Check Your Ball Joints

[HHR]

Came across this deserted Toyota Tundra today. Skid mark showed that the right lower ball joint separated on a flat street with a 30 MPH limit. Could have been much worse at highway speeds.

 

[Alan L.]

We were fixin to go on a long road trip and so I had the front end aligned on our 2001 GMC Yukon XL. Discovered a loose ball joint and got it replaced before the trip. Glad we didn't have THIS problem on the road.

 

[JerryG]

I noticed my daughter's Tundra sitting low on one side of the front end one day. It was in the driveway. Got down to look and the lower ball joint was half way out. Thank God, we was able to find and fix it before she was injured or killed. I don't like the design.

 

[mark1]

Yeh ever since the auto companies found they could save a few cents by not using "greasable" front end parts we see more and more vehicles like this along the road. At least when they were greasable they had more chance of being noticed as getting bad by the garage people. Now in many cases you cannot even buy replacment joints that have grease fittings in them.

 

[mrmikey]

Greased for life, they just don't tell you the life is shorter than a greasable one....Mike

 

[slowzuki]

Not sure what you guys are talking about, I live on a rough road and can get 160,000 miles out of OEM non greaseable ball joints, they go bad about the same time as struts/shocks. The replacements never last as long, although I've learned some aftermarket ball joints have a very rough texture on the ball.

We have annual safety inspections here so its very rare to see a pigeon toed car.

 

[Katahdin]

I have a 93' GMC Yukon (full size 2 door) with 310K miles, original ball joints, and I've been snow plowing my 400' driveway with it the last 8 years. It was inspected annually before I took it off the road last year for body rust issues. I've just got too many other projects going on to to fix the rust and keep it street legal.

 

[Peacock]

I don't know that Honda has ever had any greasable joints, yet they are all of great quality. Usually the only models that require a ball joint replacement are 10yrs old and well in excess of 100k.

My '95 Accord has 296k on it and has all original non-greasable joints.

The quality of the joint means much more to me than whether or not it's greasable.

 

[timswi]

My prior 2 Chevy 1500 4x4's still had the entire original suspensions in them when I traded them at 200k each...They were worked hard too...Luck of the draw I guess...Every so often I see a broken ball joint stranded vehicle around here and we have yearly inspections..

 

[Peacock]

GM uses higher quality joints than either Ford or Dodge.