kmdakota1

I recently had tires put on our HHR. The tech came out and told me the drivers side ball joint was bad. I asked him if he could show me because I only replaced them 2 years ago with OEM ball joints and couldn't believe they were bad. He took me out and show me and sure enough there was play in the ball joint. I told him i would take care of it. I ordered 2 new AC Delco ball joints to do as a pair.

A few days later i get my ball joints and i remove and replace the drivers side but could not find anything wrong with the one i took off. I replace it with the new one anyways and put it all back together and torque everything to specs. I proceed to wiggle the tire to check for play and to my surprise it's still there. At this point i determine there's nothing wrong with the ball joint i took off but rather maybe some wear in the steering knuckle. I decided to check the other side ball joint and it's good, there is no play so i decided i'm not changing that one. I ordered a new steering knuckle.

I get the new knuckle and install everything and torque everything as usual. I did keep the new ball joint on, not taking it off now. To my surprise i still find a little bit of slop in the knuckle where the pinch bolt goes. Granted it's not nearly as bad but it is still there. I've torqued that pinch bolt like the instruction say first pass and second pass. I almost feel like this needs to be tightened past the recommended torque spec to get rid of the "slop". I don't want to mess up the knuckle i just bought though for $180 for some aluminum.

I'm very frustrated, i don't like this design at all the GM did with these ball joints and knuckle. This car is FE1 soft ride suspension and so are the ball joints. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get the play out of these ball joints? Any help is appreciated!

tech2

hard to say without seeing the play.
did you replace ball joints or the entire control arm? make sure the movement is not from a loose bushing from the other mounting points of the control arm.

work done at a tire place...cause tire chains....they know tires but most aren't licensed techs. They have one real tech to meet legal requirements.

kmdakota1

I totally agree about a tire place doing the work. There was no way i was letting them do it. That's why when he came out and told me i thought for sure they were robbing me. But i saw it myself. Initially i was very ticked off that they were fishing around, almost looking for problems. All i asked for were tires! A friend of mine said a lot of places do a free safety check. Thing is the car passed inspection back in September so they either didn't see this or weren't worried about it. Something else i want to try. I want to see if i can get any play with the ball joint loaded. Like i said earlier, i hate this design. When the car is jacked up and i push on the control arm i can get the ball joing shaft to move up and down in the knuckle until the pinch bolt stops it. With the joint loaded obviously it doesn't do it.

The control arm bushing were replaced, had a shop press new ones in. It's definitely the ball joint moving around inside the knuckle, not the actual ball joint. How tight do you think i can make that pinch bolt? I almost want to think MAYBE some of the play is normal. I hate saying that ANY play is normal but it's not like there are a whole lot of options here on this design. Oh, something else that's interesting. This same tire place did a front end alignment a few months back and had no problems.

tech2

-ball joints should be unloaded during checking. for a mac strut design....the vehicle should be lifted by the frame.
-suspension checks should be done when tires are replaced. You don't want a worn component to cause irregular tire wear or worse...an accident.
-the vehicle is built on the same platform as my cobalt ss and the cobalt has no movement such as you have described. the opposite side of you car does not do this so i do not feel this is normal.
-is the correct pinch bolt installed? compare the ball joint stud, knuckle bore and pinch bolt to the other side.

kmdakota1

I replaced ball joints in pair about two years ago. Exact same ball joint and pinch bolt on both sides. Used the pinch bolt that came with the AC Delco ball joint. Got them from Rock Auto. Bought the same one this time around again except this time i did not replace passenger side. I do like to replace in pairs but there was nothing wrong with the drivers side ball joint. I think i've established that's it's play coming from the ball joint stud and the hole bore of the knuckle. Even with that pinch bolt in when i jack up car i can move the ball joint stud up and down with the control arm and get a very distinct clunk where the pinch bolt comes in contact with the groove on the ball joint stud. It will not pull out though. I think it's best if i go to the dealer and order this pinch bolt and compare it to the ones that came with the new ball joints. If i can get the ball joint studs to "clunk" up and down then it's safe to say it's probably why i can get some play.