I am going for it with my haynes and a friend uppers , lowers and bushings we have both never done a front end and could use a step by step aproach from some one who has the knowledge...by the way i am the second owner of my black on black hoe and plan to have it till i die.
98 fwd ball joints
- Thread starter manfoozle
- Start date
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T-Bagg
The Esca-Hoe driver.
First, you're going to want to assume the ball joints are corroded in. So get some WD-40 or some sort of penetrant. Soak the joints before you get started.
Now, once you have the wheel off the ground, and the spindle pulled off. It's ideally just a matter of putting a ball joint press on it and pushing it out of the A-arm and pushing the new one in. (Places like AutoZone rent these if you don't own one.) Go to it just how the Haynes manual should describe.
But, I've seen these presses bend and fail. So here's what I did.
-With that corner of the truck already lifted, put a jack under the A-arm and crank it up to brace it.
-Take a good solid hammer, not a mallet and beat the old ball joint out. It's gonna take some balls to get it out, so hit it like you mean it. !Safety goggles! and maybe even some hearing protection is recommended! Take car not to smash any edges.
-Clean up the journal the joint goes into.
-Let down the jack, THE ONE ON THE A-ARM, NOT THE ONE HOLDING UP THE TRUCK.
-Now you're going to need a good strong metal tube or socket that will fit around the joint and on to the lip of ball joint. And deep enough so it rests on the lip.
-Place joint in socket/tube. Put joint/socket on jack. Press up into the A-arm.
-Making sure your joint is set up straight against the journal.
-Take that hammer up again and beat the A-arm down around and onto the joint. Again, take care not to smash any edges or corners. You may even want to put a strong piece of wood between the arm and hammer.
Move slow at first. Little by little until you're positive the joint is going into the journal proper and not crooked.
-Smash it down until the A-arm is firmly against the lip on the ball joint.
-Repeat on other side.
Hope that was good enough.
This is not necessarily the proper way to do it, but it will get the job done.
Now, once you have the wheel off the ground, and the spindle pulled off. It's ideally just a matter of putting a ball joint press on it and pushing it out of the A-arm and pushing the new one in. (Places like AutoZone rent these if you don't own one.) Go to it just how the Haynes manual should describe.
But, I've seen these presses bend and fail. So here's what I did.
-With that corner of the truck already lifted, put a jack under the A-arm and crank it up to brace it.
-Take a good solid hammer, not a mallet and beat the old ball joint out. It's gonna take some balls to get it out, so hit it like you mean it. !Safety goggles! and maybe even some hearing protection is recommended! Take car not to smash any edges.
-Clean up the journal the joint goes into.
-Let down the jack, THE ONE ON THE A-ARM, NOT THE ONE HOLDING UP THE TRUCK.
-Now you're going to need a good strong metal tube or socket that will fit around the joint and on to the lip of ball joint. And deep enough so it rests on the lip.
-Place joint in socket/tube. Put joint/socket on jack. Press up into the A-arm.
-Making sure your joint is set up straight against the journal.
-Take that hammer up again and beat the A-arm down around and onto the joint. Again, take care not to smash any edges or corners. You may even want to put a strong piece of wood between the arm and hammer.
Move slow at first. Little by little until you're positive the joint is going into the journal proper and not crooked.
-Smash it down until the A-arm is firmly against the lip on the ball joint.
-Repeat on other side.
Hope that was good enough.
This is not necessarily the proper way to do it, but it will get the job done.
grnrpr68
Full Access Member
you can also go to autozone oriellys or whatever partstore and get a manual on your hoe and it will show you also and it will show tell you lots more too good investment
Carefull on those press in ball joints. Like T-Bagg said soak the piss out of them with wd-40 or PB blaster so you dont end up bending the socket or the whole control arm. On my 97 Camaro GM dealer bent the piss out of my control arm tring to get the ball joint out. He tried doing it dry. I then had to buy another control arm and this time I had him do it with PB blaster (I had to supply) and it came out with out a fight.
faze
Full Access Member
Next time you go for the lowers...do as the others said above regarding soaking it with penetrent...load up the press and leave it for a 20 minutes and then give it another eighth turn. You're not on the clock and sometimes pressure for a period of time will break a tight fit loose.
my $.02
my $.02
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