I finished up my tranny swap this weekend and noticed my right lower ball joint was pretty loose and felt crunchy when I moved the bolt around where the castle nut goes on. It moved very freely and kinda flopped around.

I rebooted it and put everything back together not thinking it was an urgent problem.

Drove 22 miles to work today in the car, and noticed that tire was rubbing when I hit dips in the road, it never did that before. Then pulling into work, turning at slow speeds I hear a loud creaking sound from that corner of the car. I am now wondering if that ball joint is close to failing, and whether I should risk driving 20 miles back home tonight on the highway? The steering has always felt like it pulled sometimes, but I attributed that to having no PS and 225 tires on the front.

I know it sounds stupid to risk anything, but my other option is to catch a ride home, leave my car out in the work parking lot until I can get it to the shop down the street later this week. Meanwhile my wife will bitch incessantly about how much a piece of crap my car is and how much it has cost.

So what do you think? Any way to know whether it's got some life left in it?

 

I think you use that scissor Jack and take a look first to see what's wrong before coming to conclusions or asking questions.

 

I already know it's a bad joint, from checking everything out while I had it apart.

If I jack it up, the wheel doesn't move in or out as if it was loose, but I know that the noise is coming from the ball joint. I don't have the means to do any further disassembly or investigation while in the parking lot at work.

I am just going to get a ride home, then take it over to a shop tomorrow. Not worth the risk.

 

Just change it. They'll loan you the tool at O'Reilly's, the ball joint is ~$20. The most expensive part will be the alignment.

 

.......and tell your wife the car makes you happy, her nagging you does not.

 

Alrighttt let this thread die already haha. I get panicky when I have car troubles that disrupt my daily routine.

The car is at a shop near my work getting a ball joint.

And believe me in this house, happy wife = happy life