Hmmm worn suspension components..

[Dykzeulb]

Put my LS on the lift today, and noticed some play in the front wheels, side to side up down back and forth....looks to be tie rod ends, and ball joints... Questions I have... Costs for parts? Labor...can I do this myself? Any special tool needed? Anything else I should look at while I have it broken down? Really surprised to see the under carriage rust free and looks better than my newer truck...car turned 108,000.


My buddy said possibly hubs but I don't hear any sort of humming like I would when a hub is going bad.. And I guess I need to look at my bushings on the steering stabilizer as I have the notorious squeak?


Thanks in advance guys!

 

[tripwire1124]

agree on the hub, as youll be taking everything apart anyway. ball joints i believe require new control arms so that you can do yourself. tie rid ends you can do yourself as well, just make sure an alignments is done shortly after. how were sway bar links?

 

[2000sport]

upper ball joints come on the control arms, but the lowers are pressed into the knuckle.

There are a few aftermarket ball joints available now, but you will need to take it to a shop to have it pressed in.

Unless the ball stud hole on the lower arm is damaged, it shouldnt need to be replaced.

just bring a new wheel hub to the shop that is doing the ball joint, since the hub has to come off anyways. I doubt they would charge you to install the new one instead of reinstalling the old one.

 

[jolinc01]

I bought ball joints on ebay and had them pressed in for $75 at my Firestone store. I did the tie rod ends myself.

 

[nelliott500]

My mechanic told me that ball joints are a real bitch on these cars.

 

[davemeradith]

I bought ball joints on ebay and had them pressed in for $75 at my Firestone store. I did the tie rod ends myself.

Was it difficult? Last alignment I had, guy told me tie rod ends needed to be replaced before next alignment.

 

[jolinc01]

I just paid the $75 for them to press the ball joints in so that was a breeze. Changing the tie rod ends was fairly easy too.

 

[chris2523]

I bought ball joints on ebay and had them pressed in for $75 at my Firestone store. I did the tie rod ends myself.

My mechanic told me that ball joints are a real bitch on these cars.

done lower ball joints on an LS a couple times. its really not to hard with a good ball joint press. advance auto rented me one for half a day. pay deposit, use tool, get deposit back.

 

[nelliott500]

I've never really done suspension work on any car so I don't have any experience with it. The most I've done is replace a rear trailing arm on my '92 Z34.

 

[oddball]

done lower ball joints on an LS a couple times. its really not to hard with a good ball joint press. advance auto rented me one for half a day. pay deposit, use tool, get deposit back.

Just a warning to our less experienced readers: if you're not familiar with these tools and the proper methods to set them up, do NOT attempt this. The LS knuckles are aluminum and (relatively) very easy to damage. The parts store ball joint presses can be difficult to set up well.
If you bend/crack/break the knuckle, it must be replaced.

 

[embe]

What sort of abnormal tire wear would you expect with that sort of play? ie: anything specific that would indicate a suspension problem before you got it on the lift?