Ball Joints/ Control Arms

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kj705

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Hey guys, bought a 2003 Jeep Liberty and failed inspection because it needs ball joints pretty much all the way around. It drives pretty bad because of the ball joints. Should I buy upper and lower control arms (front and rear) for the entire vehicle or just do the ball joints? Thanks for the input!
 
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Hey guys, bought a 2003 Jeep Liberty and failed inspection because it needs ball joints pretty much all the way around. It drives pretty bad because of the ball joints. Should I buy upper and lower control arms (front and rear) for the entire vehicle or just do the ball joints? Thanks for the input!

Its cheaper do do the whole arm. Most factory arms dont have pressable ball joints. Only thing that should give you trouble is the upper front control arms. On the liberty there in a pretty weird location. You'll have to remove/relocate some stuff temporarily to get to them.

In total you'll need

2 front lower ball joints
2 front upper control arms
1 rear upper control arm (Or track bar, whichever you prefer to call it)
(And since your there anyway) 2 Rear lower control arms.
 

tommudd

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Use MOOG ONLY greaseable front lower ball joints
Quality UCAs , nothing Detroit Axle etc
Rear Tri Link same way, most are junk and takes longer to install them than they last
The UCAs are not hard to change at all ,
remove airbox on right side to get to bolts
remove battery and have a good swivel to reach rear bolt on left side
remove UBJ nut, smack knucle with hammer and it will pop loose
LBJs the Autozones etc rent a tool that make it very easy to do
the rear LCAs will make it dance going down the road, let off the gas goes one way, hit the gas goes the otherway

KJs do not have a track bar, KKs do but not KJs ;)
 
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tommudd

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First thing to do though is figure out what it needs for sure before you go throwing 5-600 bucks at least into it
Tell more how it drives, what and how you have checked the various parts and we can help you from there
 

kj705

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Its cheaper do do the whole arm. Most factory arms dont have pressable ball joints. Only thing that should give you trouble is the upper front control arms. On the liberty there in a pretty weird location. You'll have to remove/relocate some stuff temporarily to get to them.

In total you'll need

2 front lower ball joints
2 front upper control arms
1 rear upper control arm (Or track bar, whichever you prefer to call it)
(And since your there anyway) 2 Rear lower control arms.

Thanks for the input. How is it cheaper to do the whole control arm? I was thinking about doing the front upper control arm and then just replacing the front lower ball joint. Not sure what to do with the rear. What do you think? The inspection sheet says: "front ball joints,/rear control arm and ball joint".
 

kj705

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Use MOOG ONLY greaseable front lower ball joints
Quality UCAs , nothing Detroit Axle etc
Rear Tri Link same way, most are junk and takes longer to install them than they last
The UCAs are not hard to change at all ,
remove airbox on right side to get to bolts
remove battery and have a good swivel to reach rear bolt on left side
remove UBJ nut, smack knucle with hammer and it will pop loose
LBJs the Autozones etc rent a tool that make it very easy to do
the rear LCAs will make it dance going down the road, let off the gas goes one way, hit the gas goes the otherway

KJs do not have a track bar, KKs do but not KJs ;)

Thanks for the input. I was thinking about doing the front upper control arm and then just replacing the front lower ball joint. Not sure what to do with the rear. What do you think? The inspection sheet says: "front ball joints,/rear control arm and ball joint".
 
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Thanks for the input. How is it cheaper to do the whole control arm? I was thinking about doing the front upper control arm and then just replacing the front lower ball joint. Not sure what to do with the rear. What do you think? The inspection sheet says: "front ball joints,/rear control arm and ball joint".

Yes, i was referring its easier to replace the whole upper front control arm, instead of just the joint. You'll need to replace lower front ball joints.

As for the rear lower arm, you can either drop the arm and replace the one ball joint in that too, or you can get a new arm.
I usually swing towards getting a new arm, because if the ball joint is worn out on it, theres a 90% chance the rubber bushings in it are on their way out as well.
 

kj705

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Yes, i was referring its easier to replace the whole upper front control arm, instead of just the joint. You'll need to replace lower front ball joints.

As for the rear lower arm, you can either drop the arm and replace the one ball joint in that too, or you can get a new arm.
I usually swing towards getting a new arm, because if the ball joint is worn out on it, theres a 90% chance the rubber bushings in it are on their way out as well.

You're referring to the rear upper right? Because the rear lower does not come with ball joints on rock auto, but the rear upper does.
 

kj705

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First thing to do though is figure out what it needs for sure before you go throwing 5-600 bucks at least into it
Tell more how it drives, what and how you have checked the various parts and we can help you from there

I am just fixing what is on the inspection sheet and it says "front ball joints,/rear control arm and ball joint". Going to do mevotech upper control arm and Moog lower ball joints on the front, not sure what to do on the rear.
 
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You're referring to the rear upper right? Because the rear lower does not come with ball joints on rock auto, but the rear upper does.

The rear lower control arm is just a metal tube with rubber bushings on either end. No ball joints needed.

If you need a list of parts for the rear i can get you one.
 

tommudd

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Buy a really good rear tri-link ( that is the upper piece in the rear with a ball joint that I have seen in one post being called all sorts of wrong names )
those cheap ones last just a few months, not worth installing
 

kj705

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Buy a really good rear tri-link ( that is the upper piece in the rear with a ball joint that I have seen in one post being called all sorts of wrong names )
those cheap ones last just a few months, not worth installing

Tri-Link is a great way to describe it- that helps out a lot. Do you think I need a lower as well based on the description of the inspection sheet?
 

kj705

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Buy a really good rear tri-link ( that is the upper piece in the rear with a ball joint that I have seen in one post being called all sorts of wrong names )
those cheap ones last just a few months, not worth installing

Do you think I should buy the entire tri-link assembly rather than just the ball joint?
About to buy everything from rock auto and going to go with MOOG so trying to see what I need
 

duderz7

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Due to it's sheet metal design pressing a ball joint into the tri link is a bit iffy as it's not solid. I've done it once, but won't bother next time
 

kj705

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Just found out from guy that did the inspection that it is just the rear upper tri-link assembly. The lower rear control arm is fine. With that, I’ll buy the front upper control arm, front lower ball joint, and rear upper control arm(tri-link). Any advice if I should buy the front lower control arm as well- or just the ball joint?

side note: The lower control arm does not come with the ball joint.
 
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That would be helpful

Front Lower Ball Joint X2 - https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=419024&cc=1420805&jsn=394

Front Upper Control Arm (Ball joint included) X2 - https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=3445287&cc=1420805&jsn=417

Rear upper Control Arm (or Tri-Link) X1 - https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=5429124&cc=1420805&jsn=423

This is all you should need based off of your description. Tomm care to go over this or correct me? (List is compiled of part numbers from RockAuto for a 2003 Jeep Liberty.)
 
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kj705

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Front Lower Ball Joint X2 - https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=419024&cc=1420805&jsn=394

Front Upper Control Arm (Ball joint included) X2 - https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=3445287&cc=1420805&jsn=417

Rear upper Control Arm (or Tri-Link) X1 - https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=5429124&cc=1420805&jsn=423

This is all you should need based off of your description. Tomm care to go over this or correct me? (List is compiled of part numbers from RockAuto for a 2003 Jeep Liberty.)

thanks! ordered the parts. for the 4x4 do I need to take the axle hub nut off or is there a way a without taking that off?
 

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