Hey im looking for someone to shine some light on my situation. I have just replaced ball joints with les schwab and noq my car steering will not return to center. And i have a wobble feeling in passenger side. Les shwab is trying to say within the 6 hours they had it the steering gear box went out ans thats whats causing it. I refuse to believe them cause promblems did not exsist before they had work on it. So they ended up refunding me and told me to piss off nicely. Now im stuck with this issue i have took a couple pics of ball joint and passenger side where i feel wobble seems to not be installed incorrectly. Can i get some options? Last 2 pics aaee drivers siside which looks correct
It’s hard to be sure from pic but that does not look right at all. It looks like it’s cocked and maybe even coming out. You need to have that looked at immediately. If you must drive it, putt to the repair shop. Safer to tow. No more chain shops, find a local independent mechanic.
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I agree that the passenger side is cocked. If you don’t know a good mechanic in your area, ask everyone you know for a recommendation. Eventually, a couple will be mentioned a lot. Try one of them. You can also click on “Mechanics Files” in the red menu bar at the top, then follow directions for a mechanic near you.
well, you got the job done for free since they refunded your money
go to a 2nd shop and tell them to do it again. you are out no money so far
pressing the ball joint out of the knuckle/arm is the only hard part
did the former shop somehow mess up the bore?
2nd shop can tell you. since the new ball joint should press out easy now
Look at the bottom/underside of each. I bet the straight one has a circlip and the cocked one does not. If it pops out while driving, the result will not be pretty. It may not be possible to simply press a new one in as the hole is likely egged out. You may need new lower arm now as well. I’d have a reputable shop fix it and go back to the first place with the parts/pics and demand a partial refund…
What is a circlip
A springy flat metal piece, forms about 99% of a circle. Snaps into a groove on a part, to keep that part from slipping out of another part. Sometimes called C-clip. An E-clip is similar in function.
It looks crooked one side pass flush other side under flush
Maybe it’s possible that the bore for the ball joint is wallowed out. This does happen and some parts stores carry oversized ball joints to alleviate this problem.
Whether oversized ball joints are available for all makes and models I do not know.
The unknown here is whether the joint in question went into the bore easily or took a lot of pressure.
Can you snap pic of other side?
Often, replacement lowers have a clip to hold them in similar to this-
It appears the upper balljoints have those clips but lower ball joints do not on either side heres some pics of drivers side to compare.
Seems fishy now that i think of it like they new there was a problem and only took limited options. Why would the drivers side have a diffrent type of ball joint then the passenger side? I notice the grease valve on one but not the other. And do you guys think it safe to continue to drive as les shwab suggest it is
What year is your Ranger?
I’m thinking it might be one of the early versions, with the twin I-beam suspension . . .
This is a 1995 ford ranger xl 2.3 automatic
Thanks for the info guys ill see what i can do