Pressing in lower ball joint... HELP!!

[randomhero472]

I'm doing it the way the press shows, but am thinking i might have just goofed!! Do you press in the lower ball joint from the bottom or top of the lower control arm.... I just pressed it in from the bottom, got the press as tight as possible, but no rubber cam through, did i do somthing wrong??
pic to help! THIS DOESNT LOOK RIGHT!!

[LugoMS]

You might have the wrong size of ball joint. I ran into the same problem about a month ago. The company I bought them from sent me the oversized ball joints so I went to autozone and they had the size I needed and for pretty cheap. Hope this helps at all.

[Bus Ted Knuckle]

It looks right to me...kinda hard to tell by the pics though. It does go in from the bottom. Is there any gap between the lip of the ball joint and the bottom of the A-arm? if not, you have it good.

[chevy_mike]

Umm... what do you mean no rubber came through???

Did you try to press the ball joint in with the rubber boot on? If so, that was not correct. The ball joint presses in from the bottom and the rubber boot goes on from the top.

[fatboys69]

you also need to have them Heli-Arc (Tig) welded in a few areas around the perimeter ( on the top side ) as a safety precaution. Can't Mig them because you are trying to mate a "Hardened" surface to a non "Hardened" surface and Tig is the only way to do it. These can come out. I had the new ones slide right out of the new tubular control arms I had added, so I pressed it back in and tack welded them in.

[ChevyDude]

I've done 4 sets...never had to weld any of them.

[randomhero472]

Originally Posted by chevy_mike

Umm... what do you mean no rubber came through???

Did you try to press the ball joint in with the rubber boot on? If so, that was not correct. The ball joint presses in from the bottom and the rubber boot goes on from the top.

WHAT YOU SAID... figured it out when i took it back out... im an idiot, oh well... maybe this will help people in the future

[mr48chev]

I've pressed in a few hundred ball joints and once in a while you will find one that isn't tight in a stock control arm. Usually the old one isn't tight to begin with. And yes I have tacked some of them in but don't see it as necessary if it is a tight press fit. The main thing is to make sure that the ball joint is seated flush to the ring in the control arm with no gaps.
I use an OTC Ball Joint press/tool that works great but HF sells a knock off for about 40 bucks that is ok for the occasional job. I use the C frame on mine for changing U joints more now than I use the whole tool for pressing ball joints.
http://www.sjdiscounttools.com/otc7249.html

[chevy_mike]

Originally Posted by randomhero472

WHAT YOU SAID... figured it out when i took it back out... im an idiot, oh well... maybe this will help people in the future

Glad it was something simple, even if you find it was a stupid to do. We all learn, sometimes by what others do, sometimes by what we do ourselves. Been there, done that.

Good luck on your truck.