riveted on as well. I would personally get them cut off and replace with moog greasable ball joints I've heard good things about them.

 

the upper ball joints are easy to replace. i get them for $51.00 at my local parts store (moog) it takes about 1/2 hour a side first replacement , now that there bolted it takes 15 min a side . you can drill out the rivets or if you have a compressor get a cutting wheel real fast and easy thats how i did mine. be sure to check your control armwhere the ball joint seats for wear if it was driven long enough with bad ***** it can wipe out the contol arm whereball joint sit . i didn't have that problem but a buddy of mine did he kept putting off doing the job and it cost him more in the end

 

Just wondering if I should look for any oher culprit while I have the wheels off.

Is there anything else that might be causing one wheel to buckle other than ball joints?

I'm just thinking that I'd hate to do this repair and put it all back together - only to find out that it didn't fix it!

It looks pretty simple and straight-forward. I guess that's what has me spooked. Maybe an explaination of exactly what the ball joints "do" for the wheels might help me out some...

 

jack the front end so the wheels are off the ground grab the top of the tire &push in & pull out if you have a lot of movement the top joints are toast to check the bottoms take a bar & slide it under the tire and pull up on it if it goes up and you hear it clunking it's toast.ball joints are on control arms so you have a working suspention while going down the road they complete the link between frame, control arms,shock/sring with out them your tires would hop up and down because there would not be a movable joint between control arm & spindle /hub with ball joints the tire can stay true to the road while the shocks do their job

 

I would say while you are doing it replace the shocks with some Bilsteins you'll get much better handling. The stockers blow.

 

Thanks for the replies....

Let me expose my ignorance for a minute.... I have worked plenty on engines, etc... but I have no idea about the suspension system -other than getting in there and changing out my brakes.

I have one side on the front that all is stable and good with it. The other side (passenger front) is moveable in the following way:

The caliper is lose, the roter can be pulled back and forth (!) The upper and lower arms on the ball joint look ok. The outer CV joint is "movable," meaning I can pull on it and it moves back and forth with the outer wheel assembly.

Now I am kind of wondering if this is a CV joint issue?
I can't seem to find my Hayes Manual, but I read in the manual for my wife's '97 Grand Voyager that the Outer CV joint on that model '97 and later can not be removed seperately but that the axel assembly must be replaced in total.

Is this the case on the 99 Durango as well? I have pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I'll have to take it to the stealership and have them look it over.... I just want to be able to talk intelligently with them and not get taken for a ride....

Please help with any advice you can!

 

it's hard to guess about the play with the rotor/caliper because you will have a little play with the tire off so with out being able to see it ? are the pads in good shape. there is a hub bearing on the spindle that could be your problem with cv movement again with out being there and feeling the movement for myself. is the hole steering knuckle/hub moving?

 

I had a problem with my caliper being loose on the passenger side after I had my brakes changed. There is a spring on the outside of the caliper that holds it tight and this will fall off on our D's. Mine fell off twice but had nowhere to go so it was a matter of pulling off my tire and putting the spring back on. The second time I bent it in a little bit to keep it from coming off again and that fixed the problem. when you're driving do you hear scraping on that side of the truck only to find it stops when you hit the brakes because that's how mine sounded...