On a car, what is the difference between a wheel bearing & a ball joint?

Answer 1

I can't believe the mechanic only got it half right.
Wheel bearing, inner & outer: allow wheel to spin.
Ball joint, upper & lower: allow wheel to turn left & right, ALSO allows up & down motion of A-arms while keeping wheel vertical.

Answer 2

Wheel bearings reduce friction as the wheel spins on the axle.
Ball joints attach the steering knuckle to the suspension arms and allow the wheels to turn left or right as well as move up and down.

Answer 3

a wheel bearing is a bearing that is pretty much connected to your wheel a ball joint is connected to your upper and lower a arms to let your wheel move from left to right

Answer 4

A wheel bearing goes round and round and a ball joint goes up and down.

Answer 5

While the wheel bearing is at the wheel and alows thw wheel to rotate.
The bull joint is what attaches the wheel to the stearing.
So when you turn the steering wheel, it turns the wheel from the left to right.

Answer 6

the cv joints will wear out in them even though the boot is good and all the grease is in them ,they wear like any other part will ,i replaced two complete axles for a customer because he had already spent around 400 bucks from another shop and still had the same identical problem,none of what they did repaired it,i replaced both axles and its like a brand new van now ,very quiet in the front end,they will wear out ,and do need to be replaced sometimes,id try that before i spent a lot more money on it mechanics today think things are good as long as their not leaking or they cant see the problem,that's not always the case ,especially with cv joints,good luck with it.

Answer 7

wheel bearing is on the axle too keep it from wearing out ball joint is on the tierod end , which is used in sterring your car