Is Balljoint failure obvious?

I am digging into the front end to change out the ball jonits, becuase the wheel is angled in hwne the jeep is sitting, while the other side of the axle the wheel is straight vertical. I jacked the jeep up and grabbed the wheel to see if it would be obvious the ball jonits were loose. The joints didnt move at all. The wheel and rotor had a little paly but that was obviously the wheel bearings, and not enough play to cause the wheel to not be straight up and down. So how exaclt does a ball joint wear out? I really do not think the axle is bent since the tire that is not sraight is the short side of the waggie dana 44.