Tips on a Bad Truck Ball Joint

Video Transcript

"Hi my name is Nate McCullough on behalf of Expert Village. In the following clips we're going to talk about the correct procedure for replacing your upper and lower ball joints on a two wheel drive full size vehicle. In this clip I'm going to demonstrate to you how exactly our ball joint has failed. We are going to prep our new ball joint for re-installation and explain to you some of the advantages of spending a few extra dollars on your replacement components. What I'm going to do is stand up and show you the excessive play and you can actually hear it clunk around. Let me get up close to my camera here, what I'm going to do is push in and out on the ball joint. The reason they call it a ball joint is it's something similar to like your hip or your shoulder. It's a ball and socket style fitting that your wheel pivots on. As you look here you can hear it clunk and you can see the bellows on our grease seal expand and collapse. If I'm doing this with just the light force of my hands you can imagine how much play is involved with the entire weight of the vehicle working against this bad joint."