Extreme Harsh ride after Lower Ball Joints changed

gladesteen

Original poster
Member
Aug 19, 2014
83
Hello....

Had my lower ball joints replaced in my 2004 Olds Bravada AWD w 200k miles on it two weeks ago. Immediately afterwards, my ride went from "nice" to extremely harsh. I can literally feel every crack in the road now. Just drove down a dirt road and felt like my truck was going to shake apart. It "feels" like my tires are inflated to 120psi. Very jumpy/hoppy rough ride. And no, my tires arent over-inflated. I have recent Struts, End Links, Sway bar bushings and both outer tie rods changed as well.

Took back to the shop, they checked everything and said it was OK. The Ball Joints they used were MOOG. Still not satisfied, i went to an alignment shop and explained it to them. They did a 4 wheel alignment and shook everything down in the front end....said it was all good and very tight.

The ride quality is night and day. Before the front end would clunk and shake going over railroad tracks, etc. It doesnt do that after the ball joints were swapped out, but now it feels like I'm driving a Dump Truck vs SUV.

Any thoughts? Is this normal?

Thanks,
Mark
 

Sparky

Member
Dec 4, 2011
12,927
Ball joints should have no effect on ride stiffness, aside from a tight joint won't have looseness/vibration/shaking/etc.

When did you put shocks on it, and which ones?
 
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gladesteen

Original poster
Member
Aug 19, 2014
83
Sparky, I found this on another Forum. Same situation as me with his 2002 Envoy. Here is what one member noted and this might be my issue as I noticed the front end is sitting higher. I thought the ride height increase was from swapping my old/worn Ball Joints with new ones.

===============================================================

"Did you remember to tighten the lower control arm bolts AFTER you connect the ball joint back up to the spindle?

Some service manuals even want you to tighten the control arm bolts AFTER the vehicle is lowered back down and the full weight of the vehicle is on the control arm. On my Buick, I don't have access to the lower control arm bolts with the car on the ground, so I just tightened the bolts after I bolted the ball joint back up to the spindle (steering knuckle).

When control arm bushings are tightened in the wrong position it results in increased ride height (some won't do this) and they're acting as a very stiff booster spring. The bushings are also likely to fail prematurely. "
 

Mooseman

Moderator
Dec 4, 2011
25,262
Ottawa, ON
That would apply if you undid or replaced the lower or upper control arm brackets. When changing ball joints, those are typically not involved unless they were replaced along with the ball joints.

However, I could see that causing ride stiffness but this will also eventually destroy the new A-arm bushings if left like this. They must be tightened only once the A-arms are carrying the truck's weight.
 
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gladesteen

Original poster
Member
Aug 19, 2014
83
The brackets were not replaced, just the ball joints. The MASSIVE increase in stiffness and front end bouncing over the smallest cracks in the road make me think something is way overloaded. As i said before, it feels like i'm driving on 120psi tires.
 

gmcman

Member
Dec 12, 2011
4,656
Can you push down on the fender and get a smooth compression and rebound? Can you at least push down on the fender and compress the suspension?

Can you turn the wheel and take a pic of each side of the front suspension?

Just curious if everything is in check, including the front sway bar link.

Check the lower strut mount where it joins the lower control arm and see if was beaten on, or signs of being worked by an impact gun.

Cannot really think of what would could possibly bind the suspension other than the lower strut mount and/or control arm bolts being overtighted.

This is the lower strut mount, mine's not pretty but should give you an idea.

Screenshot_20190728-182151_Gallery.jpg

Screenshot_20190728-182317_Gallery.jpg
 

gladesteen

Original poster
Member
Aug 19, 2014
83
GMC -- first LOVE your avatar pic! I served in the USAF from 1988-2012 (mostly AFSOC) and saw that sucker take off from RAF Mildenhall a few times in 1989. Simply AWESOME....

And now....Yes, my trucks front end compresses/rebounds nicely. I replaced the struts with Bilsteins in 2017 and all the other front end bushings with MOOG within the past year or so. Everything is super tight.
I will try to take pics of the suspension in the AM, but I'm also going to take it to a shop that specializes in suspension because something is definitely not right. The ride was so harsh on that dirt road that my rear doors were literally rattling. NEVER in my 13 yrs of driving this have i felt anything like it. I know the ball joints were bad because now when i go over the same railroad tracks every day, its smoother, but the general every day driving feels like I'm driving a 5 Ton truck vs SUV now.
 

gladesteen

Original poster
Member
Aug 19, 2014
83
@Gmc --- I'm wondering about your comment of over-torquing the Strut Mount....that kinda makes sense as it would overload/stiffen everything up alot....hmmmm??
 

gmcman

Member
Dec 12, 2011
4,656
I served in the USAF from 1988-2012 (mostly AFSOC) and saw that sucker take off from RAF Mildenhall a few times in 1989. Simply AWESOME....

Very cool...thank you for your service. I bet that was truly amazing.

Slight de-rail...but I wasn't able to get to Dulles for the final flight of #972, to this day I regret that. We have undoubtedly been through amazing technological achievements since the SR program....but IMO there's just really hasn't been an equal to what we had to work with and what we had to accomplish that that program had to offer...the Apollo program is a close equal on a different scale. If it weren't for the wife and kids, I would have to say I wish I had lived a generation earlier. Words cannot describe how honored I would be to have worked alongside members of that program. I try to think outside the box on anything I do and drives the family crazy...lol.

Definitely curious as to why the suspension is harsh...the shop didn't fill your tires with 44 lbs of air did they? Common max rating on some tires but not for being a regular fill pressure.
 

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