lower ball joint fell out,help

[jessewebb]

hey guys, took my truck to a garage to have the frontend lined up. guy comes out tells me when the raised it up the lower ball joint on the driver side fell out of the socket it sets in. I just replaced them, didn't seem that loose to me. anyway guy told me i could have it welded in. i don't want to do that. then he says they make a bigger around ball joint just for that because thats a normal thing that happens to a 69 c/10. he doesn't know what the part number is though. I'm thinking i'll just find me a used lower a arm. any ideas on what i can do here

[67ChevyRedneck]

Did you have it pressed in? The lowers need to be pressed in.

[jessewebb]

knocked it out with a sledge hammer put the new one back in and put a hydrolic jack under it jacked it up on the ball joint took the sledge hammer and hammered around it . it went back in flush with the bottom of the a arm. it wore out. i guess

[ratrod67]

Shouldn't the tension of the coil spring keep it pulled against the lower a arm? I don't see how it could "fall out".

[ChevLoRay]

I know a couple of guys who told me that in their lifetime, both have seen these trucks with the lower ball joints that were tacked in place....because the ball joint wasn't tight.

So, I'm not surprised that it fell out.

Is your truck lowered, by any chance?

[Longhorn Man]

why don't you want it tacked in place?

[BMERDOC]

Am I right in assuming the "ball" fell outta the "joint"? The ball joint assembly has a lip on it so as not to pull through the lower c/a right?

[cdowns]

with tools available free at parts stores i see no reason not to use the right job to do a job correctly

[Tx Firefighter]

I've welded them in before with no issues. Look at it this way, the arm is messed up. If you weld it in place, you're looking at a long time before you ever need to replace it again anyway, that gives you plenty of time to pick up a good used arm somewhere in the mean time for future replacement.

[jessewebb]

Thanks for all the info. The suspension has been lowered. when the mechanic raised the truck up he said the ball joint came back out the bottom of the a-arm. guess thats why the spring didn't hold it in place. he also said when he let it back down the ball joint went back in place. I think I'll go with tx firefighters idea. Tack it in, its a new one, the old one lasted 40+ years. It'll out live me anyway. If not i'll pick a used one up and have it on hand if it wears out before I do. After that, someone else can worry about it.