Been getting a decent amount of play while at speed in long sweeping left turns. The steering wheel gets loose and kind of darty and I have to make quick adjustments to stay on course. Been feeling it for a while but it's getting worse. Once I come out of the turn, everything feels tight. I'm not getting any clunking and the alignment tracks straight and true going down the highway.

Truck has 343,500 mi on it. Front wheel bearings were replaced with Timken hubs at 275,500 mi, so 68K on them. Ball joints were replaced at 263,600 mi, so roughly 80K on those. I will admit, I used some junkyard upper ball joints which I pumped grease into with a grease needle back then and they were in decent condition at the time.

Anyway, I got the front end up and got to rocking the wheels. Note that the spring keeps tension on the suspension, so it's you won't feel much unless the suspension is loaded. I did this by placing the jackstands right under the control arm, so the springs would compress (see pic below). This allows the wheel to hang loose, more or less.

3 and 9 o'clock positions we firm (tie rods good) but 12 and 6 had a slight rocking. When I grabbed solely @ 12:00, I felt more play than solely at 6:00. At 6, it felt more like the the bit of play I felt was also coming from up top at 12 . I then put my dominant hand on the top of the tire and with my other arm draped over the wheel, I grabbed the upper ball joint. Shaking like this, I could clearly feel that this was the culprit on both wheels and not the lower. Also, the left (driver's side) say bar end link had a bit of play when jerked the bar up and down, but the passenger side was good. Also pumped some grease into the lower ball joints.

Do you guys think worn upper ball joints alone cause the play I'm feeling on these sweeping left turns?

Placement of jackstand

 

Maybe. Change 'em, see how it feels. Unfortunately, that's going to be a process of elimination. Everything you do though, should improve it.....

 

Snagged a set of Mopar on fleabay. $25, which is a great price, but almost $40 with the scam shipping and taxes. Ah well, I won't ever change these again, probably. Might shoot some grease in with a needle though. These things have been sitting around since 05, according to one of the pics. Apparently there was a recall on 4x4 upper BJs and these "kits" were being sent out to dealerships back then.

 

Got the Mopar BJs installed yesterday. They looked perfect out the box coming from Ebay. Front end felt very firm over some rough road on a quick test drive. Haven't tested any sweeping corners yet. Found out the old junkyard BJs were Mopar too! 343,600 mi on the truck.




This cheap Harbor Freight tool works great for popping the joints out of the control arm. Goes off with a bang!