What's the Deal with New 'Frozen' Ball Joints ?

[1sttruck]

I replaced the ball joints on one side of my son's truck, and ended up replacing one of the new ones as the spindle was very hard to turn after everything was torqued down. I had figured out the stiffness was due to a very stiff ball joint. About 2/3rds of the replacements that I looked at from NAPA and Schucks were not just stiff, they were what I would consider frozen as I couldn't move them, and neither could the parts people after they reassured me that they'd be ok. Ball joints aren't something that you want to replace after everything has been assembled.

What has other people's experience been ?

 

[Kestas]

Personally I've found the new ones to be very stiff - can't move them by hand. But you can move them if they're in a vise. I think you should be okay.

Not what you want to hear, but I suppose turning the steering wheel once everything is buttoned up will tell you if it's okay or not.

 

[punisher]

I would be afraid of a replacement balljoint I could move by hand. The loaded joint (usually the joint on the wishbone the spring is attached to) is just stiff as they are put together tight. The unloaded joint usually has a short heavy coil spring on the upper seat to keep the stud preloaded. Come to think of it I might have seen both types preloaded by some type of spring setup to maintain "0" tolerance. Either way, new ball joints are stiff and thats the story I am sticking to.

 

[alreadygone]

Totally with Kestas and punisher on this one. Many new ----'s come UNLUBED, put it together,grease it and drive a few days. Stiffness will go away.

Bob

 

[1sttruck]

I greased them before installation, most new ones seem to be regreasables with zerk fittings, and before removing the stiff one I used a slot driver (socket like a big screwdriver) on a ratchet to try to exercise the ball and stud to see if it would loosen up. It didn't, in fact it felt like it was getting stiffer, so I replaced it.

The assembly on the truck has two ball joints pressend into a spindle, and the studs on the ball joints are assembled into and clamped by axle. The tie rod moves the spindle back and forth. If one ball joint can't be moved by hand, two ball joints that can't be moved mean that the spindle and thus the wheel can't be moved either.

For comparison, the lower one that I replaced was dry and had maybe 1/8 in of play in it, it was obviously bad, while the upper one moved with just a bit of stiction and no apparent play.

 

[Merkava_4]

Stiff new ball joints are normal.

 

[mechtech2]

The loads that we apply by hand, and suspension loading are FAR different.
Plus, they will work in very shortly.

 

[alanu]

upper and lower balljoints can be installed correctly but sometimes theres more load on one or the other. That can make a balljoint very stiff. 2 of the balljoints can be pushing towards each other making more effort in turning.

Sometimes you can hit the spindle strategically and it'll loosen up the load just like you can loosen up tightness in a U-joint in a drive shaft.

 

[mechtech2]

I like tight better than the stock Ford 'mush' joints used on tie rod ends and other parts.