The 1947 - Present Chevrolet & GMC Truck Message Board Network







Register or Log In To remove these advertisements.

Go Back   The 1947 - Present Chevrolet & GMC Truck Message Board Network > 47 - Current classic GM Trucks > The 99-06 GMT800 Chevy and GMC Message Board

Web 67-72chevytrucks.com


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 10-15-2008, 11:36 AM   #1
1970 CST Short Wide
Senior Moment
 
1970 CST Short Wide's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Pittsburg Ca
Posts: 4,032
Ball joints up side down??

My son has a 01 Silverado. He bought it already lowered and is a nice truck. The problem is with front tire wear, when he had an alignment done the guy told him his ball joints are in up side down and the A arms are switched side to side???? Has any one ever heard of this for lowering a late model truck?
__________________
1970 CST LS 1 6 speed Ford 9 inch Detroit Tru Track, Dakota Didgital, Vintage Air, QA1 Coil Overs Front & Rear Lots of FUN
2013 GMC PU, Oldest Son
71 GMC LWB. QA1 Suspension, Angry SB. Youngest Son
2019 GMC Diesil Dually. Youngest Son
2017 Toyota SUV Daughters car
2018 Traverse , Wife’s Ride
Pittsburg Ca
94565

Last edited by 1970 CST Short Wide; 10-15-2008 at 11:36 AM.
1970 CST Short Wide is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-15-2008, 01:13 PM   #2
Palf70Step
State of Confusion!

 
Palf70Step's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Gulfport, MS USA
Posts: 46,576
Re: Ball joints up side down??

That sounds weird?!?! I can see having the arms switched, but not on purpose?

I am confused, hopefully the more learned will inform us.
__________________
Bill
1970 Chevy Custom/10 LWB Fleetside
2010 Toyota Tacoma PreRunner SR5 Double Cab - DD

Member of Louisiana Classic Truck Club (LCTC)

Bill's Gallery
Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.
Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God!
Palf70Step is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 10-15-2008, 08:59 PM   #3
truckdude239
Senior Member
 
truckdude239's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Lewisville, Nc
Posts: 10,216
Re: Ball joints up side down??

never heard of it t each sid eshouldn't be interchangeable as far as i know
__________________
David fuller
Ase Certified Mechanic
Click here to help support our board!!


1971 Chevy c-10 under going a 4.8l LSx swap

Build Thread http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=421305

2007 Honda Accord my daily 145kmiles
2002 Honda Accord 4 door With 330k(sisters car)
2005 toyota Avalon 228k( brothers car)
2002 Sububran 5.3 245k
2000 Tahoe 5.3l 378

General manager for Marco's Carwash & lube
truckdude239 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-15-2008, 09:33 PM   #4
RunninLo
3DrDwn--the 'burb not the band
 
RunninLo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: missoula, mt
Posts: 598
Re: Ball joints up side down??

sadly I have heard of this. In addition to being swapped driver for passenger they should also be upsidedown. The arm has a slight bend up in it right before the area where the BJ is installed. On lowered applications with the arm angled up more than stock that bend can cause the ball joints to bind sooner.
The "cheap" fix is to flip the arms as described so now that bend is down thus alowing the upper arm to acheive a more upward angle before binding the ball joint.
Obviously the correct way to fix this is with an aftermarket arm or high angle ball joint.
Sometimes just because you "can" doesn't mean you "should"

Josh
__________________
Slo and Lo that is the tempo.
'72 burb build page here:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=259256

'89 GMC Dually crew build page coming soon.
88 4x4 crew DD

duallys past/present pics here:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...46#post4001246

89 1 ton Dually rear flip kit install here:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=354327
RunninLo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-16-2008, 09:16 AM   #5
1970 CST Short Wide
Senior Moment
 
1970 CST Short Wide's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Pittsburg Ca
Posts: 4,032
Re: Ball joints up side down??

Thanks Josh
Like I said he bought it this way. Looks like we'll be buying some new front end parts very soon. It didn’t look right to me when he showed it to me and from what you’ve told me it doesn’t sound safe. I wish I would have known this before he bought it. He's had it over a year; I guess he's lucky he hasn’t lost a ball joint or worse.

Thanks for the info
__________________
1970 CST LS 1 6 speed Ford 9 inch Detroit Tru Track, Dakota Didgital, Vintage Air, QA1 Coil Overs Front & Rear Lots of FUN
2013 GMC PU, Oldest Son
71 GMC LWB. QA1 Suspension, Angry SB. Youngest Son
2019 GMC Diesil Dually. Youngest Son
2017 Toyota SUV Daughters car
2018 Traverse , Wife’s Ride
Pittsburg Ca
94565

Last edited by 1970 CST Short Wide; 10-16-2008 at 09:19 AM.
1970 CST Short Wide is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-16-2008, 12:18 PM   #6
RunninLo
3DrDwn--the 'burb not the band
 
RunninLo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: missoula, mt
Posts: 598
Re: Ball joints up side down??

well in practice it's not the worst thing. The ball joints still function normally and have their strength. All other facets of the suspension are functioning normally. While the engineers at GM never designed the arm to work that way as long as you don't overload the front end it should be fine. If you can find an open minded alignment tech to get it into spec for tire wear purposes and you don't notice excessive bump steer or other ill effects it should work fine until a more suitible solution can be implemented.

Basically while it's not ideal it is better than binding the ball joint and there's no need to park the truck in the mean time.

Josh
__________________
Slo and Lo that is the tempo.
'72 burb build page here:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=259256

'89 GMC Dually crew build page coming soon.
88 4x4 crew DD

duallys past/present pics here:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...46#post4001246

89 1 ton Dually rear flip kit install here:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=354327
RunninLo is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 09:43 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Copyright 1997-2022 67-72chevytrucks.com