While recently perusing a local u-pull-it, I came across some decent upper ball joints on a 2001 Dak. They were bolted on but had no grease nipple. The rubber boots were in good shape and I didn't feel any looseness when manipulating them. I ended up adding some good hi-pressure grease using a grease gun with grease injection needle. I didn't peirce the rubber.... I just slid the needle down between the boot and the shaft.

I am wondering however, if these are OEM replacements. Since they didn't have a grease nipple, I'm hoping so. I'm assuming that for 2001, they would have originally been riveted and then replaced by redesigned unit which bolt in. Even though I got em for next to nothing, I'm hoping they are not the cheap chinese kind. I saw some faint numbering on them but google came up with nothing. Anyone know if any 2001 Daks came with bolted ball joints?

I'll be putting them on this weekend. Nice way to test out my cheap angle grinder, 21gal compressor and air chisel (all Harbor freight), on the OEM's rivets.

Pics to come later.

 

The top ball joints don't get worn out usually they don't get a lot of abuse or strain on them they are more a pivot point than load bearing like the bottom ball joints that are big and beefy as they take all the load.

The top usually wear out because the boots tear open and let water and dirt in the ball joint.

Your junkyard ball joints should be ok if the boots are good.

Check your steering stabilizer links they wear out fast and are a poor design and weak.

 

There are many bolt on ball joint replacements available for the Dakota. Some have zerk fittings and some don't.

Considering you can buy new joints for just over $10 at Rockauto I don't know about using something with an unknown number of miles on them. You really can't test them unless they are on the truck.

 

Understood, but it seems that the upper ball joints are the ones that were failing as well as being the focus of the recall. BTW, I never understood why the 4x4 trucks were recalled, while the 4x2 were not. Different design.. more stress on the joints?

http://www.dodge.com/universal/webse...ce/pdf/D47.pdf

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/dodge-da...raws-feds-eye/

My current upper joint boots look good, but when I shook the top of the passenger wheel, there was a bit of a clunk, so I think at the least, the upper on the pass side is worn. The driver's side felt okay. I decided to spray everything with liquid wrench from now and let it soak in till this weekend. I snapped some pics while there. As you can see, the stabilizer end link bushings are shot. Not to worry, I have some Moog problem solvers which have been sitting over a month.




Well, Dan... I'm hoping these are not the $10 type, even though I paid less than that for both. The pics are below. What do you think?

 

I'd say you have at least one upper that's bad. I can see the split boot.

On the replacements, what are the numbers on them? I can't make them out that well.

 

stabilizer links a bit of advise only just hand tighten both the top nut and the bottom nut. I suggest this because the bottom are a bitch to remove if you crank them down the top because you want the joint to flex if you crank this nut down it makes the joint/connection inflexible this will cause the stabilizer links to wear out fast as they will not flex like they should.

 

A word of caution regarding the bolts and nuts on the used ball joint these are one time use as the lock nuts don't work as well after removal. Removing the nut wears out their ability to lock like they were intended to do all self locking nuts work this way. So I recommend some locktight as a precaution

 

Nothing goes by you, Dan. How the hell did you see it? There is a small nick on the passenger side upper boot. You can barely make it out in the first pic. I just took a crowbar and leveraged all the ball joints. It seems they are all in pretty good shape as they are all stiff with no vertical movement. I'm going to change just the end links first, then drive and see how that feels. Might shoot some grease through that very nick then seal it up with something. LOL

The numbers on the ball joints are as follows... the first set are engraved on the cap and the last number is near the bolts.

21504
06056

SPN019239





Thanks, DakAZ. I will follow the torque settings you posted. Or are you saying I should go even looser?

Good Idea. Will do... I have some loctite on hand. Guess some lock washers would work too.

 

Both of my lower need to be replaced and I'm not looking forward to it.

 

Do not use any washers of any kind they tend to act as a lubricant they don't use any washers in the ball joint kits for this reason. They act as a lubricant because of the forces applied on them and the constant forces in a dynamic system like a suspension. On this forum one poster used washers and all his bolts had loosened he found this out because I told him he should never use them so he checked and they had loosened.