Hello fellow vanners!

I am sick of doing my ball joints every 2 years. My van is a short 1500 and the conversion sticker says it is 5990 without people. The max weight for my van is 6800lbs so most of the time with 4 people in it I am close.

I just did all four again. I am starting to get good at this job. LOL

I see that my next time I will need to replace the lower control arms. I now have to use Moog problem solvers for the lower Bjs to stay in place.

Can I upgrade to the 4000 control arms? I believe I can...

Also would a set of coil overs in the front help too? Or should I get a new springs the next time?

Thanks all!

 

Every 2-years? What the heck are you doing to those things? I've got about 8-years on mine right now and they recently tested good during the state inspection.

 

the op did make a good point that not a lot of people know.


Use high quality replacement ball joints the first time. Replacement ball joints are oversized and will expand the bore. The next time around, the replacement bj will no longer be tight; a new control arm should be installed.

 

guys...

I bought the van with 100k and it was in good shape except for the transmission, heads and BJs. So I went through the whole thing because it had been run pretty hard. The van now has 160k.

I changed the BJs with Napa lower and import of the day special uppers when I got it. About two months ago, I noticed the right side having a issue with tire wear. So, I changed the joints on that side with the problem solvers and noticed a lot better ride. Then, at about the same time it bought new LT tires (I killed my Hankook HTs in 50k miles), I noticed the lefts we not up to par anymore so I changed them today.

I was surprised how bad they were. I do drive my van hard. It routinely sees 75MPH and there is so much construction around here, it almost is like driving on half paved roads sometimes. We also travel on some FL country roads at times too. The top BJs threads were worn so badly that I couldn't screw them out. It would just pop when it got about 1/2 way out then it would be back to the beginning. I used a pickle fork to help separate before I screwed them out too. It was really weird. Then at the bottom I was able to be remove it with just two hits from a 2lbs hammer. It just tried that on a whim and was really surprised it just popped out.

So, I first tried a standard lower BJ and it was able to press in with just my hand...well that isn't good. So, in went the problem solver on the lower. I had to get a Durlast upper and was really surprised that it screwed in as well and as tight it did. It seems good.

The old upper the threads on the BJ were much smoother that the new Duralast. While I am not surprised with, is just that some parts today are good and some a just junk. And, it seems like it isn't about brands, and more about runs. Some days are good and some days are bad. Parts today kind of remind me of the old addage of Monday and Friday assembled cars...ha!

I now have on order front coilovers for the just the hell of it. This van is pretty heavy for what it is and I do have the Monroe coilovers on the rear and they do provide a definite upgrade. Ill let you all know how that works out. I do want the next time I have to do this, upgrade the front control arms and possibly the springs

 

update:

I just put in the front coilovers - eh - they help a little...but I think the much larger pistoned Monroes I had in there before were better.

I haven't driven it too far, so I will update after a few hundred miles...

 

What exactly is wrong with the ball joints that you feel the need to replace them frequently? You mention tire wear and replacing the ball joints because if it. Did you try an alignment or just assumed the tire wear was the result if a bad ball joint? 50k miles on a set of tires is pretty good these days.

 

The cheap Chinese ones just wore out. The right side failed about 5k miles ago and the left I just did. When I first got the van, I did them because the did have 100k on them and I was going through everything.

I have had bad ball joints before and you can tell by the tire wear and noise. Squeaking and popping is a sign of a bad ball joint. Wandering at high speed is a bad ball joint. Vague steering feel is a bad ball joing.
Also, that is why the old tires were replaced. What you will see is one of two things...either scalloping when the tire on the edge, but not the very edge, will feel very bumpy as you run your hand around the tire. The other sign is a strange wear patter about 1 inch from the outside edge running around the whole tire. Here is a pic:

 

the tire wear you are describing is from scrubbing from incorrect toe setting. the total toe is not set correctly. if you do not get an alignment, your new tires will develop the same sawtooth pattern and will growl like a bad wheel bearing.
toe is the biggest tire wear angle. radial tires are flexible compared to biased ply tires, so the saw tooth pattern only develops at the edge not across the face of the entire tire.


the factory spec for allowable bj play on the coil and link suspension for the trucks is 0.090" which is a lot of movement but will not wear tires.
what suspension type does this vehicle use? sala or coil and link?

 

That wear was after two alignments from very good shops.

 

you had tire wear after 2 shops did alignments....neither shop said anything about your worn balljoints and actually aligned the vehicle with worn suspension components?


show me a better picture of the tire wear. the picture you posted seems to show toe wear...the light and shaded area appears to me to be a featheredge wear pattern.


typically the only thing bad balljoints change is camber. that being said, any camber change with change the toe setting. camber wear is smooth not featheredged; the tire would not make noise with camber wear. camber can be out more than 1.0 degrees and not even wear tires.
since the wear pattern you describe is only on the edge not across the face of the tire...its toe wear.


I would be interested in seeing the alignment printout from the second alignment.
What suspension set up does this vehicle use? sala or coil and link?