Up and down is mainly for ball joints and wheel bearings.
Sideways will show if you have tie rods play...

 

There is a really strong disc spring inside the ball joint. This adjusts to wear to keep the ball joint tight as it wears. Otherwise, with a little wear your car would be quite hard to control.
The springs are very strong, you will not feel any play in the wheel until after the ball joint bushing is worn beyond the travel of the spring. That's when the joints are REALLY worn out.

You can use a pry bar to check travel in the ball joint, but it isn't easy. Some model years where the spring pushes down on the LCA are quite hard to diagnose wear because you can't really pry in the right direction.

You can drive real slow with the wheel turned very sharp, if you hear a clunk, the ball joints are very worn. You can also tap on the brakes while turning sharp, this can show the clunk too.

 

I just replaced my front lower control arms this weekend after 100K miles. My hat's off to you guys that can whip this kind of thing out in an hour. Took me two days under that car, 3 hours trying to get the balljoint out of the steering knuckle on the passenger side. Used three different hammers, each one bigger. Rented a pickle fork and ended up using that as the punch. Once out I then had a problem putting the new one back in. Had to rent a balljoint press. Now I can't hardly move, my arms and knuckles are all cut up but it is back on the road.
Alignment done and it just feels better.
Thanks for all the advice on the forum. It helps.

 

Thanks! I did not know they were spring loaded. I went ahead and ordered the gt500 control arms and will be installing them this weekend along with some frpp cam covers.

 

You are suppose to replace the whole arms because they are only designed to have joints pressed into them once. By replacing just the ball joints you run the risk of them coming loose and popping out.

 

I got the impression that he did replace the whole arm, but had trouble getting the arms off and back on. You can use the nut to pull the balljoint back into the spindle.

 

Yes I replaced both arms. These were part number M-3075-E on LateModelRestoration's website and are the GT500 arms. There isn't anything spring loaded with the balljoints, I just had a real tough time with the passenger side coming out and going back in. I did need to use a needlenose vice-grip to hold down the inner side of the rear bracket in order to get that bolt to take hold. I learned a very valuable lesson by using a propane torch to heat up each nut before being able to move them. The steering gear bolts were a major pain.
Good luck this weekend. My drive to work and back today seemed smoother.

 

Ah I must have read it wrong. And yeah I've learned over time a little heat goes a long ways. Lol. I guess it was easier for me because I had a lift I couldn't imagine doing it on jack stands!

 

For reinstalling the arms, you should be able to put a jack under the ball joint and use the nut to pull it in. Pressure from the jack will keep it from spinning.

The spring we were talking about is inside the ball joint.