[Tomb Raider]

Anybody have adjustable upper ball joints and have anything to say about them?

 

[Jerry Bransford]

I don't have them, what makes you believe they're needed? Is something bent and your camber angle is out of spec?

 

[Tomb Raider]

I have been to two shops now, one mentioned in here often! I have DW and need to get it cleared up! One shop says track bar and components look good, let's do ball joints. ( not adjustable) The other shop wants to do track bar, shocks and alignment, and if needed, ball joints...adjustable type! He mostly does JK extreme mods!

 

[Tomb Raider]

Btw, I was hoping you would chime in on this Jerry! I have a lot of respect for your knowledge base!

 

[Jerry Bransford]

Adjustable ball joints are not the cure for DW, they are only needed when the Camber angle is outside of specifications due to something being bent. If a ball joint is worn and moving, that's one thing and it should be replaced with another ball joint like a Spicer. Replacing good ball joints to cure DW however is ludicrous.

If the ball joints are loose and moving, replace them with good standard non-adjustable ball joints like Spicer which is strongly recommended.

If they're not worn/moving, it's time to figure out what the root cause of the DW is and not just throw parts at it. I'd start with a VERY CAREFULLY performed tire balance. I don't care if one was recently performed, not all shops take the time to get the tires perfectly balanced as is required by a TJ.

Do a dry steering test to look for something loose or moving that should not be. With the tires on the ground, have a helper repeatedly turn the steering wheel back & forth while you closely watch all of the front-end steering components and look for something moving that should not be. Like where the passenger-side track bar mount is... that should not be moving even a small amount. A loose track bar mount coupled with an out of balance tire is a very common combination that causes DW.

Other items that aren't as tight as they should be, like possibly from a bad bushing, include the drag link, control arms, shocks, unit bearings, or as mentioned above, ball joints that are worn enough to allow movement.

Adjustable ball joints would not give any benefit over fixed ball joints unless they're actually needed to compensate for a bent axle.

 

[BrendonC]

Adjustable ball joints would not give any benefit over fixed ball joints unless they're actually needed to compensate for a bent axle.

Bit of a thread hijack, apologies.

Jerry, my front drivers side axle is bent. I want to replace ball joints anyway, will an offset/adjustable ball joint get me by or could it be a permanent fix to my problem? Eventually I'll replace the axle housing but it's not in the budget until winter.

 

[Jerry Bransford]

Whether or not an adjustable ball joint will help depends on how badly your axle is bent. At the most, adjustable ball joints only have something like a +/- 2 degree adjustment.