ball joints

[smithe1811]

anyone ever remove their ball joints without using a pickle fork?

[oldjeep]

What do you mean remove them? If you mean separate the knuckle from the housing, I never use a pickle fork for that. Just a hammer on the steering arm.

[CEThomas]

You have to press the old ones out and the new ones in. :cheers:

[smithe1811]

well, i need to replace my ball joints on the left side and i don't want to pay some one 60 dollars an hour if i can do it myself. so if anyone has done it and could give me info, pics would be good too, then that would be great.

[oldjeep]

well, i need to replace my ball joints on the left side and i don't want to pay some one 60 dollars an hour if i can do it myself. so if anyone has done it and could give me info, pics would be good too, then that would be great.

 

Pull the brakes, unit bearing and axle shafts

Remove the nut on each ball joint

Pound the knuckle off

Use a ball joint press to remove each ball joint

- reverse the steps above for reassembly

[Twisty]

I rented a balljoint press from Advance auto. It had everything I needed. The only bad thing was that the rental fee was $157! The good news is that I got it ALL back, and I didnt have to pay for the part I broke.

 

One thing that I messed up on, was the bottom joint is pressed in from the BOTTOM. Which is the oposite of the top, which is pressed in from the TOP.

 

I wouldnt attempt to do ball joints w/o a good press kit!

[Geonovast]

Yeah I just got done doing mine on the left side...and I screwed up on the bottom one too. Spent a few hours trying to press it out...then took a look at the new one..yeah, it presses in from the bottom.

 

You rented one for $157? Can't you buy a somewhat decent one for like 20 bucks less than that? Granted, you wouldn't get your money back...but you'd never have to rent one again. I'm considering buying one now.

[oldjeep]

Yeah I just got done doing mine on the left side...and I screwed up on the bottom one too. Spent a few hours trying to press it out...then took a look at the new one..yeah, it presses in from the bottom.

 

You rented one for $157? Can't you buy a somewhat decent one for like 20 bucks less than that? Granted, you wouldn't get your money back...but you'd never have to rent one again. I'm considering buying one now.

 

Problem with the $20 ones is that they can break really easily. I went through a couple different harbor freight/ jc whitney cheapos before buying a good one for about $125

[CEThomas]

Good thing about the advance / auto zone ones, you can take it back and get your $$$ back if you break it :brows:

[mjeff87]

I just bought the $40 HF one....it works well on u-joints, I can say that. I'm going to attempt to use it on the axle end UCA bushings here someday soon (maybe when I put my new uppers in), so we'll see how it holds up. I've got the receipt, just in case.

 

I've gone thru about 4 HF bench vises so far in the last two years....cheap things keep cracking. But I just take them back and they give me a new one, and the last one I didn't even have the receipt :D Just keep all the original packaging and take the broken stuff back the same way it came.

 

Jeff

[Twisty]

Yeah I just got done doing mine on the left side...and I screwed up on the bottom one too. Spent a few hours trying to press it out...then took a look at the new one..yeah, it presses in from the bottom.

 

You rented one for $157? Can't you buy a somewhat decent one for like 20 bucks less than that? Granted, you wouldn't get your money back...but you'd never have to rent one again. I'm considering buying one now.

 

Problem with the $20 ones is that they can break really easily. I went through a couple different harbor freight/ jc whitney cheapos before buying a good one for about $125

 

I put TONS of pressure on the Advance unit. When I was trying to press out the bottome one, I thought it was stuck and kept tightening. At one point I had a 5" pipe on the end of my ratchet...and I could tighten NO more. My ratchet was starting to skip teeth (it's still not right after that)...but the press was good as new when I was done.

 

It my cost a lot to begin with...but its WELL worth it to have a good tool to use that you know won't fail.

[Tracker]

A local alignment shop advertised a deluxe alignment for $59.95, plus any parts that might be needed. When he went to give me the bad news that my ball joints were shot and I would need new ones, I reached into my pocket and pulled out four new ones from the Napa across the street. :rant:

The ad is now re-worded.

[jeepinjay]

I did mine on my Comanche a year or so ago. They make a special set of cups for the Dana 30 axle I purchased from too topia.com. A friend has the big c clamp tool for pressing ball joints and u joints I can borrow when I need to. Purchased my ball joints from Rock Auto and got the Moog Problem Solvers because I hate cheap parts that I will need to replaced again.