Ball Joint Play With Video

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afusco1222

TJ Enthusiast
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Jun 13, 2020
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Austin, TX
Need some help. I have really bad death wobble and am struggling to figure it out. Started checking TREs and replaced the suspect ones. When that didn't work, I started looking at the ball joints. Could not get movement from them when grabbing the tires but when i put a pry bar between the bottom of the front axle shaft the top of the lower balljoint, I got some movement. Movement is equal on both sides and I only tried this when a wheel was jacked off the ground and the vehicle weight was off of the tire.

The reason I'm suspecting ball joints, is because I replaced the track bar joints and all 4 control arms with Savvy/Currie about 4,000 miles ago. The ball joints have been in the vehicle for about 8,000 miles but are the Teraflex ball joints and I do not trust their reliability. Please watch the video below and let me know what you think. Thanks

 
The very worst case of DW I ever had was when my previous TJ was only a couple years old and nothing was old enough to have worn yet. That first case was by far the worst I have ever experienced, it was a Holy Shit WTF out of control thing. Bad enough that two vehicles close to me darted away from me.

The cause of that was that one of my tires was badly out of balance, it had lost a balancing weight.

So what I'm suggesting you do first is have your tires PERFECTLY balanced by someone who knows and cares about what they're doing. An imperfectly balanced tire is the most common trigger for DW. And it doesn't matter if your tires were recently balanced, most shops do a half-assed balance job, only to the point they consider it "good enough" which is never good enough for big Jeep size tires with the type of front-end a Wrangler has.

I'd definitely do that before I'd replace the ball joints. If you end up replacing them, make sure to stick with Spicer and avoid shit like from Synergy or store brands. You'd need two of this... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007N6OHI0/?tag=wranglerorg-20
 
Jerry Bransford said:
The very worst case of DW I ever had was when my previous TJ was only a couple years old and nothing was old enough to have worn yet. That first case was by far the worst I have ever experienced, it was a Holy Shit WTF out of control thing. Bad enough that two vehicles close to me darted away from me.

The cause of that was that one of my tires was badly out of balance, it had lost a balancing weight.

So what I'm suggesting you do first is have your tires PERFECTLY balanced by someone who knows and cares about what they're doing. An imperfectly balanced tire is the most common trigger for DW. And it doesn't matter if your tires were recently balanced, most shops do a half-assed balance job, only to the point they consider it "good enough" which is never good enough for big Jeep size tires with the type of front-end a Wrangler has.

I'd definitely do that before I'd replace the ball joints. If you end up replacing them, make sure to stick with Spicer and avoid shit like from Synergy or store brands. You'd need two of this... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007N6OHI0/?tag=wranglerorg-20
Click to expand...
I forgot to mention that I had my tires road forced balanced about 2 weeks ago. It COULD still be the tires, but there was no change in the death wobble before or after the balance so I have a feeling that it is something else. I agree with you, the very first time I had death wobble (6 years ago), a new set of tires fixed it.

Are ball joints supposed to move like that?
 
afusco1222 said:
I forgot to mention that I had my tires road forced balanced about 2 weeks ago. It COULD still be the tires, but there was no change in the death wobble before or after the balance so I have a feeling that it is something else. I agree with you, the very first time I had death wobble (6 years ago), a new set of tires fixed it.

Are ball joints supposed to move like that?
Click to expand...
I gave up paying extra for Road Force balancing years ago, I wasn't getting better results with it than I was with the cheap machines. Some movement is normal in ball joints and that the other side has the same type of movement makes me think they're probably ok. If everything else like the track bar is tight I'm unconvinced it's not a problem. Your toe-in is ok right? An incorrect toe-in can "encourage" DW.
 
I believe some up and down play to be normal in our ball joints, its just how they're designed. They will likely have some play right outta the box, or a very short time after installing them.

Tire balance and trackbar have been the culprits of my DW
 
I’ve been getting a shimmy lately that I was sure was tire balance but finally diagnosed it to be a wheel bearing. Did you check the wheel bearings?
 
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Jerry Bransford said:
I gave up paying extra for Road Force balancing years ago, I wasn't getting better results with it than I was with the cheap machines. Some movement is normal in ball joints and that the other side has the same type of movement makes me think they're probably ok. If everything else like the track bar is tight I'm unconvinced it's not a problem. Your toe-in is ok right? An incorrect toe-in can "encourage" DW.
Click to expand...
I had an alignment done about 2 months ago. Once I get the Currie Steering installed, I will have another alignment done this weekend and I can post results. I have not gotten the ball joints to move with the old "shovel under the tire" test so I didn't know if getting any movement was bad or not. I check the track bar bolts with a torque wrench and the didn't have any movement during the dry steering test. I'm convinced it's something small that I am missing.
 
Weasellee said:
I’ve been getting a shimmy lately that I was sure was tire balance but finally diagnosed it to be a wheel bearing. Did you check the wheel bearings?
Click to expand...
No movement in the wheel bearing but I am just grabbing the tires to check for play. Is there another test I can do?
 
Dry steering test. Have someone jerk the steering wheel back and forth while you are under the front end looking and feeling for any loose components.
 
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Gollywomper said:
Dry steering test. Have someone jerk the steering wheel back and forth while you are under the front end looking and feeling for any loose components.
Click to expand...
I've done that and have seen nothing wrong. Tried it with the Jeep off from 10 - 2 and the Jeep on from full lock to full lock.

Just installed the Currie steering and got my alignment specs back. I'm concerned about the camber on the driver side as it is out of spec. When driving, it feels like when the driver side hits a bump, the steering wheel shakes more than the passenger side. Anyone ever notice that before?

Wrangler Alignment Specs.jpeg
 
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