Hi guys. I am home for the weekend from college. I got some stuff done with my truck this weekend, including taking the truck in for the tranny cooler and painting my driver side mirror and all the door handles (driver side handle and mirror housing were keyed) when I got home from that. I decided to jack up and check my front wheels since I have had trouble with the front end numerous times before. This truck has 3 1.5 year old ball joints, one 6 month old (upper driver side was replaced twice) and a new idler arm. I did the standard check for play on both wheels (wiggling the tire up/down, left/right). On the driver side, there was none side to side, but very little up and down play (like 1-2mm) and the rotor and caliper were moving with the wheel. No play on the passenger side anywhere. Wheel hub bearings??? At 87000 miles??? How long is it safe to drive because I have to drive back to college on Monday (120 miles) and I am going to see if I can have it fixed there sometime during the week. How much do wheel hub bearings usually cost to have done and how long does it take?? Thanks.

 

i dont know if its your wheel bearing hub or not but you can buy them at autozone for 100 to 150$ (east Tn anyways). i changed mine out in around 45 minutes with an air compressor now that i know what i'm doing i could do it faster, but a shop will charge you an hour labor weather it takes them that long or not.

 

At 85k miles it could be a wheel bearing hub assembly. However if you have no vibrations, humming noises, or ABS speed sensor errors then it might not be the bearing going just yet. A bad hub assembly is more likely to have play in both directions along with accompanying noises and vibrations.

With the amount of vertical movement you described I would guess a poor quality or improperly installed ball joint over anything else.

A common problem that I have seen with ball joint replacements on these trucks is the retaining nut not being properly tightened to spec. Specifically on the upper ball joint.
This tends to happen because either the joint will spin a bit once it gets to a certain point and the mechanic thinks it's tight enough and or the hole for the cotter pin that keeps the nut from loosening doesn't quite line up with the nut groves. So the nut is loosened a bit to be able to put the pin in.

The latter tends to be more common with the cheaper brands of ball joints. It also tends to jump out as a possible cause because you mentioned that upper joint needing to be changed twice in the past.

 

I can't really hear any noise and when I spin the wheels on both side by hand, it sounds the same on both sides. Just a little scratching from the brake and a sound from the CV axle boot since the wheel was off the ground. My ABS never activates unless I am on snow or ice, so I guess we can rule out sensor errors.

With the retaining nut, it is funny you should mention that. My passenger side lower balljoint had 2 out of the 4 bolts loosen 8 months after it was put in. The car was driving funny. I put the jack under the control arm and wiggled the wheel. Like 1/4-1/2" of play. I look at the lower ball joint and 2 of the nuts were close to coming off. Like literally on the last set of thread. No joke and I freaked out because I was just on the highway doing 65 mph. I tighten them up and call the mechanic. He says to bring it in. 40 minute drive later, I get there. He brings the car in and checks all the ball joint fasteners. He doubles up some of them with another retaining nut on top of the current nut. Also, if it is the upper ball joint on the driver side, that would be also weird because it is the newest one and it is a Moog. The others are Autozone Duralast brand (Long story. Not mine or my mechanic's idea) and the mechanic says they are cheap. If I had the cash, I would have him replace the others with Moogs. Also what are the chances that this upper ball joint is the problem. Not with the hardware but internally? If so, why is my truck "eating" the same ball joint twice in a row?

 

what kind of balljoints did you put in. If they were the cheap $15 ones it is very likely that they are bad again. It always pays to spend the extra money on quality parts.

 

Duralast regular (NOT Valuecraft as far as I know) ones on: Driver's side lower and Passenger side upper and Lower. Moog on Driver side upper. The Duralast ones were NOT my idea. I wasn't the one who picked those. Long story

 

Update: As I was slowing down to pull in my driveway, I could feel a little bit of "pulsation" in the front end as I was slowing down (10-15 mph). Also I was not using the brakes. I can't really hear anything over the engine. What does this mean? I know it means SOMETHING is loose, but what? The retaining nuts? The wheel bearing? I don't know if it is from the road or my truck.

 

Check your tires for uneven wear patterns. If there is one it can help to highlight the problem.

 

Sorry to say, they would be bad either way. I got the tires at 59000 miles. The truck has 87000 miles on it now. I was told I would need new tires soon because they are cupping and wearing unevenly. Also they are bad because of the repeated front end problems since we got the car.

 

That was the point of the question actually. How exactly they are wearing unevenly can tell you what the underlying cause of your front end problems actually is.

From what you say of the tire wear, your shocks are probably not in good shape and you are in need of an alignment and tie rod end check from a competent shop.
I would recommend staying away from the mechanic that installed your ball joints. You need someone who understands something as basic as torque specifications which your current guy doesn't seem to. If he did then your ball joints wouldn't have been threatening to fall out on you on the interstate.

Whenever you get any kind of major front end work done you should always get a full alignment done as well. If you don't, with so many things probably being out of adjustment you will end up with the same problems over and over again. Or worse ones down the road.

So, give your front shocks a check including the bushings on them and get that full alignment done along with at least rotating the tires and your truck will be in much better shape.