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Could it be the ball joint??

3K views 17 replies 10 participants last post by  Mandres 
#1 ·
I have a consistent intermittent clunking that's coming from the front end. I was giving a friend a ride and they told me that is was the ball joints, and that I should have them fixed pronto.

Does this sound right? When I first bought the WJ it has 98k miles on it and made a faint ticking noise from the front, now it's clunking, is a bit louder and I hear it more often.

Do I need to replace the ball joints? Is this self-wrench friendly job, or definitely one left to the professional?
 
#3 ·
Please don't laugh. Is this something that is relatively visible, or does this require a mechanic with a lift and little bit of wrenching?
 
#4 ·
You can jack up each side of the axle one at a time and grab the wheel at 6 and 12 and see if you can wiggle it. Not a fool-proof test, but it might show something. To replace ball joints, you either need to buy/rent the press, or have a shop do it.
 
#5 ·
Wow. I think that working on the ball joints will be something that is definitely out of my comfort zone.

The vehicle is just shy of 103k and I don't think the ball joints have ever been reapired or even looked at. Should I just ahead and get them fixed? If so, does anyone know about how much something like that costs?
 
#8 ·
expect a shop to charge about an hour to an hour and a half labor per ball joint, hawaii probably has crazy rates on parts though too, so i wouldn't expect it to be too cheap.

it's only a hard job in that you need to put in some effort, the press for balljoints is just a big c-clamp. if you're comfortable changing a wheel bearing in the front you can do this job. you'll need some muscle to move the press once you get the balljonts started out.
 
#9 ·
I just got a quote for $468, just labor, to replace all four ball joints on my WJ. That's from my trusted mechanic at a mom and pop shop that I've gone to for years.
 
#11 ·
The lowers usually fail first, they carry the weight. When I replaced all mine I didn't really need to replace all 4. It is a situation where it should not take very much longer to do all 4 compared to 2. If the price is double for 4, find a different shop.
 
#13 ·
I found the hardest part was learning how to use the press and all the pieces it came with. Taking it apart and reassembly wasn't too bad. Remember to hammer on the spindle as opposed to using a tie rod separator tool. The tool is a free rental at some parts stores.
 
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