Death Wobble- Ball Joint Issue?

[Can-am]

My 4x4 2000 Ford Ranger had bad wheel seals, hub/bearing assemblies, lower ball joints, and tie rods. So I replaced them and got an alignment. Well, now it death wobbles bad when you turn or hit a bump going highway speeds. It never did this before. Applying the brakes does not stop the wobble, it goes away on its own in 5 or 10 seconds. I got to looking at it, and there's a gap now between my snap rings and the knuckle on my lower ball joints. The ball joints went in really easy when I installed them, one slid in, and the other I very lightly tapped in, instead of needing a press. Would that be my issue? Since I've read that they make oversized ball joints, do I need to get ahold of some of those? I appreciate any help or ideas

 

[franklin2]

Take it back to the alignment shop. If you can reliably get it to do it, take the tech with you for a ride. Make them fix it or make them find the problem and you can decide to fix it or not.

They are supposed to check the vehicle over before they align it. They cannot properly align a vehicle with worn out parts. If they missed something, let them admit it, everyone makes mistakes. You pay them to fix it or you fix it, and they align it again for free. They should have caught it in the beginning.

Hopefully you do not have a serious frame problem or something like that. Something is loose somewhere, or they did not align it correctly. That is the only two causes.

 

[franklin2]

P.S. Don't let them use the excuse "it's the tires". If they come up with that excuse, tell them to rotate the tires front to rear and try it again.

 

[Can-am]

Okay, yeah I took it back three times and they had several people look at it and didn't really come up with anything. They finally kind of sent me out the door.

 

[pjtoledo]

if you suspect the ball joints are loose in the lower control arms, thoroughly clean the top where the ring is and apply
some white paint or white-out to the area. it wouldn't hurt to apply paint to all the nuts & stuff to check for issues.
let it dry, drive it, look for cracks in the paint.

the design of the truck is such as the lower control arm pushes down on the ball joint housing which means there is considerable pressure pushing
the ball joint up into the control arm. but,,, when a 50 pound wheel starts bouncing things have a tendency to move if it's not tight.

ball joints should need pressed in. and there should not be much if any extra room under the ring.
the ring should be slightly tapered on one side to allow it to be forced (if necessary) into the groove for a good tight fit.

a tight budget minded person could apply a little persuasion to the control arm opening to create a tighter fit.
guys like me that want to get home alive would get oversized ball joints.

still have the old joints? compare the ring spacing.

if you have the alignment print out post it, some of the guys may see something that could be improved.

 

[sgtsandman]

I seem to remember somebody talking about oversized ball joints in the not to recent past. More along the lines that the ones they replaced could have been oversized and new ones were factory sized, causing slop.

 

[Can-am]

The top is the first time they aligned it, the bottom is the third time I brought it back. That is a good idea on the paint. The only other thing I have wondered is things got a little western trying ot get the steering knuckle off on one side. I tried to be careful with the CV axle but is there anyway that could have got pulled out a little or unsplined or something?