The ball joint (constant velocity joint) plays a vital role in the vehicle transmission system. Its main function is to transfer power from the gearbox to the wheels, ensuring that the vehicle can continuously transmit power in any direction, especially when the wheel bounces.
The ball joint is usually divided into an inner ball joint and an outer ball joint. The inner ball joint connects the gearbox differential part, while the outer ball joint connects the wheel part. The inner ball joint is mainly responsible for the connection of power output, while the outer ball joint plays a major role when the vehicle turns. The design of the ball joint enables the drive shaft to flexibly transmit power when running at high speed, and does not affect the power transmission even when the vehicle turns.
In the maintenance of the car, the replacement of the ball joint is a common problem. Usually, if only one side of the ball joint is damaged, such as the dust cover is broken or the internal wear is serious, resulting in abnormal noise, only the damaged side can be replaced. However, if the vehicle has a long mileage, the ball joint on the other side may appear to be intact on the surface, but in fact there may be a certain degree of wear. In this case, replacing only one ball joint may result in performance differences between the new and old ball joints, thus affecting the driving stability and handling of the vehicle. Therefore, whether to replace a pair of ball cages needs to be decided based on the specific conditions of the vehicle and the advice of the maintenance technician.