Ball Joint Advice

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

I had a few concerns regarding failing ball joints. I’m gonna buy them online because money. The AC Delco Advantage ones have a good price and mostly good reviews on Amazon, but that’s their low tier product line. It worries me. The big complaint I saw was a boot that isn’t retained on the lowers, at least not out of the box, which sounds bad to me. The Mevotech ones look to be a better design and the price is still good. Any experiences here would be a great help. Also, would it be prudent to just get the control arms off and replace control arm bushings while I’m in there? I’m not having issues with them that I’m aware of, and I’d rather get this done as quickly as possible, but I don’t want to have problems 10,000 miles after I do ball joints. Finally, I was curious about failure patterns. Mine are squeaking a lot, even after greasing them, and whenever I do hard turns and go up steep inclines, I hear a “pop pop pop.” The boots look pretty rotten, too. That being said, there’s no play or clunking whatsoever. I can’t do this job until spring break (March 23rd is last day of school) so I was hoping that I’d make it driving normally until then.

 

[Honky Kong jr]

I had a few concerns regarding failing ball joints. I’m gonna buy them online because money. The AC Delco Advantage ones have a good price and mostly good reviews on Amazon, but that’s their low tier product line. It worries me. The big complaint I saw was a boot that isn’t retained on the lowers, at least not out of the box, which sounds bad to me. The Mevotech ones look to be a better design and the price is still good. Any experiences here would be a great help. Also, would it be prudent to just get the control arms off and replace control arm bushings while I’m in there? I’m not having issues with them that I’m aware of, and I’d rather get this done as quickly as possible, but I don’t want to have problems 10,000 miles after I do ball joints. Finally, I was curious about failure patterns. Mine are squeaking a lot, even after greasing them, and whenever I do hard turns and go up steep inclines, I hear a “pop pop pop.” The boots look pretty rotten, too. That being said, there’s no play or clunking whatsoever. I can’t do this job until spring break (March 23rd is last day of school) so I was hoping that I’d make it driving normally until then.

On the Jimmy or Caprice?

 

[bluex]

Moog is the only answer to this question....

 

[yevgenievich]

Moog or ac delco professional line. I went against both of those with Spicer ball joints

 

[CSFJ]

One of the guys I worked with at the dealer, opened his own front end/brake/alignment shop after he left. Last time the subject came up, he almost exclusively used the Mevotech. He's very meticulous about his work and obviously comebacks for prematurely failed parts are bad for business. He will run the Moog rep out almost at gunpoint. Hates the brand. HAs a lot of examples of getting a pair of parts, the same part number, in different boxes, manufactured differently (different materials used). I myself have a hatred for the brand, because I hate seeing the grease I put into them during a LOF, squeeze out during the first turn or suspension cycle. Still haven't figured out why they can't put a retaining clip on the grease boot to seal it, like the factory does.

 

[Snoots]

Moog must have changed their design then. The only reason I ever changed a Moog was because it was worn out.
I use Spicer exclusively now tho (couldn't find the Moog part) and I have VERY old Spicer parts that still perform as new.

 

[CSFJ]

Moog must have changed their design then. The only reason I ever changed a Moog was because it was worn out.
I use Spicer exclusively now tho (couldn't find the Moog part) and I have VERY old Spicer parts that still perform as new.

I believe that whenever the brand got bought out, they slap the Moog label on whatever tehy feel like. So you have a bunch of previously different manufactures labeling stuff as "Moog".

 

[Tobe's84Jimmy]

I dont really have preference on the ball joints, just had mine done with I think the AcDelco I could be wrong, my thing is with those is I try and grease em at least once a month, two months at the most. I daily drive my Jimmy and I kinda push it sometimes in the turns. If I were you I would do the bushings too, and that popping noise could be all kind of things, maybe even a motor mount. if you dont have play or clunking in the ball joints during normal driving its probably coming from somewhere else ( could be your suspension hitting the bump stops when youre goin up and turnin like that?) good luck

 

[Snoots]

and whenever I do hard turns and go up steep inclines, I hear a “pop pop pop.”

That almost sounds like a bad front axle u-joint.

 

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

On the Jimmy or Caprice?

Sorry, this is on the Caprice. Should have mentioned that.

 

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

A little more info... I checked them out today and saw that they didn’t hold the grease I put in, which isn’t a surprise. The squeak is on the passenger side, and while it’ll do it sometimes when the wheels are straight, it’ll always do it when the wheels are at full lock. The popping makes sense that it could be something else. @Tobe's84Jimmy, funny you should mention bump stops because I noticed yesterday that mine were brittle and a bit chewed up. You can also see the grease got squeezed out of them after I drove it a few hundred miles.

Driver Side:

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[1987 GMC Jimmy]

Passenger Side:

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[CorvairGeek]

The lower ball joints carry the load in that design, so they do wear faster than the uppers.
If you lift at the lower A-arm, you can tell a lot more than when is at full travel, as when lifted only at the frame of the car.
I could hear mine years ago. I was shocked at how loose and rough the driver's side was when I checked mine as described. Seemed great when I had only lifted at frame. I still have the original uppers at 267K miles.

 

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

I assumed it was the lower one on my passenger side making the noise, and that makes sense. The boots even look slightly better on the uppers (at least to me).

 

[Boone83K10]

I used Mevotech on my entire front axle swap/steering that I did last spring. Love them. I even have Mevotech on my 96 Grand Cherokee rebuild I did.

They now have a new Terrain Tough line from Mevotech that looks even better than the Supreme Chassis line that I have used.

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