so i was going to do my lift myself but in the end i decided to just have a local shop put it all on for a couple of reasons.. never really done one of these on one of my own vehicles..
so the shop was putting on my lift and they noticed that hte ball joints were worn done already at 26000 miles.. i thought this was weird so i drove by and sure enough.. they are worn pretty bad.. took it to the dealer and they are replacing them... but has anybody else had this problem.

 

ive had a shop say that my were worn at 25,000 when i got my jeep inspected. i ended up taking it to anouther shop and they said there wasnt anything wrong with them. Did your jeep drive bad at all when they were worn?

 

actually, not really. but i got a call back from the dealer a while ago and they said that everything was okay with the ball joints so i took it back to the shop and they insisted that they were not in good shape and needed to be replaced.
so from here im just going to get the papers from the shop and from the alignment guy that does the work for the shop saying that they really believe that there is something wrong with the ball joint and then take it back to dealer and see what he says.

 

and bump...

 

My Jeep is in the shop now with bad ball joints @ 22,000 miles.

While driving (especially at higher speed) there was a noticeable "popping" from the front end. The popping was irregular and could be felt in the pedals.

Troubleshooting at a 4x4 shop, they found the ball joint problem.

It is most noticeable to see if you jack at the front axle while watching the lower ball joints. As soon as the weight is off the tires: you get the pop with movement.

The dealer "may not" warranty according to the service department, but that would be rediculous....

Regardless of lift/ tire size, ball joints should not go bad that fast

 

They might really be bad but just use some caution with the dealer. You don't want them black balling your warranty on the balls joints incase you do really need them.

Ball Joints are the things a lot of shops use to get more money out of people. Very few people will do ball joints themselves. Most will say go ahead and put them on and they get a job with a high labor amount. If you put a large enough bar on the spindle you can make a brand new ball joint deflect.

I would try a third shop, try to find one you can trust.

 

Where are the ball joints located and how could you tell if they are going bad?

 

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From what my 4x4 shop showed me: just lift the jeep at the front axle, and watch for movement here as the weight comes off the wheels.

Otherwise I belive you should feel play by rocking the installed wheel while up on jacks.

 

So other than jacking them up and shaking the wheel they would show no other symptoms?

Then who cares if they go bad?

 

I guess no one should care, based on that logic.