Tony

HI,
OK, I have a quick question about ball joints on a 93 YJ 4.0L. I have
the front end torn apart, waiting on new brake pads/rotors and all new
tie rods. Parts are all in, just time to install.

Anyway, while I'm cleaning things up and getting ready, I noticed the
passanger side wheel knuckle turns alot easier than the drivers side.
I mean, the drivers side requires at least twice the effort to turn.
There is no play on either side and I've greased both sides until
clean grease comes out of the sides of the seal (pushing the grease in
real slow and steady...the seals are in good shape).

Question, does this sound like the ball joints on the driver side are
hanging up, or is the increase in pressure from one side to the other
normal? The U-joints in the wheels were replaced a few years ago and
look in good shape (the old ones were dried completely out and
clicking). There is no clicking and no play from what I can see.

Also, one last thing. The springs were re-arched and a leaf was
installed to bring the front back up, the springs were totally flat
before and there was less than 1" space between the axle and the bump
stop. Now, there is about 2" or a little more. It threw the
alignment out a little on the toe, but was still in spec for
caster/camber. I have to get the front end checked after all the tie
rods are back in place, so I'm going to get the exact measurements and
will double-check against the factory manual.

Any suggestions would be apreciated.

Thanks

Tony

Gerald G. McGeorge

If you can't leverage the ball joints axially (up and down) then they are
fine. Frankly this is a fairly stout component on open knuckle (post '71)
Jeeps, because they only have to handle turning and not suspension movement
as in an IFS design. Any internal tension is probably not worth worrying
about.

Adding leaves to raise the suspension on a solid axle vehicle doesn't have
any effect on toe or camber, and minimal effect on caster unless longer
shackles are installed. You should only have to check toe if you've changed
or moved the tie rod ends.

"Tony" <fat_augie@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:v5j8nvsl4j30hlaeq0h74fb0e5o5jpain7@4ax.com...
> HI,
> OK, I have a quick question about ball joints on a 93 YJ 4.0L. I have
> the front end torn apart, waiting on new brake pads/rotors and all new
> tie rods. Parts are all in, just time to install.
>
> Anyway, while I'm cleaning things up and getting ready, I noticed the
> passanger side wheel knuckle turns alot easier than the drivers side.
> I mean, the drivers side requires at least twice the effort to turn.
> There is no play on either side and I've greased both sides until
> clean grease comes out of the sides of the seal (pushing the grease in
> real slow and steady...the seals are in good shape).
>
> Question, does this sound like the ball joints on the driver side are
> hanging up, or is the increase in pressure from one side to the other
> normal? The U-joints in the wheels were replaced a few years ago and
> look in good shape (the old ones were dried completely out and
> clicking). There is no clicking and no play from what I can see.
>
> Also, one last thing. The springs were re-arched and a leaf was
> installed to bring the front back up, the springs were totally flat
> before and there was less than 1" space between the axle and the bump
> stop. Now, there is about 2" or a little more. It threw the
> alignment out a little on the toe, but was still in spec for
> caster/camber. I have to get the front end checked after all the tie
> rods are back in place, so I'm going to get the exact measurements and
> will double-check against the factory manual.
>
> Any suggestions would be apreciated.
>
> Thanks
>
> Tony
>

Gerald G. McGeorge

If you can't leverage the ball joints axially (up and down) then they are
fine. Frankly this is a fairly stout component on open knuckle (post '71)
Jeeps, because they only have to handle turning and not suspension movement
as in an IFS design. Any internal tension is probably not worth worrying
about.

Adding leaves to raise the suspension on a solid axle vehicle doesn't have
any effect on toe or camber, and minimal effect on caster unless longer
shackles are installed. You should only have to check toe if you've changed
or moved the tie rod ends.

