New Ball Joints, Home Brew Gusset, and Poor Steering.
09-30-2011, 02:59 AM
#11
JK Newbie
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Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Mid, Michigan
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"It'll cost a bit more if you worked on it first..."
Well... coincidentally, I just today got my Jeep out of the pro-shop... I'll come clean. Seems I fucked my own Jeep not once, but twice! 
So I did the ball joints and the steering was real tight. Had alot of "memory steer". I contacted the ball joint manufacturer and the fella there groused a little bit but he agreed to warranty the ball joints. A little aside there, I have not yet actually been reimbursed for the ball joints that I had to send back to the manufacturer.
I took my shiney new set of ball joints to my local Midas shop (owned by Dick Heslip and sons). Known these guys for years and they've done alot work on my cars, much of which would probably be "out of their scope" for a Midas. Either way, they're awesome. I explained the issue and my man there was a bit skeptical of my installation process. I've been noticing a metallic 'dragging' sound from under the front and I asked them to see if they could figure it out cuz I couldn't identify that. Didn't know if the sound was connected to the memory steer thing.
They swapped out the ball joints I put in with the shiney new set from the manufacturer and voila!! Memory steer gone! He did say that the knuckles were a bit harder to turn by hand (with steering linkage removed) than he would like. But after driving it, it's just like previous. He did say that it would loosen up a bit more as the new ball joints settled in. The press I used was driven by an impact wrench. He used a hydraulic press and had to machine a custom cup to press the things in. The consensus is that one (or more) of the joints I had installed was a bit catty-wampus in the socket.
Oh... and the metallic dragging sound? He said it was coming from the front pumpkin! He doesn't do gears but suggested I take it directly to my gear shop.
The sound to me wasn't a bad gear in the pumpkin sound. Definately a drag and not a whine.
So I took the Jeep home. Bad thing is, that evening when I went out to driveway to take fam to dinner.... there was thick nasty oil all over the inside of the passenger side right wheel and ground. Lost an axle seal. Back to Midas the next day. They tore it all apart and fixed that. No charge. That was real generous of them and they'll be getting a heftier than usual gift card for dinner this x-mas.
From there, off I went to the pro-shop I use for gearing. He too didn't think it was the gearing. I was concerned it was the stock drive shaft that has finally went. A few days later, it's fixed. The problem? The front pinion bearings had went bad due to lack of lubrication.
You see, I had swapped out my diff covers with ARB covers a couple months back. Seems I must not have followed the proper procedure to mark the dip-stick (the one that came with the ARB cover, not me) with the appropriate oil level. With the front housing having a top mounted pinion, there was not enough oil to go around.
I hope your adventure goes better than mine. LOL
$250 1st Ball Joint Set
$100 Axle Gussets (remember these were essentially wasted)
$20 Beer for first installation
$250 2nd Ball Joint Set (reimubursable though
)
$350 2nd Ball Joint installation
$200 Front pinion gear set
$450 Front pinion gear installation and troubleshooting (at least the front OEM drive shaft is in good shape!)
So.... there ya go! Learn from my mistake. I've already paid for it! LOL
So I did the ball joints and the steering was real tight. Had alot of "memory steer". I contacted the ball joint manufacturer and the fella there groused a little bit but he agreed to warranty the ball joints. A little aside there, I have not yet actually been reimbursed for the ball joints that I had to send back to the manufacturer.
I took my shiney new set of ball joints to my local Midas shop (owned by Dick Heslip and sons). Known these guys for years and they've done alot work on my cars, much of which would probably be "out of their scope" for a Midas. Either way, they're awesome. I explained the issue and my man there was a bit skeptical of my installation process. I've been noticing a metallic 'dragging' sound from under the front and I asked them to see if they could figure it out cuz I couldn't identify that. Didn't know if the sound was connected to the memory steer thing.
They swapped out the ball joints I put in with the shiney new set from the manufacturer and voila!! Memory steer gone! He did say that the knuckles were a bit harder to turn by hand (with steering linkage removed) than he would like. But after driving it, it's just like previous. He did say that it would loosen up a bit more as the new ball joints settled in. The press I used was driven by an impact wrench. He used a hydraulic press and had to machine a custom cup to press the things in. The consensus is that one (or more) of the joints I had installed was a bit catty-wampus in the socket.
Oh... and the metallic dragging sound? He said it was coming from the front pumpkin! He doesn't do gears but suggested I take it directly to my gear shop.
The sound to me wasn't a bad gear in the pumpkin sound. Definately a drag and not a whine. So I took the Jeep home. Bad thing is, that evening when I went out to driveway to take fam to dinner.... there was thick nasty oil all over the inside of the passenger side right wheel and ground. Lost an axle seal. Back to Midas the next day. They tore it all apart and fixed that. No charge. That was real generous of them and they'll be getting a heftier than usual gift card for dinner this x-mas.
From there, off I went to the pro-shop I use for gearing. He too didn't think it was the gearing. I was concerned it was the stock drive shaft that has finally went. A few days later, it's fixed. The problem? The front pinion bearings had went bad due to lack of lubrication.
You see, I had swapped out my diff covers with ARB covers a couple months back. Seems I must not have followed the proper procedure to mark the dip-stick (the one that came with the ARB cover, not me) with the appropriate oil level. With the front housing having a top mounted pinion, there was not enough oil to go around.I hope your adventure goes better than mine. LOL
$250 1st Ball Joint Set
$100 Axle Gussets (remember these were essentially wasted)
$20 Beer for first installation
$250 2nd Ball Joint Set (reimubursable though
)$350 2nd Ball Joint installation
$200 Front pinion gear set
$450 Front pinion gear installation and troubleshooting (at least the front OEM drive shaft is in good shape!)
So.... there ya go! Learn from my mistake. I've already paid for it! LOL
09-30-2011, 04:54 AM
#12
JK Freak
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Birmingham
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Well glad you got everything fixed. If you don't mind PM me who you bought the ball joints from. I am thinking we got them at the same place. So I will be hitting them up for a new set as well.