lower ball joints

[3r!c84]

i need to replace them. any kinda way of doing so?

already got them,35$ each

[Mr.Chevy4x4]

It's a job that requires the right tools. If you have never removed the front spindles on a 2 wheel drive there are some tricks to it. YOu must know what you are doing. The spring can come out of there with enough force to do some serious bodily damage. Check out this link. It will show you how it's done. You will need a ball joint press. You can get one at harbor freight for around $40. Good luck. It's a good learning experience.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Repl...94-Chevy-1500/

[3r!c84]

i know how to do all that.im brining it to school tomrow and see if the teacher will let me press the ball joints in.(we just did it on a little ranger a week ago) but i just wanna know if theres a trick too it

[Mr.Chevy4x4]

The ball joint press from harbor freight works well. It's like a big c-clamp with adapters that make pressing it in or out fairly easy.

[3r!c84]

yeah but i dont like going in there,im like a kid in a candy store haha go in for one thing and come out with 2 hand fulls

[thehitchmaster]

mr chevy is right. you'll save tons of time and headache getting a press. thats just my opinion.

[oldschool18]

never used a press just a hammer

[nlped]

I wouldn't recommend using a hammer to install the LBJ's, but they work great removing the old ones.

A ball joint press is definitely the easiest and safest way to install the new LBJ's while the LCA is still in the truck. You don't risk bending or warping the ball joint hole. When I did my frontend, I actually replaced the LBJ's with the control arms out of the truck, because I was painting and replacing all the other as sundry bushings. I used a shop press, but it's the same premise as the BJ press you would be using.

Good Luck!

[silvereagle07]

I"ve done both methods and by far the ball joint press is the way to go. The press is on sale at Harbor Freight for a mere $32. Believe me it's less stressful and easy. You don't run as much risk warping the lower control arm like nlped said.

[oldschool18]

And it depends on the truck, ive wacked a ball joint once and it fell out and ive hit them 10 times. if you put a floor jack right under it and wont bounce. My father has a garage and has been in business for over 35 years and I have never seen one warp from smacking it with a hammer. and you dont need a press to put one in just take a socket that fits the outside edge of the ball joint and a floor jack and jack it up use the weight of the truck. but then again I learned from my dad who prob learned from some old head years ago before they had ball joint press's..............or you can go buy a press

[OJOE]

Originally Posted by oldschool18

And it depends on the truck, ive wacked a ball joint once and it fell out and ive hit them 10 times. if you put a floor jack right under it and wont bounce. My father has a garage and has been in business for over 35 years and I have never seen one warp from smacking it with a hammer. and you dont need a press to put one in just take a socket that fits the outside edge of the ball joint and a floor jack and jack it up use the weight of the truck. but then again I learned from my dad who prob learned from some old head years ago before they had ball joint press's..............or you can go buy a press

x2

[Slonaker]

You can borrow the presses from most auto parts stores. They do work very well.

Slonaker

[joe231]

Originally Posted by oldschool18

And it depends on the truck, ive wacked a ball joint once and it fell out and ive hit them 10 times. if you put a floor jack right under it and wont bounce. My father has a garage and has been in business for over 35 years and I have never seen one warp from smacking it with a hammer. and you dont need a press to put one in just take a socket that fits the outside edge of the ball joint and a floor jack and jack it up use the weight of the truck. but then again I learned from my dad who prob learned from some old head years ago before they had ball joint press's..............or you can go buy a press

yeah I have done it this way as well, but I used a bottle jack from the under side and lightly tapped on the lower control arm to help it in.

[MobSled]

Autozone+credit card=balljoint press with adapters. They rent it out for free to you and you can keep it for 48hrs. They do charge your card around 250 bucks but if you bring it back unharmed and on time you'll get that 250 put back on your cc.

Did I mention their bj press comes with different size adapters, makes the job 100 gtimes easier without a hammer or worries of warping the holes and its free.

[joe231]

last time I rented from autozone it was well under $100

[MobSled]

Originally Posted by joe231

last time I rented from autozone it was well under $100

Yeah tell me about it...they do have the simple bj press with onle one size adapter which is 100 bucks. I`m going to assume your gonna have to struggle with it a bit or you can get the better version with 6 different sized adapters which is 250. Either way they charge the cc but refund it when you bring it back. Or maybe those Aholes just upped the prices like everybody else.

[MR .T]

Ive never used or seen someone use a press. 4lb hammer is the way to go, Iknow a few flat rate Ford mechanics who use this method daily. Its faster and nothing breaks.

[old Rusty C10]

the harbor freight press is nice to have around tho ive used it for ball joints a couple of times on different cars... more than paid for itself

[3r!c84]

could i pull it in with a a big socket on the top side of the balljoint and tighten the nut on the balljoint down there for pulling it into the lca?

[old Rusty C10]

you would have to have a pretty large drive socket to get the stud part of the ball joint into the hole .. Im wonder if you could make a press out of a large C Clamp , some flat stock and some small sections of pipe?

[3r!c84]

i got big sockets like that.so i was thinking i could find a way to jerryrig somthing up