03 Ball Joints

[Shaump]

Truck has 60,000 on it. F-250 4x4 CC. Is it common for the ball joints to start going out in these trucks around this milage?

[fishingjred73]

I had 80,000 on mine when the right side tie rod end fell off. Kept them greased too. You may want to check and make sure your spindle nut hasn't loosened. I took mine to get the front end lined up after i replaced the tie rod and they told me the right side ball joints needed replacing(at about 300 bucks.) So i picked it up to replace it myself and found left side was loose also. But the slack was in the spindle bearings i tightened the nuts down a little bit and no more slack. just an idea

[Shaump]

Thanks for the advise. I have a wierd bouncing on the front end when I'm towing my gooseneck loaded or empty. I changed the shocks and steeting stablizer. Did not fix the problem brought it to the shop and he said that both upper and lower joint were starting to go out and may be causing the problem. Makes since, if you lighten up the front end and have slack in the joints you may have vibrations or bouncing type problems.

[SMKSTAX]

Just had my upper and lowers done at 62,000 miles. Sealed hub assembly was shot also. Not to mention my swaybar end link too. Total parts and labor 600 smackers.:blowup:
By the way this was on my 04 250.

[Shaump]

Yea I'm looking at $550 Big ones. Makes me feel like that may be the problem since a couple of you have had them go out around the same milage. Reason I was a little on the fence if they were bad or not is Pops had 188,000 on his 00 and never had them go out.

[WEWILLE]

Never done ball joints on a superduty yet, but i have done them on several chevy trailblazers at 30,000, but of course thats a chevy!

[tweener]

When you do the ball joints, check the outer axle u-joints....if they are questionable, do them too....and if you have the vaccum operated hubs....that seal will need to be replaced..

from what i see at my shop, the ball jointson the super dutys go out about every 70,000-100,000 miles (doesn't matter if they are FORD, NAPA, NAPA greasable, Ford ggeasable, MOOG, or any other.....)

Solid front axles are hard on BJ for some reason....Chevy IFS (full size pick-ups) never need ball joints...but their half pint breathern need them all the time, many towed into the shop with one frotn wheel sideways tucked under the fender! (s-10's)