Bad Lower Ball Joint?

Stankoma

Stankoma

Yearly Wheeler
Joined
Mar 22, 2005
Location
Wake Forest, NC
Just wanted to check before I started digging into my suspension... but I'm guessing I have a bad lower ball joint. Symptoms are when I jack the front end up, grab the tire on the top and bottom and shake it, it moves.
 
negative... balljoints wont do that unless severely worn... if you grab at 6 and 12 and it moves, look into wheel bearings... to check balljoints, support the axle on jackstands and use a prybar to lift up and down under the tire looking for vertical movement in the balljoint itsself... hth
 
Or just have a helper LOOK at the ball joint while you wiggle the tire. If the knuckle walks back and forth against the suspension arm, it's a bad joint. If the wheel walks back and forth in relation to the knuckle and caliper, etc, it's a bad bearing.

I can't speak to Toyota stuff, but every bad ball joint I've ever seen let the tire move 6/12 like you're describing. But a bad unit bearing would do the same thing.
 
Yeah I'm gonna take a closer look this afternoon and try to diagnose it further. I tried looking at the ball joint and I didn't think it did move, so that's why I was wondering. This was discovered after I'd just spent the last 5 hours replacing a leaky rear axle seal, a set of drum brake shoes (first time for me), rotating my tires, and changing the oil in the wife's Tahoe. I was way too hot and tired to get into another problem. But at least I know what I'm looking for now.
 
This on the Taco? If so, jack it by the lower arm, put a pry bar under the tire and lift while watching the joint, then check for lateral movement. Control arm bushing and more commonly wheel bearings allow the slop your describing.
 
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