My 98 Blazer has been giving me a few problems here and there... little annoying things.....but now something I hate having to deal with!

This winter in CT, living in the RICH (but supposedly broke, and thereby CHEAP) NW corner has all but killed my vehicle. I WISH I could send the bill to the GD mayor!!!!! Over the past 3 months, my Blazer has turned from a smooth ride to a LOUD and obnoxious SQUEAK-mobile that annoys the hell outta me and draws obnoxious stares.

Sounds like the worst combo of rocking chairs, mattresses, floorboards, and haunted house creaks all combined and then somehow amplified.

One person said "shocks"... I said IDK... so off to my trusted mechanic (he's like a dad to me). Turns out it's the ball joint... passenger side way worse than driver's so next Thursday it's goin back in.

Can anyone give me a little info on this problem? Is this a "known " weakness? How much is this gonna run me?

 

Ball joints are well known for going out on these vehicles, particularly if played hard offroad, overcranking the tbars or not keeping them greased. As for the cost, no clue what they will charge you. Pretty straight forward to change them out yourself and there is plenty of info on here to help you out.

 

Ball joints are common issues on blazers, you never said whether it was the upper or the lowers, uppers are much easier to change, also when they have been changed before it also get easier since they are bolted in not riveted. Make sure you don't cheap out on the replacements though as many people on here can tell you.

 

I had the same exact issue except my ball joint snapped as I was pulling into my high school.....My tire was at a 45 degree angle but luckily we have an auto shop on our campus so we "towed" the Blazer into the garage and they changed my ball joint for free, I just paid for parts. I think I spent something around $100 for all 4 ball joints (they were all going bad, this one was just the worst). I did the rest of the work myself so total cost = $100.

The drivers side (upper and lower) took me 2-3 days as I figured everything out. The passenger side ball joints I changed in ~3 hours. I had the stock rivets in there hence the super long time frame. Now I have bolts so it would only a fraction of the time to change now.

Also, here are two how-to articles I used:

https://blazerforum.com/forum/tech-articles-diy-29/factory-ball-joint-replacement-27627/ (very good)

http://flashoffroad.com/Maintenance/...lljoints_2.htm