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Got the Death Wobble...So, is BJ time. Have a question....

1K views 15 replies 6 participants last post by  Cv2065 
#1 ·
So....Am looking to replace my ball joints. My wife is running 34's on her 2011 Sahara with Rock Krawler setup, and has about 36K miles, so I guess its about time. I was set on getting the Teraflex ball joints (#3442002), but can't find them anywhere, and they are no longer listed on their website, so I'm assuming that they are discontinued? I've read terrible things about the Synergy BJ's and am now looking at the Alloy USA ones. Not looking to spend $500 plus on a set, as the wife drives very little, so I suppose its 6 of one, half dozen of the other. Anyone know about the TF ball joint availability?
 
#2 ·
Have you had the ball joint play measured to confirm they are worn?
My OEM ball joints went over 70,000 miles before they reached the wear limit.

You can read bad reports on any product, any brand.
My Synergies have 77,000 miles on them and have zero play.
 
#4 ·
that is not how you test a ball joints. up and down movement at the lower ball joint. lift one tire off the ground maybe 2" and place a pry bar under and see how much it pops up and down. uppers Bjs its side to side in/out since its more a sleeve. The ball joints are not cheep anyway at what 200+ for the set been a few years since i need them. Now if you are doing it or add another 300+ labor i would bet. If camber needs a tweek now is that time but will cost more to get the uppers in offset. and you would need to know how many degrees. as well to set up the offsets.

same with tie rods Up and down play.

But DW tends to always have tire balance involved with at least one other issue. people will say its good but it is not. these shop tend to just get it close, not good enough and in time with lack of rotation...fubar shows up. you ever feel a slight bit of pulse/balance time to get them balanced again, or it wears on things.
If the jeep is wheeled hard on 35s they Bjs can die fast. Or mostly county/ shale roads can do it too rather fast on stock tires. mine were really bad at 20k. like rattled. i put in synergy as well at 37k now i think and now most of that has been off road since the jeeps on a trailer since about then too. For anything other than around town stuff. still doing well on those and on 37s. But i keep up with my grease gun. since ther are 50++ zirks on the heep.

This is my grease gun there are many like it but this one is mine...............
 
#5 ·
that is not how you test a ball joints. up and down movement at the lower ball joint. lift one tire off the ground maybe 2" and place a pry bar under and see how much it pops up and down. uppers Bjs its side to side in/out since its more a sleeve. The ball joints are not cheep anyway at what 200+ for the set been a few years since i need them. Now if you are doing it or add another 300+ labor i would bet. If camber needs a tweek now is that time but will cost more to get the uppers in offset. and you would need to know how many degrees. as well to set up the offsets.

same with tie rods Up and down play.

But DW tends to always have tire balance involved with at least one other issue. people will say its good but it is not. these shop tend to just get it close, not good enough and in time with lack of rotation...fubar shows up. you ever feel a slight bit of pulse/balance time to get them balanced again, or it wears on things.
If the jeep is wheeled hard on 35s they Bjs can die fast. Or mostly county/ shale roads can do it too rather fast on stock tires. mine were really bad at 20k. like rattled. i put in synergy as well at 37k now i think and now most of that has been off road since the jeeps on a trailer since about then too. For anything other than around town stuff. still doing well on those and on 37s. But i keep up with my grease gun. since ther are 50++ zirks on the heep.

This is my grease gun there are many like it but this one is mine...............
Tested wheels side to side, which is where the play is at, but not up and down. Figured if either the upper or lowers were bad, they would both need to be replaced anyway. With respect to balancing, wouldn't there be other indicators at high speed of balance was off? Wobble or vibration only occurs after hitting a bump. Wiggle the steering wheel a little, and it goes away until the next bump. I'll be doing the work myself.
 
#13 ·
5 years on the ball ends of a track bar (what was that in miles)? not bad! How often did you wash the ends and grease em out?
NO you should not have "hand play" in a hard ended bar like the RK. And YES track bar will allow wobble post bump if any play is there. Rubber bushings are more forgiving as the timing of the movement is slowed.

Shouldn't use an impact to final tighten suspension bolts. run soft with gun and finish with torque wrench. 250 pulled smoothly is vastly different load, stretch and thread deformation/engagement than 250 hammered down. If you ever encounter a stupidly stuck bolt in a damnationally impossible location - feel free to cuss the gorillas who DO torque with a gun... especially over dirty threads! (gall locking isn't as fun to disassemble as cross locking though).

Dry steer it and as doc instructed above check all joints. I Also like to frame lift and hang suspension - then crawl around with a long pry bar looking for anything loose... Rubber bushed can and will move some - but hard ends like ball ends, heims, johnny joints etc - should NOT. Any any joint that "snaps" with odd movement during dry steer - rubber or hard - is suspect.
 
#14 ·
5 years on the ball ends of a track bar (what was that in miles)? not bad! How often did you wash the ends and grease em out?
NO you should not have "hand play" in a hard ended bar like the RK. And YES track bar will allow wobble post bump if any play is there. Rubber bushings are more forgiving as the timing of the movement is
slowed.

Shouldn't use an impact to final tighten suspension bolts. run soft with gun and finish with torque wrench. 250 pulled smoothly is vastly different load, stretch and thread deformation/engagement than 250 hammered down. If you ever encounter a stupidly stuck bolt in a damnationally impossible location - feel free to cuss the gorillas who DO torque with a gun... especially over dirty threads! (gall locking isn't as fun to disassemble as cross locking though).

Dry steer it and as doc instructed above check all joints. I Also like to frame lift and hang suspension - then crawl around with a long pry bar looking for anything loose... Rubber bushed can and will move some - but hard ends like ball ends, heims, johnny joints etc - should NOT. Any any joint that "snaps" with odd movement during dry steer - rubber or hard - is suspect.
Jeep only has 36K on it since new,
So not much. I know that I've heard some poping at times through the wheel when turning some corners. I'll get under there and have the wife do some dry turns and report back. And by dry turn, i'm Assuming that you mean with the car off and no PS.
 
#15 ·
Run it. Steer stop to stop. if you see something move odd go back and forth across that spot. You will see the load - and why dry (not rolling) steering should not be a regular driving habit.

Ball ends should be cleaned and greased annually.
 
#16 ·
Little update. Had the wife dry steer it back and forth and the drivers side bolt on the track bar was so loose I could turn by hand. Not sure how I missed that before, but tightened up and will test drive tomorrow. Probably will get a Nylar nut to replace the stock to keep it from loosening again. Thanks for the suggestions!
 
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