New ball joints needed at 30,000 miles?

GeoBoy wrote:

brooks379 wrote:
I've seen ball joints wear out in 30,000 mile. They are the non grease able ball joints the big 3 US Auto makers use on trucks .I have a F 350 with only 2 grease zerts on the whole front end. Get them replaced with quality grease able ball joints and u joints while it's apart, grease them with good quality grease and you will probably never replace them again.

A co-worker has a 2015 Ram 3500 dually and no grease fittings, my 2015 GMC Sierra 3500HD dually has 8 grease fittings. Why don't all the truck mfg. have grease fittings on the front suspensions? It cannot be due to cost savings.

Probably due to costs savings... Having said that not all non grease able ball joints are bad.

I rotated the tires on my truck (with no grease able ball joints) with 84k miles and couldn't feel any slop in any ball joints.

brooks379 wrote:
I've seen ball joints wear out in 30,000 mile. They are the non grease able ball joints the big 3 US Auto makers use on trucks .I have a F 350 with only 2 grease zerts on the whole front end. Get them replaced with quality grease able ball joints and u joints while it's apart, grease them with good quality grease and you will probably never replace them again.

A co-worker has a 2015 Ram 3500 dually and no grease fittings, my 2015 GMC Sierra 3500HD dually has 8 grease fittings. Why don't all the truck mfg. have grease fittings on the front suspensions? It cannot be due to cost savings.

...

Nano,

I go along with the folks that would get the specs checked and go from there. I sincerely doubt that they are "worn out". I just went through a long process regarding a surprising lack of chassis knowledge present in many shops that should know better. My wife and I own two current Ford 4x4 trucks, both year 2000. But I imagine suspension problems are all similar and very few shops in my area appear to understand the principles behind any proper alignment. My other post explains more here.

Good luck.

Wes
...

I agree on going with better than OEM parts.

If trading a year down the road drive it. If going to keep it for the next 5 years look at going with working truck grade parts and be done with it as brooks379 suggests.

I've seen ball joints wear out in 30,000 mile. They are the non grease able ball joints the big 3 US Auto makers use on trucks .I have a F 350 with only 2 grease zerts on the whole front end. Get them replaced with quality grease able ball joints and u joints while it's apart, grease them with good quality grease and you will probably never replace them again.

No it should not need new ball joints. Is the truck still covered under the three year 36,000 mile warranty? If you are just out of warranty ask your dealer to contact FCA/Ram and see if they will cover the repair under a good will repair. Your dealer will have to make the call.

I replaced the ball joints on my 2004 at 78,000 lowers and 100,000 for the uppers.

Don

2003 dually 2 wheel drive. Replaced ball joints at 179,000. Fulltimer pulling a 39' fiver.

It's a common problem with trucks with very heavy Diesel engines I was told. Good thing you've got a Dodge and not a Ford or Chev, they cost a hollow lot more to replace. That being said, most of all your over the road big trucks have I-beam front ends.

2500 Grunt wrote:
Find out what the allowable spec's are for the ball joints(on your own)and ask them what kind of reading they got on their dial indicator/gauge or whatever they use. You can't just use a pry bar and see them move 1mm up and down and say they are wore out. Also, ask them to show you if you still don't feel comfortable with it. I had a smaller shop in town tell me that mine were wore out then I took it to Dodge and they said no they are not.

This is exactly what a shop told me two years ago when they used the pry bar method. I did not replace them, and it still drives good. I think a lot of people have replaced ball joints when they really didn't need to, just because they were a fraction out of spec.

Years ago we moved from Tennessee to South Carolina and I took my Tahoe in to have the oil changed as we had just moved and my stuff was in disarray. The guy behind the counter said I should replace the brakes as they were completely shot. I asked him if he was sure?!? He replied that if I didn't I replace them would have serious braking problems soon! I asked him what would cause such a rate of brake wear as I had just replaced ALL of the brakes myself 500 miles earlier myself. He had no response...I would get a second opinion.