phal

I'm on a parts roll here. First it was the lift pump, then the IP, then I found out the Fuel Sending unit was bad. I got that stuff done and replaced all four of my bald tires. I still have an exhaust to replace and I am in need of shocks pretty badly. These items were going to be the next to be replaced.

Until.... I went for an alignment today and was told that the lower ball joints were bad. I have already had the tie rod ends done and suspected the BJ's need it also.

I have been reading some old posts and the XRF Brand appear to be highly rated so.... I just ordered uppers and lowers from XRF at 62 apiece which appears to be a bargain compared to most I have priced.

Ok, so how hard are these going to be to replace and what else should I do on the 2WD suspension while it is torn apart?

Thanks...gary

johnh

the BJ's on a 2wd are riveted in.... the top ones are fairly easy....the lower ones are more difficult... i ground the rivets off flush and drilled them out with a 5/16 drill and used a punch and a big hammer to drive them out, you'll see why they are harder to remove when you start.... but don't give up, i worked on mine 2 days
http://www.napaautoparts.com/Search/...+50022+2022010

phal

My biggest problem is that the truck does not fit in the garage, that means during a 2 day repair the garage door will not go down all the floor and the garage is open. Cant zackly do it on the street huh?

I could brew a couple of quarts of coffee and do the repair in one sitting!

But then, I was also planning to change shocks and put on new brake pads during this process. That would make for a long night.

Thanks again johnh....gary

johnh

since you're younger than i was ,you should be able to knock it out in one day..... the toughest part was getting the rivets out , i tried to drill in the exact center of each one........but.........

phal

Do ya think

I could get away with doing one wheel at a time, or is it going to be difficult to remove components on one side without dismantling the other in the process?

Thanks....gary

nickg

YEP, never an issue doing one side first, and do the other when you have time,

phal

Cool, thats probably the plan. That way I can split the job and then shut the garage door at the end of the night!

Thanks....gary

Nick02Ram

If you have, or know someone who has an air chisel, your life will be 10x's eaiser. I'd love to meet whoever came up with riveted balljoints, and watch him change a set out. When I was a mechanic, I dreaded hearing the boss say anything about a ball joint job. But try some heat, it will definetely help, and the air chisel with a punch will save your arm.

phal

I had planned to grind off the heads and try to drive or drill them out. I have heard lots of complaints about removing them, so they must be a real bear....

I dont know anyone with an air chisel, so how should I go about removing the rivets? My Ram manual on CD says nothing about removal.

It appears that I am going to rebuild the whole front end, buy the arm bushings, new links and take it all apart. Is that going to make it easier to change out the ball joints?

thanks...gary

johnh

if you'll look around,you cannot buy factory BJ's without getting the frame they are riveted to ....that's the reason there is no info on BJ removal

phal

So, normally you would buy the whole control arm when the ball joint went out?

thanks...gary

johnh

yep, that's what you get when you get it from the dealer

johnh

i like the riveted ones... once the rivets are removed it's really easy to replace the BJ's .....no special tools are needed.. the price has came down about 50% since i did mine

phal

I am going to go ahead and buy bushings for the control arms, link rebuild kits, sway bar bushings, new shocks and brake pads and do a side at a time.

I soaked everything down last night with pb blaster and will do it again some time this week.

I have an electric impact and a BJ fork separator, hopefully the job wont be too bad. Supposed to be sunny and warm this coming weekend.

....gary

nickg

I've never done 2wd dodge BJ, before but have done hundereds of others, here is my two cents, jack up truck,as high as possible, use jack stands on the frame, then shift the jack under the lower control arm and jack up until the veh just starts to lift off the axel stands, remember once that ball joint is unhooked from the spindle, there is a whole lot of caged energy supported by the jack so be careful around it.
To me a pickel fork(BJ fork) is useless, best to seperate a BJ or tierod end with a big hammer, always strike the metal parts where the taper of the BJ/tierod go into, and you need to hit it as hard as you can, little taps wont work, I have yet to find a BJ that wont let go in a couple of hard swings, depending how your BJ are confiqured you might have to use a bar to place a small strain against the BJ, (should it be mounted upside down, meaning that the wider part of the BJ taper is pointing to the ground).

something else to think about is if your doing lower control arm bushings, your going to need to cage the coil spring or you will have trouble tring to get the spring and control arm back in place.

as for rivits, I grind the heads flat so that it can be centerpunched, otherwise you end up drilling off center. then start with a small bit (1/8) and work up from there, if you grind the head off after the first hole is drilled you will find there is less metal to drill thru. trick is to drill enough so that the rivit will pop out easily. if you remove at least 3/4 of the rivit diameter, it will drive out quite easily