Just had both control Arm, with ball joints, replaced at 25,000 miles.

The service tech told me there was a bad batch of them made, and that they have seen a few come in like that. She said others have gone well over 100,000 with no problem.

Everyone should definately get them checked if you hear any noise coming from the front end.

 

The old bad batch lie was told to ya I see, from what I heard dealers keep almost a dozen in stock, because they are a junk design, no bad batch about them, they are all bad.
Tom

 

Thanks, will keep an eye out for that. i only have 12,000 miles on it.

 

Just got my tie rod end changed on the passenger side. I have almost 90,000 KM on mine.

 

Covered by warranty?

 

yes it is a 3/36 item, My friend Tony who is the parts manager at the Chrysler/Jeep dealer I took the Pat to told me he stocks 6 complete sets of lower control arms. This sounds like the next recall for Chrysler.
Tom

 

I haven't looked, but I guess there's no way to lube them?

 

Not the factory ones, no. I'm hoping that the aftemarket will start producing them soon (you listening Moog!?) or maybe quadratech could make a beefier one that is reinforced and greaseable. The stock arms are pretty flimsy around the ball joint itself.

 

I also went for an oil change and my dealer said my ball joints have some play...I also notice kinda a popping noise coming from the passenger front wheel. My Jeep was at 37,000 when I was told.

 

thanks for the info,i'll have them check at next oil change.

 

Was called today by the dealer, Jeep will be done tomorrow, I can not wait.
Tom

 

damn. just happened to me about an hour ago. huge rattling/ clunking noise from front end. ive only got 3,050 miles, the thing is 3 weeks old! :doh:

 

i spoke with CRDSTU about this issue mine is about to run out of warranty 100,000klm i am upto 98,000klm and my drivers side has gone now(we drive on the other side of the road here) and he is going to look at the old unit when it gets swapped out he has thoughts on possibly doing a fix for them, ill keep ypou posted

 

just dropped her off at the dealer. we will see what they say. they told me they had never seen this problem.:blah:

 

Hello I took my wife's 07 compass in a couple of weeks ago for new tires 48,000 miles and they told me one of the ball joints were bad. I went to O Reilley auto parts and they could order a Moog replacement ball joint so i got one for $54. I then got an alldata repair guide and it said that the entire controll arm has to be replced. Anyone else replaced just the ball joint? I would like to avoid the $150 of replacing the whole thing.

 

press balljoint



After replacing both LCA I kept them both so that I could press in a new BJ and have a spare on hand for when the current one fails. I haven't done it yet, but here is a youtube video of the procedure being done on a ball joint from a Cavalier - identical LCA.

http://youtu.be/_nxIiN5tt_U

 

Wife's 07 Compass needed new tie rod ends at 36K, my 08 Patriot shows no sign of wear at 50K. We have a 1/2 mile long gravel, washboard and rutted driveway, so that's mile of abuse every time we go anywhere.

The only thing I can think of that I did differently, is I had my car aligned at 24K. It showed no signs of needing it, but I just thought since so many had complained of wear, the mechanic would catch it if it needed repair. But no, they said it was all in good order at the time of the alignment. Perhaps in doing an alignment early it got things lined up so they didn't wear out prematurely like so many others have. Either that or the "bad batch" theory comes into play.

 

i agree bad batch seems to be most likely, as most of us that have had to get them changed are all similar age 2007-2008

 

I had both lower control arms replaced (due to clunking) at around 50,000kms under warranty. The handling improved noticably (I didn't think I'd notice anything other than the absence of clunk). After another 4000 kms, a rotational clunking and a squeak when going over speed bumps started to develop, and worsen: The rotational clunking was only apparent at a creep or transition to or from applying a bit of power.

I took it back to the dealer, who repaired it by "retightening" the suspension components. My service advisor figured that someone screwed up on the original replacement. It's good, for now.

 

had tie rod replaced at 35,000 miles.Dealer said cotter pin broke and screw came off causing it to break. I am getting a little clunk on the front going over speed bumps so I am going to check it out when I get home

 

My tie rod was so loose I tightened up the nut and no more clunk going over speed bumps.I noticed though there are no cotter pins to hold the nut in place.Every vehicle I have had has had a cotter pin?? It looks like those nuts with the plastic inside to keep them tight.Anyone know the correct tourque spec for the tie rod knuckle? Can anyone post a pic of there ball joint coming out.

 

bad control arms, needed bolt tightening to fix. 18k miles 3year old pat.

 

I had an 01 dakota, ball joints were crap too, and riveted into the control arms. After warranty you can replace with Moog parts. You just have to grind down and chisel the rivets out. The Moog parts should have threaded studs to mount to the control arms. After warranty it's probably worth it to replace the ball joints and tie rods with good Moog parts. If you can't do it there are plenty of bored mechanics and machine shops that can help you out. I did the Dakota in the garage at my building and SLOWLY drove it over to the alignment shop. The control arm bushings were also supposed to be non-replacable. I just used a small drill bit and let it roll around the outside of the bushing until it cut around it, then popped them out with a homebrewed ball joint tool. Then put the new poly bushings in the freezer for a few hours and pressed them in with the same tool. $200 and a weekend and i had a much sturdier and freshened up front end, for less than the price of 1 upper control arm.

TLDR: Chrysler has had crap ball joints and tie rod ends for years. as soon as your warranty is up replace with real, greasable parts.

 

mine were changed a week ago at 35 000 miles

yes,I don't understand how can anybody manufacture car these days days with bolt joints that are falling of after couple of years,I suggest all of you Patriot owners get your bolt joints checked over by non dealer mechanic.You do not want to trust your dealer people,unfortunately.

 

I tired to remove the ball joint out of the control arm but it is pressed in and looks to be crimped at the bottom by a machine it will not press out. I guess I will have to go buy a whole arm. The joint was so lose it just flops around in the arm.

 

IF you mean the part of the tie rod that goes in the steering knuckle i have 97 ft.lbs.
It is possible to put after market Moog ball joints on the lower control arms. i just did it today. Only problem is that I messed up the boot and had to get another one kind of a pain to put on.

 

I was close I just tourqued to 100ft lbs but wow it took about 4 half turns to get it there on one side and like 6 on the other!! Yeah I meant the part that connects to the hub/rotor part.I think this should be a recall if it is happening so much that is very unsafe it is nice and tight and no noise

 

Has anyone with the bad ball joints experienced a slight pull in either direction while driving? I just bought a used 2008 Patriot with 25,000 miles. As I type, the Patriot is at the Jeep dealer to check out that pull. When they call to say it's done I'll have to ask about the ball joints.

 

I am wondering if they guys having ball joint issues are in places where it snows so they have extreme cold/heat (friction) and road salt added to the mix causing this issue?

 

my tie rod went on my patriot at 12,000 miles and was fixed under warranty if the other should go i have an extended warranty....