Not A Body, (Caliber), Ball Joints

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jaimus

jaimus

Old School ASE Gold
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Location
Hadlyme, CT, USA
Found a bad ball joint on the 08 Caliber yesterday when I was swappin on my snow tires,...( I actually heard it a while ago), was told this may be covered by my lifetime bumper to bumper warrenty,(drivetrain only so's I doubt it),...

Lookin to see if there are any TSB's on this.

My Dad's Compass,(same platform), had the same prob, was told by the stealership that it was covered, however they didn't/couldn't get it done @ that time, told him to go local and they would reimberse him, just bring back the reciepts,....So he did,...went back to the stealership, and was told it was not covered cause they didn't do the work,....*** CLOWNS,...

This has been a good car, survived a reindeer hit last Xmas to the tune of $4600, was covered by insurance,...only done a battery, a set of tire's and routine maintenace, got 69 thou on it, and I'm down to a $200 dollar payment on it...(yay)...

Went to Caliber ForumZ site, been a member fer a long time,not a lot of help there...just don't post a lot there,....FABO has been a better site for me,...

Any help folks?...
 
Go to NAPA and get the "Lifetime Warranty" premium ball joints. Replace them yourself.

Modern Mopars (including Jeep) have piss poor ball joints that fail quickly.
 
My father inlaws failed as well. at 140,000 km (about90,000 miles) I used moog part. I bought the complete lower control arm. It's not a bad job to do yourself.
 
Just got my first quote,...$950 and change for lower control arms with ball joints, and a 4 wheel alignment,....OUCH,...

Looks I'll be doin em myself,...

Keith and 68,.Do the NAPA parts have a grease fitting????
 
On my Caliber (with 90k on it) the rear bushing rubber has come loose from the shell which allows the lower control arm to move up and down and contact the cradle. It's quiet for awhile, then rattles for awhile until it centers itself again.
I can just replace the rear bushing but I'm considering replacing the lower control arm since you have to take it out anyway.
I was looking on ebay and saw loaded lower control arms for less than $100 a pair. I would guess they are China made. :violent1: Has anyone used these? Not a fan of China stuff, but for a daily beater..........
Dallas
 
The cost on factory lca was about $140 two years ago with a list price of over $200. The markup on factory lca's is really really bad. I left the chrysler dealer about 2 years ago so I can't easily get real prices anymore. About 10 months ago we replaced both lca's on a caliber at work here. About 3 weeks ago I replaced the driver side lower again. The ball joint only lasted 8k miles. Things like this are why I would never tell someone to buy a mopar built between 1990 and 2009. The quality is vastly improved with italian ownership.
 
I had a 2008 caliber, you cannot change the ball joint, even though the parts places will tell you you can. you will distroy the housing getting out. I just looked on the parts site and they accually sell the ball joint seperately which is funny cause the housing is made out of thin crappy metal. Change the whole control arm like the others are saying. I see the ones on e-bay for $51.95 shipped I would buy them over paying 200 each at the dealer..... Not to bad to do either. If you are close to me I'll help you PM ME
 
Thanx for the insight and offer Chas,...I'm not worried about changin em, A saturday in the shop at work, no biggie,....my biggest issue is finding the control arm/ball joint assembly WITH grease fittings,.... almost harder to find than hens teeth,....no fittings on factory parts, so there out...
 
Okay boys and girls,...Here goes,...got the contol arm/ball joint out,...wasn't that hard really,....needed a 1 1/4 socket, 1/2 breaker bar w/cheater bar, 21mm socket, small pry bar, large hammer, and some PB penetrant to remove 3 bolts and 3 nuts,


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...not much to look at,...easily a 1/4 inch play inna ball socket,...tomorrow I'll take it to the shop, press it out,...and hopefully replace it with a Moog ball joint equipped with a grease fitting,...
 

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Ran a wire wheel over it, Cleaned it up real good, Fresh POR on the whole assembly.....especially where the factory weld is,....was prolly the snottiest production weld I've ever seen,...Give it 12 hours, and it'll be ready to install...

View attachment fishers island caliber ball joint 018.jpg


Moog Part number on the left,...Found it at Advanced Auto,...with grease fitting. Yay.

Kudos to the kid that works there,...Did his homework and actually called me back,...at 7 oclock PM,...really!!!.....Very helpful,....$57 and change,....sure as hell beats $950 plus...

View attachment fishers island caliber ball joint 013.jpg


New ball joint installed with the help of a Snap-On ball joint tool. Unlike the factory crap, the new ball joint presses in from the top, locked with a snap ring once it's installed. This is the bottom view...

View attachment y13 new london caliber ball joint 027.jpg
 
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