Durango Question.

[jedimaster]

[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica]Hey fellow, nutters, been a long while since I posted here but I have been moparless for some time.

And I doubt you guys wanted to here about my ramblings about a Nissan quest and a Toyoat Corolla. Took me a while before I went and bought metric tools. Took a few broozed knuckles and rounded bolts. [/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica]Anyway onto my post. I have a Durango, No its not a semi hemi. its a '99 318, 4x4. Needed something that seated 6 and could tow my 3500 pound boat and pull it out of the water. So the Quest got sold and back to mopar.

My wife took it in for tires and an alligment as I the camber was off. They called her an hour later and said that they won't do the tires or the allignment unless she puts upper and lower ball joints and inner tie rod ends on.

She told them she will come and pick it up. The guy said "Oh, he can do that?" She said yes I will come in and pick it up.
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[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica]So I am a little suspicious but here is the thing. I put put it up on the stands and took off the tires, everything seems to be really solid. Nothing wiggles abnormally to my eyes.
The only thing that has me wondering is that if I grab the lower ball joint I can twist it by hand. Is that normal? It won't wiggle up and down or in and out. That was the test for balljoints from what I know. I thought it pretty much has to twist.

Anyone ever have one and check it out and able to shed any light on me.
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[Fishy]

Dunno about the answer to your question but don't under-estimate that Toyota! 69.5's ex had a 78 Carolla wagon and it was a tough sumbitch! Had the 4 cyl. "hemi" in it too. 22R or whatever it was...maybe it was a T motor..I forget.

 

[giowest]

Go get second and third opinions, some shops love to scare the gals if they dont know any better.
That said there hasn't been to many mopes built lately that dont need ball joints early in life thru recalls or regular wear and tear.

 

[beeper*71]

Upper balljoints have a history of failure and if it's over 100,000 miles it's a safe bet the lowers and the tie rods are showing wear.

To check it proper leave the wheels on and place a jack under the lower control arm close to the tire as possible. Jack the tire about 2" from the floor and shove a long prybar under the tire and lift up on the tire while closely watching for and up and down or side to side movement in the balljoints. The upper one can be a little tricky to check and another set of hands here can be helpfull.

To check the tie-rods grab the tire at the 9 and 3 O'clock position and wiggle back and forth..another set of hands and eyes under the truck can help here also.

 

[jedimaster]

Well I am about 99 percent sure it doesn't need them, I know for sure that it has had the balljoints replaced. I was told so and saw the receipt when I bought it. It has only been 10,000 km's since it was done.

I still drive my corolla its a '93 and at a buck three per litre its only 40 to fill from bone dry and gets about 600 km's per tank.
I commute about 200 km's per day in it.
The quest was great but it was front wheel drive and couldn't pull my boat out of the water otherwise we would still have it.

My wife drives the durango, and I drive to the lake on the weekends.

Just kinda pissed these guys tried to take us for a ride.

Tried what you said beeper and everything seems to be perfectly fine, no play.

I HATE GARAGES...