Limited cash, what to fix?

[tonyd]

Any help appreciated, this is for saftey only. i have a lot of driving ahead of me. Son is in phily at hospital for the next 4 months. I just did the front bearing, but i have to replace

R - rear upper control arm
Both outer tie rods (rear)
L- lower ball joint.

Was thinking the ball joint for saftey. Lower ball joint $540 (complete), RR Control arm in canada is $240 plus tax

 

[FASTLLS]

What's wrong with the rear control arm? How loose are the tie rods? How loose are the ball joints?

I've driven 3-4k miles on bad ball joints (probably not the safest with the way I drive) and they didn't fall apart.. They moved about 1-1 1/2 inches.. Way out of spec..

 

[KevinJ]

arent ball joints measured from free play? like up and down motion by checking with big channel locks or checked while wheels are moved left and right slowly to see if theres any free play?

i did my spindles ( which the bearing attatches to) because when i turned the wheel it squeaked down in the front right real bad. thats the only work ive done in the front besides struts and mounts.

hard to say in your situation though, kinda of a judgement call but if they were all severly worn then they should all be repalced? if not then the worse of the 3 if the others and extremely worn. just my opinion.

 

[tonyd]

thanks, i got everything sourced from different members here for reasonable prices.

 

[FASTLLS]

arent ball joints measured from free play? like up and down motion by checking with big channel locks or checked while wheels are moved left and right slowly to see if theres any free play?.

Typically yes.. You put a bar in between the two and gently pry.. When I say gentle, I mean it.. Or you won't get the right 'reading' and think good ones are bad..