Ball ends do wear out from grit and dust over time so it might be worth buying a full set of rods, balls and caps.
Use the old ones to figure out the lengths of the new ones and when building the new ones put a bit of lube on the Turnbuckles and screw them in and out of the ball stud caps 3 or four times further than they need to go. It makes your arms ache after a while but it really helps when it comes to fine tuning later.
New balls and caps really helps take the slop out of the front end as well.
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