Do I really have bad lower ball joints?

2007.5 Silverado. Was told “both your lower ball joints are bad. Well have to take your whole front end apart. $1050 for everything.”  Uh, no. I’ll come get it. Instant attitude change. Now, I’m a major shiny happy person to the sales guy  

Get the truck home and no noise or play from shaking the front wheel. Boots are good. Pry bar shows no movement at all from multiple angles. I have no road noise at all. Am I missing something that would say these are bad? I feel a little suspect that both are bad at the same time. 

My Suburban needed them just a lil while ago.  It passed the normal inspection routes, but I got them out, they clearly were worn out. Only had 130k on them... lol

You need to support the vehicle/suspension so that there is no load on the joints.

Yup. What iceracer said.

Jack up under the control arm until there are about 2" under the tire. Now the weight of the wheel/tire/spindle etc is hanging off the lower ball joint. Put prybar between tire and ground and pry/bounce upward. All that stuff weighs like 70-80lbs so you need the leverage to float that weight and feel the play. 

Yep this is old school suspension and you have to do it they way people noted above.  Many people test them like they were strut type suspension and that does not tell you anything.

In reply to dean1484 :

Expand upon “strut type”. The 2007.5 plus are coilover shocks up front. 

Is either end of the spring perch attached to the shock?  If so then it gets tested like a car with struts.  (you jack the vehicle up on the frame and unload the suspension to test the ball joints)

If the spring perch is on the A arm and the other end to the frame or a frame bracket (it does not matter if the shock is in side the spring) then it is the "old school" type of suspension and you would lift the vehical by the a arm keeping the suspension loaded to test the ball joint. 

If it is like this then it is what I call a hybrid.  Even though the bottom perch for the spring is part of the "shock" there is an upper AND lower A arm.  I would jack this by the bottom of the A arm.  I am going to ask the owner of the shop I help at some times and confirm this.

Ok went upstairs to my friends shop and there is a 2008 in there at the moment it is exactly like the image above.  He said he would test as I stated above jacking off teh A arm BUT since it is sort of a hybrid he said he would probably test it both jacked on teh A arm and jacked off the frame.  The short of it is you are going to have to test it both ways to be sure.  

Is this a shop that you have used in the past and been comfortable with?

A lot of the chain type shops will tell you that your pars are "worn" as a sales pitch. The defense is that they are by definition "worn" since the vehicle has some number of miles on it.

That said, repeat customers are very valuable to the independent shops, and hence they will rarely screw you over regulars since they aer in it for the long haul after you have been back two or three times.

Pete

In reply to dean1484 :

Thanks, Dean. 

In reply to NOHOME :

This is a chain that I have little trust for.