Help Needed! I think my uniball is F'ed!

I need some input pretty quick. I got my truck aligned about 2 weeks ago, and when I picked it up I noticed it pulled to the left. I contacted the shop, but due to my schedule I can't take it back to them until Monday. Today I noticed it was pulling to the left pretty hard, and a very loud squeaking noise when I turned to the right to park. I thought it was the Uniball squeak I had heard about so I grabbed a can of dry lube spray and went to spray the uniball.

I found the right uniball was loose, where it bolts to the spindle. The top of the uniball was sticking up and had been damaged as it articulated. I borrowed some tools at a local bicycle shop (where I had pulled in to park), and tightened it back down. However there is still a lip where the edge has been curled up. I drove the truck home and plan to pull it apart tomorrow.

Here are the pics:


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Here's the question:

Will I be OK if I file the lip off and polish it a bit, or do I need to get a rebuild kit. I am planning on a 3,500 mi road trip next week, so if I need to rebuild them I will probably have to overnight the parts.

I also can figure why this side would be so loose. They use nylon lock nuts, and I torqued them down per spec. Would the alignment tech, have loosened them for some reason and forgot to tighten the one back?

 

Just checking out your post..The same thing happened to me but i took the whole thing apart and found out the taper on the lower part of the ball seperated from the ball itself, so the only thing that was holding the uniball to the spindle was the bolt. I called Camburg and they charged me 50.00 for two new ones. I would check the taper to make sure it is ok. I,ll take some pictures tomorrow You can see in the first picture that the tapered part has fractured, its right where the glare is.I would check to make sure yours is ok before going on your trip

 

As long as that's the only problem, filing should be fine, just get t real smooth.

And yes, it's possible the mechanic forgot to torque it.

 

I don't see why the alignment tech would loosen it. It's not adjustable.

 

I think he solved this one already gents- Polished the lip down and went on with life.