Hey fellas so I can't figure out what's going on. From what I can see Ball joints are good, I replaced the inner and outer bearings and races, spindle looks good, I rotated the tires to make sure a rim isn't bent. I have rim/wheel to hub play. It doesn't sound like it's coming from the main suspension. I rebuilt the steering linkage so there isn't any play in the steering besides the normal gear box play. The driver side has the normal ball joint play, but I cannot figure out what's going on with the passenger front. I had a shop confirm that my bearings are all good after I replaced them and everything checked out. They didn't put it back up on the lift though to check the 12:00-6:00 play(top and bottom) and sure enough I didn't even have to put it back up on a jack I can hear it when I'm driving. I'm thinking about putting one of the stock rims on and seeing what it does, but I dont think will work because like I said I rotated the aftermarket 18" ones I have on. If that doesn't work I'm thinking about trying the driver side rotor hub assembly on the passenger and putting the passenger on the driver side and seeing what happens. That'll confirm the hub assembly is no good.

 

What are you driving? 2 or 4 wheel drive? Do you have unit bearings in front, or replaceable bearing and race?

 

4000lb front axle is for 2wd only and replaceable bearings and races.

 

Everything is all torqued so this is just becoming a big pain in the a**. I mean I can't really get to good of an eye on the upper ball joint though because I'm trying to diagnose by myself and the boot is separated from the joint so I'm lying down with a pry bar looking very closely for play. I can't see anything out of the ordinary.

 

Do you only have slop at 12 and 6? Or do you have similar slop at 3 and 9? I would also turn the tire 90 degrees, and see where you slop is. If it stays at 12 and 6, gotta be a ball joint.

Did you re-torque the bearings after spinning the rotor a bit?

 

yes only slop at 12 and six its clicking, but I have to put a good amount of strength into it. 3 and 9 has normal tightness just the gear box is doing its job I can see as I'm moving the driver side tire left and right. Yes thats correct hub nut and everything is correctly in place with the cotter pin and the nut cap and hub cap.

 

I edited my post while you were typing that.

If you turn the tire 90 degrees, does the slop stay at 12 and 6?

 

ohhh okay this I did not know of it must be the upper then lower ball joint the boot is connected and I see nothing out of the ordinary. I have some moog uppers on hand so ill be making some time for them this weekend then. Should be nice and easy uppers are threaded on these 2wd trucks.

 

If you don't live in the rust belt, they should be easy.

Chemicals are your friend. Some PB Blaster on it a couple times a day, for a couple days before you do the job, *should* make them easy to remove. For certain values of "easy".....

 

I do live in the rust belt where it's freezing right now sadly, but Ive been managing it. This truck is still relatively clean for now with it being a Florida truck, but I'm not gonna be able to keep it very clean now having to drive it in the winter. Can't even use the hose so I can use my salt away because temperatures are so low don't have a long enough hose to run from the kitchen sink to outside 😂 I don't even want to take the time to undercoat it because it's to cold.