LCA ball joint

Should I consider replacing the entire LCA due to noticeable grease seepage from my boot's bottom or just do the ball joint? Truck has 145k miles and is going in next Monday for an alignment to get more caster. Took a few photos to try and get better views. Or is it safe just to leave it?

 

I'm blinded by the rust
Seriously though, with a 145k on the odometer, I would go through (or have the shop go through) thoroughly and identify all worn suspension components before spending time/money on an alignment.

 

Can you wobble the ball joint by hand? If not you can put it on the watch list. However, if this is a daily driver you may want to do a rebuild.

 

I’m changing out my tie rod ends and sway bar links, but now I’m more concerned about my cam bolts being seized lol. Not sure if there’s a way to see if they are

 

If you replace both LCA’s you will be good to go through the remaining life of the truck.

 

If your arms look like that I would bet your cam bolts are seized. My brothers 17 had siezed cam bolts 3 years ago. I replaced my 23s cams/tabs with kp offroad octagon cams/tabs and anti siezed the hell of of the new bolts to avoid this issue. And to never throw my alignment out again. Ive heard of 21s already having siezed cams.

 

Yeah my 17” had all the bolts seized with 65k miles lol. Was replacing the lca bushings. My joints look like that also but don’t have any play in them yet.

 

Normal leakage. If they are not loose, they're fine. Replace them when you tear it all apart down the road.

 

Did you just order them off rock auto? Going to buy them today

 

just checked every corner and all loosened and seemed to turned. I guess it pays to oil your vehicle?

 

The cams themselves turned? Or the locking bolts turned? Loosen the locking bolts then see if your cams actually turn, I would be shocked if they do. Looks like your rack is seeping fluid.

 

Yes turned. And at first thought that too but I regularly oil coat my truck and I haven’t had to replace power steering fluid ‍♂️

 

Right on colour me surprised. I coat everything with rp342

 

Krown for me. But down the road, what are the cam bolt's part number? Everything I’ve been seeing has the cam bolt and locking bolt all in one?

 

If i were you, I would take it to shop and have it rust proofed. Unless they give you more price than the replacing the whole thing costs, you should let them remove rust and coat it.


Although it does look like some rot in some pictures, but they should tell you about it, whether they can fix it or its better to replace whole thing.

 

Place a jack/stand under the control arms closest to the tire as you can get it so that the suspension is loaded then try to pry up on the bottom of the tire with a pry bar, wiggle it alternating left and right by hand at 3 and 9 o'clock then with two hands push in directly straight towards the vehicle centre at 12 o'clock. If you have not play in any of those checks then you're fine and ready for an alignment. A little grease seepage isn't a problem unless the boot is torn or the joint has play

 

Also since I just changed mine at 172'000kms for being loose, I'd suggest either the OEM arm or 555 Senkei ball joints. I tried mevotech ttx and the boots separated from the shell in less than 3 months. I also had once cam bolt seize in my arm so I just marked the other cam washers before changing them and realigned them afterwards. My alignment was bang on afterwards and I didn't end up getting one done on a machine.

The 555 ones were identical to the factory ones I removed.

 

Did you end up changing the arm? Or did you just change out the bolt? Everywhere I’ve been reading is all for 2nd gens. I have yet to find a right up or a video of someone changing out the LCA or cam bolts on a 3rd gen. Only time I find one is for aftermarket high end ones

 

I did not, for the time being I just put everything back to where it was located so I that I don't need an alignment yet.

The process will be the same though as a 2nd gen if the bolts/sleeves seize in place. What I used to do is get a massive zip disk about 8" in diameter and slice through the sleeve/bolt to remove the arm.

If you're careful i've also had luck salvaging the sleeve/bolt by heating the inside of it through the the bolt hole or the head of the bolt a little bit to warm it up then placing a candle/crayon on the opposite end so that it wicks in towards the side I applied heat then walking it out with an air hammer/big hammer. That doesn't always work but if it does then I clean up the bolt/sleeve if it's still salvage-able and coat it with moly grease... i've never found anti-seize to do anything at all but moly grease I found actually does.

 

On level ground, remove a nut and gently punch out the bolt. It only needs to move back a quarter inch to ensure the bolt is not seized. It is the front facing cam bolts that seize first. If the fronts are not seized, the rears likely are not. Don't worry about messing up the alignment, The LCA will not move as long as you are on level ground and the truck is at normal driving height. Just loosen one at a time and retorque before moving to another one.

My front driver side cam bolt was seized. I replaced with Febest parts. That was about ten years ago. I greased them up well during installation, so they should be rust free. I need to check on them though.