New ball joints needed at 30,000 miles?
We have a 2012 Ram 2500. Just turned 30,000 miles. Brought it in for a recall and oil change, and found that both upper and lower ball joints are shot. Does that seem right? We only haul our 5th w...
Forum Discussion
brooks379 wrote:
Truck dealers can charge a lot of money to replace the cheap Ball/U joint they put in trucks. I have never had to replace a Spicer or Moog grease able joint after I installed them and always used quality grease regularly with them. You can talk until the cows come home but in the end you need.... QUALITY GREASE ABLE BALL/U JOINTS.... We have owned a lot of big semi's and heavy duty pick ups and it all comes down to Quality parts and Quality grease !!
I sure agree with having chassis zerks on most items, like u-joints and shaft splines for instance. But there is a good chance that your trucks would conveniently steer slightly better/easier with nylon-cupped ball joints. And I'm not sure plastic (nylon?) cups are compatable with having a hole in them for a grease path. Other than corrosion resistance, is grease even needed with these type joints? Plastic 5th wheel lube-plate washers come to mind, in this case cleaner than gobs of grease. Some grease is needed for corrosion protection of course.
Then there is the question: Do ball joints always maintain an adequate film of grease on their contact surface? On smooth roads, there is often a lot of steady pressure on the tiny ball while it supports the weight of the vehicle. This is akin to a mortar-and-pestle effect. On the other hand, steady bouncing on a rough road might suck grease back in between enough that rough roads are much better off with greasable steel-on-steel.
I now don't mind the steel-on-steel ball joints in my pick-up too much, especially since they have been re-installed correctly. But the steering is just a bit stiffer yet. The easy-steering Excursion still does track just slightly better with original factory greaseless joints. Of course my Excursion has a V-10 rather than the heavier diesel, but I don't believe there is a lot of difference in weight. The Triton engines are some of the heaviest gassers Ford has ever made, I believe with even the 5.4L V8 weighing more than the old 460 cu in.
Wes
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