My riding partner has a 99 Forman 501 (450 before modification). It has 26" Vampires with a Highlifter lift.

Problem - hard pull to the left when riding and loose upper ball joint. We fiddled with this thing for some time trying to correct the pull with tie rod adjustments before I checked the ball joint play.


Question - How loose is acceptable in an upper balljoint on a 4Wheeler? I used to do automotive work on front ends and if this were a car it would be out of tolerances and need replacing. I can move the joint in and out a 1/8 to a 1/4 of an inch by holding the bottom of the drum brake and the top and pushing and pulling. The right side has about 1/2 as much play in the upper ball joint. Both lower balljoint are tight. I have heard the larger tires are hard on the front ends.

Are the ball joints easy to replace?

Does anyone sell a ball joint with a grease fitting for the Foreman?

 

Weedy, I would replace them both. The way I see it is the worn balljoints are causing the machine to steer like a road grader. As far as a joint with zerks, I dont know you should ask the Honda guys, although they would probably tell you your full of **** because Hondas don't break[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-shocked.gif[/img] All kidding aside, you should change them out before one breaks on a jump or a wheelie, and somebody gets hurt.

 

By all means replace the joint, and the lower also, if it is at all questionable. I have a friend with an Arctic Cat 300 that thought he could go 'a couple more rides' on his ball joint, and it wound up that he hit a hole, and the joint came apart. Thank goodness no one was hurt, but they sure could have. To top it off, he had a MUCH more expensive repair bill than he needed. The front wheel had fallen into a hole, causing the ball joint to pop apart. The momentum of the ATV (he was going maybe 10 MPH tops) both bent the driveshaft to the front wheel, and twisted the a-arm where the other joint held. I think he is still running the a-arm (although I don't know if I would) but the driveshaft HAD to be replaced, and everything else checked out, at the cost of a couple hundred dollars. Could have been prevented by just fixing the loose joint. I am just glad he wasn't going 30.

 

Sea weedy? (me bad) even these Polaris guys aren't too far off base. Again in case you missed it in my other post, Replace, then you can use a grease needle to inject grease into the boot, without drilling and fitting a zerk.

 

Thankyou gentleman for the information. I spoke to my friend last night and he is going to replace the upper ball joints. This convinces me NOT to put 27" tires on my machine. He has also had front wheel bearing problems. I think the larger tires is really hard on the machine.