ANOTHER ball joint question

[hootymo]

Hi all,
I was poking around under my truck today while I was changing my idler arm (which made a big difference by the way to get rid of steering slop!!) and noticed my ball joints are riveted in, all 4 of them are. now I have never heard of a 95-up s10 blazer with 128000 miles having original ball joints, so my question for the experts is I could they still be original?

i only ask because i was thinking it is a possiblity that they were dealer replaced, and i wasn't sure if the dealer uses rivets as well or does indeed use the bolts and nuts for replacement ball joints. i thought being the dealer they would replace them as they were installed in the factory, with rivets, but i just am not sure and really am curious.

i dont know exactly what the symptoms of a bad ball joint would be besides clunking which I dont have and uneven wear on tires, but i just don't see how these could be original and there is a lot of grease all over them and im just confused...

any help or opinions is much appreciated!

[AJT1961]

If they are riveted, they are original. I didn't replace mine until about 115,000 miles (2000 S-10 Blazer 4WD), and even then, the uppers were okay and the lowers were only marginally bad. Do a board search and you'll find posts describing the procedure for checking ball joint play. If you have 2wd I believe there are wear indicators you can simply look at. If you have 4wd, you basically jack up the vehicle at the frame and put a lever under the tire and look for play.

[old_master]

Originally Posted by AJT1961

...If you have 4wd, you basically jack up the vehicle at the frame and put a lever under the tire and look for play.

2WD and 4WD must be raised by the lower control arm, as close as possible to the balljoint. The lower ball joint is the load carrying joint and the load must be removed to inspect it.