I replaced the balljoints on my 1992 245 wagon today because I had some play in the steering and some bricksters thought it was the balljoints. The steering does seem to be much tighter and I'm a happy camper but I got to thinking about how balljoints go bad.

I noticed the old ones pivoted very easily after I removed them especially compared to the new ones. Is that why the steering had play or looseness because the balljoints wear over time and become loose? It may be a dumb question but I like to know how things function.

One thing I learned doing this job was although Haynes says to remove the 4 screws that hold the BJs to the strut first and then the 3 bolts that hold the bracket to the control arm it was easier for me to do the opposite. If I removed the 3 bolts first then I could slightly swing the strut out and have much better access to the strut screws that are otherwise difficult to reach (2 of the 4). It took me about 4 hours but I am slow and this was the first time I have done this. A dirty job but not too difficult.