nclehmann

I just got off the phone with the dealer and they are replacing all 4 ball joints (driver and passenger, upper and lower).

Here's the back-story:

I have 33,500 miles on my unlimited JK. I had my lift and 35s installed yesterday by 4 Wheel Parts in Raleigh, NC (they rock, BTW). While installing the lift, they noticed the driver-side upper ball joint was bad. It had about 1/8-1/4" of play in it. The 4 Wheel Parts' general manager asked me how to proceed and I told them to finish with the lift and tires and that I would call the dealer and tell them about the bad ball joint and try to resolve it through a warranty claim.

I called the dealer shortly afterwards and told them everything above and dropped off my Jeep this morning at the dealer.

My request to the dealer was to replace all 4 ball joints, since under warranty and there is clearly a history of bad (defective) ball joints with Jeep JK Wranglers. I didn't want to have another ball joint go bad at 36,001 miles and be out of warranty.

The dealer sympathized and after a short-lived power struggle and pissing contest, I got my way. The argument I used was since the OEM part for ball joints are sold in pairs of upper and lower - not driver-side and passenger-side, to do both ball joints for one side only, the dealer has to open 2 parts and will have remaining pieces that cannot be sold as new. Also, since we have a solid axle, once the upper ball joint fails, the lower ball joint must have been compromised, since it now has some "play" in it.

The dealer explained this to Chrysler and they approved the claim to replace all 4 ball joints, even though only 1 was bad.

I'm happy that they'll do the work, but disppointed that they won't replace them with Dynatracs. I guess I have another 10-20k miles before they go bad and will need replacing - but next time, I'll replace them myself and buy the Dynatracs.

Anyways, hope this helps someone.

Lotus03

oh man i've got 7500 miles and my ball joints are bad on the drivers side and i guess passenger is soon to go too. I didnt purchase extended warranty. wtf..

u-joint

I'll take that bet... oh wait, not I won't... dealer never covers ANYTHING

I figured the moment I put 35s & re-geared I kissed my warranty on my axles away. Let alone the gussets, I can just imagine the look of concern if a service manager saw my Jeep come in for ball joints


Which, BTW, how exactly would know if one's ball joints are going bad? This is something I've never paid any attention to. The Jeep seems fine and all, but a little pro-active looking never hurt anyone

davelong667

Put the front axle on Jack stands, with the Jack stands located beneath the front axle, not the frame. Make sure both front wheels have about 1-2 inches of space between the ground and the tire. Take a long pry bar or metal rod and slide it just under each tire. Pry up on the tire, and back down, over and over. If you hear, clunk......clunk, then you can verify that it's the ball joints by putting a hand on the top or bottom ball joint while again... Prying up and down on the bottom of the tire. If you can physically feel the clunking. Then you've found that you have one ore more bad ball joints. This is what I believe to cause the dreaded death wobble. Bad ball joints. Mine are bad as well, but I will replace them with better quality ones myself soon.

Lotus03

definitely bad ball joints causes nasty death wobble. My driver side went bad from hitting a pot hole just at the right angle and launched me into death wobble within 5 seconds

RLT

Mine must have gone about the same milage. Mostly just road work !
Just had them all replaced at 15,000
Dealer V.Good suppose its extra business for him.
Imeadiately got leak from left front diff axel seal, so dealer fixed that plus replaced ball joints on that side again as he said one had burst !...
Will be checking twice a year for movement. Most likely will require doing again before warranty is out. So hope shop manager is just as accomodating