Cummins and Balljoints

[sledhed88]

How long are u guys getting to a front end? I just got my whole end done this summer. 10,000kms later its shot. WTF

 

[Rprecision]

Depends on what years, Smoe of the 98-03 ate them for lunch. The newer ones seem to last, well given you cant grease the factory ones

 

[AKkatz]

My 06 Cummins needs them now @ 56,000 miles, and I've been running big, fat tires for most of it's life.

 

[440dart]

415,000 05 quadcab towtruck "rollback" origonal frontend just put in a new tierod end in alignment guy said we will need to put them in, in the spring getting a little loose some people have good luck and some dont starting to think regular services are bad as our trucks run'em til you think you need to service it lol also have a 1990 ctd tow truck since day one 1,300,000 stil runs good lets say it turns over real fast though

 

[Flamedcummins]

Did mine early summer 120k on them with most of its life having 37's and a lift i had to do ball joints, tie rods and the track bar was smoked. Ended up having to do the left hub assy while i was at it

 

[hilinerider]

gravel roads and heavy loads wipe these out regular, dodges around here if they are on a farm or ranch are herded down the road

 

[Tree Killer]

415,000 05 quadcab towtruck "rollback" origonal frontend just put in a new tierod end in alignment guy said we will need to put them in, in the spring getting a little loose some people have good luck and some dont starting to think regular services are bad as our trucks run'em til you think you need to service it lol also have a 1990 ctd tow truck since day one 1,300,000 stil runs good lets say it turns over real fast though

I call B.S. Ive got 4 of them 97-05 70,000 -300,000 they have all been done, some more than once and need to be done again !

 

[AkLogan]

just rolled 30k on my 06 with 35's and there due for a changing

 

[sledhed88]

IM only running 35s bfg at. seems BS to be shot so quick especially after the 2600 bill 2months ago

 

[Extreme-One]

2006 with just over 118,000 miles on it and still original front end and I'd say 80,000 of that towing at least 7000-10000 lbs pretty regularly. Just starting to feel something in the steering, going to get it checked next week.

 

[440dart]

well its got non greaseable so i assumded they were stockers, got 3 03+ duallys, 2 03+ singles, 1 05 rollback no problems yet way better tougher trucks then 94-02 ctd's got 3 90-97 tow trucks horrible front ends drive like crap

 

[Jaynelson]

They don't last very long in my experience, but 10,000kms is insane....

 

[Monty]

IM only running 35s bfg at. seems BS to be shot so quick especially after the 2600 bill 2months ago

That don't sound right unless that's 10,000 of pounding gravels roads or oil field kinda stuff.

 

[JSCC]

60,000ish on all the ones I have owned, or sooner....

 

[snojunkee]

i've got a '97 with 291,000 replaced the ball joints at 189,000 still going strong, but mostly highway.

 

[opel]

If you stare at the geometry of the AAM axle in the 03 and up trucks the lower ball joint carries all of the weight. The upper (small) is there basically there the keep the caster/camber correct. On the Danas it is a 50/50 deal. I have changed quite a few of both at the shop and the danas go longer on the ranch pickups, but ya you have to "herd" both down the road unless everthing is perfect.

 

[Xrider]

'01 with 106,000. still good.

 

[slash]

HAVE CHANGED HUNDREDS of them found the more you spend on joints the longer they last,but big tires with a lot of offset will take them out faster.

 

[Zuma]

120K on my 01, and starting to get some slop. Lots of towing and off pavement driving, but I think I can make it another 20K till this spring, then will get it done. Dealer said about 2G to fix.

 

[dmkhnr]

70k on my 05 balljoints were good but 3 steering gearbox. Just saw the truck and owner yesterday and he said it steers bad. This truck had 35"s and wide wheels from day 2 of it's life.

40k on my 07 and balljoints are good 1 steering gearbox. 35"s for the last 15k miles. I put a bracket which stabilzes the pitman arm with a bearing and keeps the steering gearbox from flexing and wearing. This has helped as the truck drives down the road straight as an arrow.

I live in an area where I drive up and down an 11 mile winding grade just about 5 days a week. I think this is what contributes the the wear on the gearbox.

I took a drive up to Oregon a few weeks back and while trying to establish a gps signal slowly idled off the road and the front right tire dropped into a pit which actually lifted the left rear tire off the ground. I haven't checked yet but I'm guessing thats going to be the threshold for the balljoint. I get a slight squeek everytime I hit a bump on that side now.