upper ball joint replacement
Posted: Sat May 23, 2015 12:06 am
for those of you who do not have a ball joint kit ($150+/-) i came across a pretty primitive yet VERY effective to replace the upper ball joints.
i used
12mm socket
24mm socket
10mm wrench
2x bottle jacks
2x6 wood cut offs for blocking
3' long steel pipe
propane torch
my brother (can use a good friend in lieu of brother)
8lb sledge
bucket of ice cold H2ohhhyeahh
1.van on jack stands, rear whell chocked and front tires off
2. remove cotter pin by any means necessary and remove 24mm castle nut
3. unbolt the 3 12mm bolts and remove the 10mm grease nipple. KEEP THE 3 BOLTS DO NOT TOSS EM, CLEAN EM UP AND REUSE THEM UNLESS YOUR BALL JOINTS CAME WITH NEW ONES (mine didnt)
4. block up bottle jack, fully extend threaded neck on jack and aim it at the upper control arm and jack untill the ball joint clears control arm, slide the ball joint off to the side
5. turn the wheels all the way either right or left depending on the side you are working on,
6. have a bottle jack on each side of the tire area (if you are sitting looking at the front hub it will be basically one jack where your left foot is and the other on the right) with blocking under neath the jacks and set the pipe ends on the jacks (be careful of the rubber brake lines!!) and the center of the pipe goes under the threaded part of the ball joint
7. start jacking both jacks so the pipe is more or less level and keep going untill the jacks are just starting to lift the van ( just starting to lift the van and the pipe will be coming up to the under side if the body)
8. apply heat with torch for 10 minutes on the ball joint stem, wont turn red but will defiantly be hot as hell
9. dump entire bucket of H20 quickly but steadily on ball joint
10. got my brother to give the steering knuckle a couple good whacks with 8lb sledge and voila!!! it WILL pop out. if not throw more heat at the steering knuckle/ball joint stem area and again BE CAREFUL NOT TO TORCH THE RUBBER BRAKE LINE!!!!
11. have preferred adult beverage or for those who don't like adult beverages skip this step and let the steering knuckle cool down
12. once steering knuckle is cooled down enough install new ball joint and re trace the steps to finish the install
the whole escapade took me 20-30 minutes once i figured out a way to do it with no ball joint kit and no parts store in the area rented tools (joys of a small town sometimes) spent a day and a half reinventing trucker language mucking around with a pickle fork and every other idea i was given. so i thought i would do this write up and save some other poor lads the hassle of wasting time. i did youtube it and everyone either used the pickle fork and or the ball joint kit. not a bad method for a punkrawker hahaha, hope this helps and sorry for no pics.
Oh yeah and once completed, go for a 20-30 min spin AND RECHECK YOUR LUG NUTS AFTER YOUR INITIAL 20-30 MIN SPIN!!!!!
i used
12mm socket
24mm socket
10mm wrench
2x bottle jacks
2x6 wood cut offs for blocking
3' long steel pipe
propane torch
my brother (can use a good friend in lieu of brother)
8lb sledge
bucket of ice cold H2ohhhyeahh
1.van on jack stands, rear whell chocked and front tires off
2. remove cotter pin by any means necessary and remove 24mm castle nut
3. unbolt the 3 12mm bolts and remove the 10mm grease nipple. KEEP THE 3 BOLTS DO NOT TOSS EM, CLEAN EM UP AND REUSE THEM UNLESS YOUR BALL JOINTS CAME WITH NEW ONES (mine didnt)
4. block up bottle jack, fully extend threaded neck on jack and aim it at the upper control arm and jack untill the ball joint clears control arm, slide the ball joint off to the side
5. turn the wheels all the way either right or left depending on the side you are working on,
6. have a bottle jack on each side of the tire area (if you are sitting looking at the front hub it will be basically one jack where your left foot is and the other on the right) with blocking under neath the jacks and set the pipe ends on the jacks (be careful of the rubber brake lines!!) and the center of the pipe goes under the threaded part of the ball joint
7. start jacking both jacks so the pipe is more or less level and keep going untill the jacks are just starting to lift the van ( just starting to lift the van and the pipe will be coming up to the under side if the body)
8. apply heat with torch for 10 minutes on the ball joint stem, wont turn red but will defiantly be hot as hell
9. dump entire bucket of H20 quickly but steadily on ball joint
10. got my brother to give the steering knuckle a couple good whacks with 8lb sledge and voila!!! it WILL pop out. if not throw more heat at the steering knuckle/ball joint stem area and again BE CAREFUL NOT TO TORCH THE RUBBER BRAKE LINE!!!!
11. have preferred adult beverage or for those who don't like adult beverages skip this step and let the steering knuckle cool down
12. once steering knuckle is cooled down enough install new ball joint and re trace the steps to finish the install
the whole escapade took me 20-30 minutes once i figured out a way to do it with no ball joint kit and no parts store in the area rented tools (joys of a small town sometimes) spent a day and a half reinventing trucker language mucking around with a pickle fork and every other idea i was given. so i thought i would do this write up and save some other poor lads the hassle of wasting time. i did youtube it and everyone either used the pickle fork and or the ball joint kit. not a bad method for a punkrawker hahaha, hope this helps and sorry for no pics.
Oh yeah and once completed, go for a 20-30 min spin AND RECHECK YOUR LUG NUTS AFTER YOUR INITIAL 20-30 MIN SPIN!!!!!