v8440

Hi all,

My truck wanders all over the road. I took it to a good alignment shop, one not staffed by monkeys that can only look stuff up in a book. It needs upper/lower balljoints on both sides and the idler arm. They worked me up a price including using Moog parts. All said and done, parts/install/alignment, would be about $950. I think I can do better by either buying them elsewhere and having the shop put them on, or buying them elsewhere and putting them on myself. That way I'd only have to pay someone else to do the alignment. I don't want to put junk on the truck, so Moog or equivalent will be what I want. Are there any problem solvers for these trucks, like redesigned balljoints that last better? I know Moog has a line of stuff to fix problems, but I can't seem to find out whether they make them for our trucks.

Lil Dog

That price doesn't sound to bad to me for the work involved. There are heavyduty ball joints from MOOG, but I am unsure if its a specific model or you just get them with the model year of the truck..

rschaer

That price sounds about right.

I've had all my ball joints replaced at 40,000 miles (warranty).

Then again at 85,000 with MOOG ball joints ($800. +)

Now it's time again at 143,000, along with front universal joints.

If you do it yourself, you'll need to buy the ball joint tools.

v8440

Can't do the ball joints without special tools? How much do the tools cost? I did the entire front end in my '70 plymouth valiant without any special tools except a pickle fork. I guess this suspension setup is a little more complicated than the old torsion bar stuff.

Lil Dog

If you are pressing in the MOOG replacement joints, you need a good ball joint press kit. They are a little oversize for the lower arms and need a good squeeze to get them in (talking from doing my 2wd 89 and 93 units years ago).

I know that in the older trucks (Gen 1) the upper ball joints were threaded in, not pressed in.. However the Haynes manual I have for the 94-01 trucks says the uppers and lowers are both press in joints.

You will still need a good sized pickle fork to break the joints loose from the knuckle. A trick I had was to put good pressure on the joint with the pickle fork, then strike the knuckle on the side where the tapered shaft goes through to loosen the fit.

wmatt

Check out www.quad4x4.com for the ball joints and tools. You can buy the parts or the tools or they also have kits with both and videos if you do it yourself. Got my stuff from them last year and they are great people to deal with.

Cowhand

Borrowed an ball joint press at the local Auto Zone for a whopping $000. They have loaner tools, didn't even buy the ball joints there.

v8440

Yeah, there's an autozone right up the street from me-I used to work there. If their balljoint press is big enough, I'll just do that. Now, where's a good place to buy the parts? I'd rather support a vendor on this board if there's one with good prices.

Rattlerattle

Another trick I have heard it to put the BJ's in the freezer the night before. Cold will make installing the new ones a bit easier.

99 cummins

The ball joint press I got from Auto zone was just that hair to small to use it the right way, I had to cut some pipe that was shorter than theirs to get the joints out. To put them in I just coated them with anti-seize and tapped them in, no problem. Going in, simple coming out, hold on it's a bumpy ride. I had wrench on the end of the press and my kid used the impact hammer, both of them together finally broke them loose.

tthomass

not trying to thread jack but at about what mileage are people typically see'n these problems? i knew of them but i'm try'n to get and idea of what i can expect to see with the 2000 Dodge 3500 i'm about to get (50k of mostly just a daily driver)........thanks!

vssman

I just rebuilt my front end 2 weekends ago. Ball joint press didn't do it. Learned that it would have been easier to pull the knuckle and take it to a machine shop and have them R&R the ball joints - at 16.00 each. Less hassles than trying to press it out with a ball joint press. Most of the MOOG parts came from Rockauto.com and they had the best prices I could find anywhere...

TRCM

I don't think I would have put anti sieze on the ball joints tho...they are supposed to be a press fit. with no lube that might allow them to spin.

typically, 4wd trucks have press in ball joints. 2wd may or may not have thread in balljoints.

infidel

Correct. Never put anti-seize or lube on press fits, metal to metal only.

v8440

This probably isn't kosher, but to remove one of my lower balljoints, I supported the control arm just behind the balljoint with a floorjack, and whacked the balljoint with a 10 lb sledgehammer. I didn't have to hit it very hard, and the joint was on the floor. Worked like a charm.