I got some shocks put on my truck a few weeks ago(107,000 miles on them) and the mechanic looked at the ball joints and told me i will need to replace them, he showed me the play in both front wheels up and down, Today i went and got some new tires and the tire shop told me i need a new idler arm. I told the guy that i knew i needed balljoints but didnt know about the idler arm, He said he checked the ball joints and they are good, reason he is saying the idler arm is because there is side to side movement. How do i know for sure what i need to get? I saw my mechanic checking the ball joints and they did have play when moving the tires up and down, now the tire shop is tell me they are good and i need a idler arm cause of the side to side movement.

 

Hello & good afternoon to ya! How are you?

On to yer question:

I would take the cautious route and replace all of those components, and add to that the tierod ends as well.

Use good, greasable Moog or Spicer components (Rock Auto) & get an aligment after. It's really not that expensive, considering the potential risks. You can do the work yerself if reasonably handy.

With that many miles, it's the most prudent & safest approach.
My ball joints let go catastrophically on my 2000 six years later.

Lesson learned.

This is IMHO, okay?

Cheers & bests


MGD v2.1a

 

X2 to all that ^^^^

I just replaced all four ball joints, idler arm, and the pitman arm from Rock Auto for $230. It's worth the money!!

 

I agree. You may want to add the tie rod ends to that list also.