Ball joints replacement

[bustle]

This looks pretty easy in the manual, is it really that easy?

Thanks

[pyromanic]

This looks pretty easy in the manual, is it really that easy?

Thanks

 

I suppose it depends on your mechanical experience and aptitude. I did both sides balljoints recently plus tie rod ends, bearings, axles and most bushings. Wasn't particularly hard. I'd bet others will chime it with some tips. Also there are some good threads here on the board, on ball joints which helped me a lot. Just search them out. Then go for it. Theres no special tools needed or particularly difficult aspect to it. Just take your time and pay attention. Youll be fine. Good luck!

 

Pyro

[TomRhere]

Yeah, Ball-joints are very easy to do on these 'Ru's. Don't really need to do anything special to replace them.

 

Have parts on hand, to begin with. D'oh, hates when that happens.

 

Remove tire from whatever/both sides of vehicle, placing said vehicle on jack-stands afterwards. Gotta be safe here.

 

You need to remove cotter-key that locks the nut onto the ball-joint stud, then loosen the nut. Difficulty here depends on where you live, as road-salt makes things more aggravating.

 

There's a 14mm wrench size pinch-bolt that locks the ball-joint to the knuckle, you need to remove that. It's right above the ball-joint/control-arm connection, below where the axle goes thru.

 

Now, insert a fairsized screwdreiver into the slot there in the knuckle, (talking area of where pinch-bolt is here), and tap it in a few times, but not to far, you ain't trying to chisel thru anything here.

 

You are now ready to apply some down-force to the lower control arm, old shovel handle works real good here, but something around 5 foot long is proper length.

 

Put one end of pry-bar over lower control-arm, coming in from the rearward side, and hook it under the engine crosssmember around where the E-brake cable mount is. Once you have good purchase of pry area, put your weight into it. Lower A-arm should come free of knuckle, may need to apply some well-aimed (light) hammer blows, but usually not. Should easily come free most times.

 

Now, you are ready to seperate ball-joint and lower control-arm.

 

You can rent a picklefork from your local parts place to do this, usually. Insert prongs of forks between B-joint and L-arm with it spanning the stud of the B-joint. Wail on it with hammer, should pop out in a couple hits.

 

Put new B-joint stud in L-arm and install nut, do not tighten yet.

 

Re-apply downforce to L-arm to place B-joint in knuckle. Can be a bit tricky to align everything, but it is fairly easy to do this really.

 

Once pinch-bolt is back where it should be in the knuckle, re-install tire, and lower vehicle back onto Terra Firma. Tighten pinch-bolt to specs along with B-joint stud nut and insert cotter-pin, bending it properly. Really do want to tighten lug nuts here also.

 

Make sure everything is tightened back-up as the book says it should be, after re-installing every removed bolt/nut, and you're good to go.

 

Have read on here that some Members like to lift the boot on the new joint and smear somemore grease in there. Maybe/maybe-not, your call there... Can't hurt, but I haven't as of yet.

[hooziewhatsit]

I've had to replace one, and will be replacing two more on my loyale in the next week or so.

 

I found the easiest way to remove the ball joint from the lower arm after removing it from the knuckle, is to use a big crescent wrench I have as a pickle tool. It usually tears up the boot, but it's getting replaced anyways, right?

 

A cheater bar on the crescent wrench, and something supporting the lower arm, it should pop right out.

 

good luck

 

(there should also be lots of other hints & tips on the board)

[erik litchy]

its really fun when the pinch bolt breaks. all the sudden no mechanic wants to touch it.

[TomRhere]

its really fun when the pinch bolt breaks. all the sudden no mechanic wants to touch it.

 

Really getting hard to find good help these days.

 

Guess it's a good thing this Board is here!

[bustle]

Thanks for all the tips. I have my own pickle fork and a 2# sledge so I think I am set. Also a torch should we break that bolt. ).

[bustle]

Done and Done. Thanks guys. 15 minutes for one side, 2 hours for the other with lots more hammering. Appeared to be an original, just about ready for the ball to pop out it looked like. $46.00 bucks Cdn.

[cd45]

I replaced mine 2 weeks ago. The drivers side took about an hour. I completely removed the lower arm, then hammered the ball joint out. The passenger side kicked my a$$. It would not come off. I loosened everything enough to get it lined up then it finally went back together. It was worth it, the ride is better, and steering is tighter.