Balljoint loose in lower control arm-now what?

[Slonaker]

I found out what has been making a popping sound in my front end tonight. The balljoint in the LCA, which is supposed to be pressed in, is loose enought to pop in and out. I have not removed it completely, but I can't see any damage to the balljoint. I am assuming that the problem is with the LCA. I really don't want to replace the LCA if I can avoid it. The balljoint and the bushings only have about 15K miles on them, so it isn't as though they needed replacing anyway.

My neighbor, who used to own a frontend shop, said they used to tack weld them into place when one would show up at the shop like this. I hate doing half-a$$ed repairs like that, but short of replacing everything and paying for a new alignment ($$), that's the best suggestion I have heard so far. That would at least give me time to gather up the parts to do the job right, and have it ready to go in the next time the truck is due for an alignment.

Is anyone aware of another fix for this?

Slonaker