Which Ball Joint Is Off?

[GavinH]

Was out wheeling over the weekend and now I notice a very slight pop/shift/thump type feeling when turning the wheel initially in either direction. Thought it was a tre but was under looking for anything out of the ordinary and noticed the ball joints sitting differently.

Driver side:

Passenger Side:

Sponsored

 

[Old Dogger]

Your top Ball Joint is loose. Some of them left the factory that way. Torque it to 55 ft. lbs. Then you will have to tweak it a bit back, and forward for the cotter pin to fit in the hole. The actual specs are:
Top ball joint: 52-59 ft. Lbs. Bottoms ball joint: 30-37 ft. Lbs.
I suggest that you retorque all of them.

 

[Lofty]

Seeing as you don't have stock knuckles or ball joints it's a little hard to determine. The gap seen on the drivers side camber slug to Knuckle (bottom of Knuckle to flange of slug) looks closer to that of a production axle. I'd lean towards that side being the noisy side.

 

[Nokones]

Be on the safeside, replace them with the Metalcloak Baller Joints

 

[Roky]

Was out wheeling over the weekend and now I notice a very slight pop/shift/thump type feeling when turning the wheel initially in either direction. Thought it was a tre but was under looking for anything out of the ordinary and noticed the ball joints sitting differently.

Driver side:

Passenger Side:

Here is torque spec for Dynatrac ball joints…..

However, I don’t think they’re the problem, ( I could be wrong, happens a lot, ) Dynatracs sit that way sometimes, here’s mine for example:

I would check the drag link and tie rod ends and track bar….even if it’s aftermarket…I had same symptoms you’re describing and it was my Yeti drag link that shit the bed…..

 

[GavinH]

Here is torque spec for Dynatrac ball joints…..

However, I don’t think they’re the problem, ( I could be wrong, happens a lot, ) Dynatracs sit that way sometimes, here’s mine for example:

I would check the drag link and tie rod ends and track bar….even if it’s aftermarket…I had same symptoms you’re describing and it was my Yeti drag link that shit the bed…..

All my steering upgrades were done 6k miles ago besides the JKS trackbar it’s been 12k for that. Im suspicious about my track bar as a month or two ago was making a loud pop, I loosened and retorqued the axle side bolt and it went away. I conveniently have a RK track bar sitting on my table waiting to be installed this Saturday because I knew I needed a replacement. Going to retorque everything while I’m in there too, regarding the RK bar is it normal for the two sleeves on the Heim end to loosely fall in and out I wasn’t expecting them to do that. If not the track bar and it is balljoints I’m assuming they're likely just loose if anything I doubt/hope I wasn’t able to blow through them in 6k miles.

 

[Roky]

All my steering upgrades were done 6k miles ago besides the JKS trackbar it’s been 12k for that. Im suspicious about my track bar as a month or two ago was making a loud pop, I loosened and retorqued the axle side bolt and it went away. I conveniently have a RK track bar sitting on my table waiting to be installed this Saturday because I knew I needed a replacement. Going to retorque everything while I’m in there too, regarding the RK bar is it normal for the two sleeves on the Heim end to loosely fall in and out I wasn’t expecting them to do that. If not the track bar and it is balljoints I’m assuming they're likely just loose if anything I doubt/hope I wasn’t able to blow through them in 6k miles.

Yeah that’s normal for the heim joint…they usually ship it with a zip tie holding them in, and one on the other end holding the O rings from getting lost….

 

[ym0bc1]

Your top Ball Joint is loose. Some of them left the factory that way. Torque it to 55 ft. lbs. Then you will have to tweak it a bit back, and forward for the cotter pin to fit in the hole. The actual specs are:
Top ball joint: 52-59 ft. Lbs. Bottoms ball joint: 30-37 ft. Lbs.
I suggest that you retorque all of them.

to torque the top one, i have to take the knuckle off?

 

[jav_eee]

to torque the top one, i have to take the knuckle off?

you could do it while everything is assembled with a crows foot

 

[Remorseless]

Seeing as you're running good aftermarket ball joints, I'd suspect a trackbar bushing or steering joint first.

How many miles on this set of Dynatracs though? And what are you running for steering and trackbar?

Edit: See it's the JKS trackbar and had to tighten the axle bolt recently. Definitely might've killed that bushing if it was running for 12k mi and it wasn't in a spot where it was happy with its torque. The JKS trackbar is a simple Clevite bushing. I'd either pop in that RK one you have waiting or contact JKS for a replacement bushing if you can get a camera on the axle or frame side bushings while replicating the issue and see it happening.

Sponsored