Is it impossible to move the tie rod by hand and tell if the tie rod or ball joint are bad on a vehicle without jacking the vehicle off the ground?

Maintenance/Repairs
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1

If the tie rod and ball joint are not visibly bad, the Steering Wheel doesn’t Vibrates or Shakes, the Steering Wheel doesn’t Feel Loose, there’s no Abnormal Sounds, there’s no Poor Front End Alignment, there’s no Abnormal Tire Wear, and there’s no wear and tear on the ball joint.

Is it impossible to move the tie rod by hand and tell if the tie rod or ball joint are bad on a vehicle without jacking the vehicle off the ground?

Please consider that there’s no wear and tear on the ball joint.

Is it impossible to move the tie rod by hand and tell if the tie rod or ball joint are bad on a vehicle without jacking the vehicle off the ground?

2

Why are you even worrying about this if there are no symptoms of a problem . If you really are concerned then pay a front end shop their diagnostic fee to look your vehicle over.

3

Yes, you can move a tie rod by hand even if it is still just fine. If there is play in it…that is another story entirely. If you don’t know what I mean, take it to a professional. This is not something to guess about.

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4

How many miles on the truck and if you have to ask about this then why are you so sure there can be no ball joint issues? Weight on the ground is not an accurate test and even off the ground is not quite 100%; at least IMO.

My daughter had a Mitsubishi that had a “catch” in the steering at some point in the steering wheel revolution.
Everything was snug as could be.
The problem was the left front outer tie rod end had a flat spot on the ball that would catch on a flat spot in the ball socket.

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5

Have someone sit in the cab and move the steering wheel back and forth while you watch from the front. If anything is loose or worn out, you will see it immediately.

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6

Turning the steering wheel doesn’t always reveal a worn ball joint.

Sometimes the only way to reveal a worn ball joint is to pry up on the tire while observing the ball joint.

A lot of people make that mistake.

Tester

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7

Yes, that is true. But it sure works for the tie rods. I use a shovel under the tire when the vehicle is jacked up just enough for the tire to clear the ground.

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8

Do NOT do what this guy did! He is under the car with only a jack supporting it, a big safety no-no.

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9

What he was doing does not require actually going under the vehicle so it can be done with just a jack.

10

I always use jackstands. Even if I don’t need to crawl underneath. Because no matter what I do I’ll get distracted with thoughts like: while it’s up I might as well check my exhaust,.or check for leaks or whatever. I don’t think there was ever an instance that I didn’t stick my head under there at one point.

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11

Normally I would too, but for this test, the jackstand may not provide the exact clearance between the tire and the ground you need. Might still put a jackstand under there but not set the vehicle on it.

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12

Valid point well taken.

13

How many miles are on this F-350?

If you have more than, say, 50K, and they are the original ball joints, I’d say there is a very good chance they’re worn out and need to be replaced

And if you do replace them, do yourself a favor

Make 100% sure the new ball joints come with zerks

In all likelihood, the new Ford ball joints will NOT come with zerks

That means your best bet is to buy aftermarket ball joints with zerks . . . Moog, for example

Same thing goes for the tie rod ends . . . make sure the new ones come with zerks

14

It may not have required it but sure looked like he crawled under the front of the car.

15

Well he did because he was taking his phone under there to make the video, so that was stupid on his part. He should have had a jackstand under there even if the vehicle was not resting on it.

If your are just observing movement of the ball joint, you don’t have to go under there. I use a shovel when doing this so that I can move the tire up and down and observe the ball joint while safely outside of the vehicle. With a shovel, it is a one man job.