If a ball joint has slight play, can it fall appart and fail? Seems like my mechanic is trying to create a panic. I'll get it repaired eventually.

 

Slight play you say? Then you should be okay as long as your not doing wheeley's and jumps.
But you should get it fixed asap since it could become a safety issue.

 

Its something you should get fix, idk about ur state but in mine you will fail inspection if u have bad ball joints (i kno my jeep failed because of it) if you off road alot you seem to go through ball joints a bit more

 

One ball joint shouldnt cost that much, even at a garage. I had one done a few years back. Took it in for an inspection and they said it CAN pass, but I NEED to get it done. So I told them next month, they scheduled me for the front to be done, etc. I take it in and a couple hours later they called and said the driver side didnt need it at all, no sense in wasting more money. I think the whole thing was around $80ish. I cant recall because I had other things done too, but I know it was somewhere around $60-$100 for that one ball joint to be done, parts and labor.

GET IT DONE! No sense in taking a risk, and I find that if I put something off, it usually gets put off for a while!

 

Yeah you need to get it done, I dont think it'll fall of or anything but you may start getting death wobble because of it and that is not fun at all.

 

Agree totally, ball joints CAN be a safety issue.... DEATH WOBBLE... it's called that for a reason

 

to answer as where they can fail and fall apart.... let me refer you to anything can happen..

these were mine




and my wheel bearings that lasted 10 feet




anything can happen...

 

You wouldnt happen to be the guy in the Renegade I saw going down the highway and had the front passenger wheel fly off....about 25 years ago in Northern Maine, would you?

 

lol. no. ball joints was at the very beginning of october and wheel bearing was in january (it was the first time the jeep moved in 3 months when not on a trailer...)

 

yes they can. the ball can pop out of the socket, how likely? if its slight? not to likely but not worth the problems it can cause. I have seen a few trucks roll from the lower ball joint coming out on the freeway and sucking the tire under the vehicle and they lose control and flip it... but thats unlikely. but costs a LOT more then a ball joint.

 

Were do u go for work? My local garage wantd to charge me 350?$ for 2 balljoints and a ujoint. Labor is normally 60-80$ per hour (atleast around here. All in all its cheaper to do it your self, I rarely go to a mechanic

 

I was wondering the same thing, my labor is $68, and a ball joint pays more than 1 hr, plus the parts.

 

just about the same here - was quoted $116 to switch one lower ball joint. So I did it myself.

 

Kinda hard to get away with highway robbery in a small town, middle of nowhere, northern Maine. Charge too much, people wont use you, people dont use you, youre out a job.

But, like I said, I was having a number of things done. They dont charge "by the hour" here per say, they charge by the job. I think the bearings were quoted at like $120 for the front (both sides), then they knocked off like $40ish because I only had the one side done. They show on the receipt they give me, across the top from left to right "Job description.....Parts.....Labor.....Subtotal. So I read it as "Right front balljoint.....$40....$40.....$80. Each line itemized like that with a subtotal of each at the bottom, then a total. If youre having a bunch of stuff done thats taking hours they price it that way, $35 an hour or something. You think poor people up here can afford more than that? The garage owner is like a millionaire up here, making $35 an hour. If you HAVE a job youre lucky! A couple years back they did all new brake lines on my s10 and that cost me a total of $190 bucks parts, labor, tax. Last week I had a slow leak in my XJ's front tire. Took it down, they stopped what they were doing, plugged it and charged me $5 bucks. One thing thats nice about small town Maine.

Now, 3 hours down the pike, my mom lives in the "city". She needs the flex plate done on her mini-van and theyre charging her like $1000 in labor, and she bought the part at VIP for like $68 bucks! Shes taking it in later this week and they said it would take the day. And a couple years back my XJ started acting up on the pike headed down there, and it was throttle body sensor. I think the part cost my $40ish and the garages down there all wanted like $100 to put it in. I bought the star driver at Sears for like $3 bucks and took out the 2 screws myself. Thats a joke.

 

I'm sure I will be charged at least $350.00 for one ball joint replacement. The mechanics know that I don't have the time, skill, and tools to do the job so I have to pay a lot.
I recently had my brakes done on my Jeep. New front rotors, pads, rear wheel cylinders, rear shoes, (no drums need to be replaced); total cost $630.00

Also had rear leaf springs and rear shocks; $890.00