"Tony" <fat_augie@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:v5j8nvsl4j30hlaeq0h74fb0e5o5jpain7@4ax.com...
> HI,
> OK, I have a quick question about ball joints on a 93 YJ 4.0L. I have
> the front end torn apart, waiting on new brake pads/rotors and all new
> tie rods. Parts are all in, just time to install.
>
> Anyway, while I'm cleaning things up and getting ready, I noticed the
> passanger side wheel knuckle turns alot easier than the drivers side.
> I mean, the drivers side requires at least twice the effort to turn.
> There is no play on either side and I've greased both sides until
> clean grease comes out of the sides of the seal (pushing the grease in
> real slow and steady...the seals are in good shape).
>
> Question, does this sound like the ball joints on the driver side are
> hanging up, or is the increase in pressure from one side to the other
> normal? The U-joints in the wheels were replaced a few years ago and
> look in good shape (the old ones were dried completely out and
> clicking). There is no clicking and no play from what I can see.
>
> Also, one last thing. The springs were re-arched and a leaf was
> installed to bring the front back up, the springs were totally flat
> before and there was less than 1" space between the axle and the bump
> stop. Now, there is about 2" or a little more. It threw the
> alignment out a little on the toe, but was still in spec for
> caster/camber. I have to get the front end checked after all the tie
> rods are back in place, so I'm going to get the exact measurements and
> will double-check against the factory manual.
>
> Any suggestions would be apreciated.
>
> Thanks
>
> Tony
>

Tony

Thanks for the reply,
I wasn't sure if I should worry about it or not. And, since
everything was off, I thought it would be a good time to replace them
if I needed to.

Now, as far as the lift, I thought the same thing. I had it done
almost 2 years ago. Up until the tires started cupping, I didn't
think the toe should have changed either. It did though. The jeep
had the original tie rods and they were really rusted (i.e. very hard
for the shop to get broken free). They got it aligned but I didn't
have a good feeling about it. Watching someone heat the rods then
beat the crap out of them to get them to move helped make up my mind
to replace everything up there the next time I needed work done.

The Jeep doesn't get much use compared to the old days when it was
daily transportation, so when I needed to fix the brakes, the tie
rods seemed like a good idea. The thought of pulling the axle to
replace the ball joints however, was not really my idea of fun.

Thanks again,

Tony





On Fri, 26 Sep 2003 09:03:31 -0600, "Gerald G. McGeorge"
<gmcgeorge@frontier.net> wrote:

>If you can't leverage the ball joints axially (up and down) then they are
>fine. Frankly this is a fairly stout component on open knuckle (post '71)
>Jeeps, because they only have to handle turning and not suspension movement
>as in an IFS design. Any internal tension is probably not worth worrying
>about.
>
>Adding leaves to raise the suspension on a solid axle vehicle doesn't have
>any effect on toe or camber, and minimal effect on caster unless longer
>shackles are installed. You should only have to check toe if you've changed
>or moved the tie rod ends.
>
<<snip>>

Tony

Thanks for the reply,
I wasn't sure if I should worry about it or not. And, since
everything was off, I thought it would be a good time to replace them
if I needed to.

Now, as far as the lift, I thought the same thing. I had it done
almost 2 years ago. Up until the tires started cupping, I didn't
think the toe should have changed either. It did though. The jeep
had the original tie rods and they were really rusted (i.e. very hard
for the shop to get broken free). They got it aligned but I didn't
have a good feeling about it. Watching someone heat the rods then
beat the crap out of them to get them to move helped make up my mind
to replace everything up there the next time I needed work done.

The Jeep doesn't get much use compared to the old days when it was
daily transportation, so when I needed to fix the brakes, the tie
rods seemed like a good idea. The thought of pulling the axle to
replace the ball joints however, was not really my idea of fun.

Thanks again,

Tony





On Fri, 26 Sep 2003 09:03:31 -0600, "Gerald G. McGeorge"
<gmcgeorge@frontier.net> wrote:

>If you can't leverage the ball joints axially (up and down) then they are
>fine. Frankly this is a fairly stout component on open knuckle (post '71)
>Jeeps, because they only have to handle turning and not suspension movement
>as in an IFS design. Any internal tension is probably not worth worrying
>about.
>
>Adding leaves to raise the suspension on a solid axle vehicle doesn't have
>any effect on toe or camber, and minimal effect on caster unless longer
>shackles are installed. You should only have to check toe if you've changed
>or moved the tie rod ends.
>
<<snip>>