as my title says, i'm in need of some info on removing my passenger side ball joints. i was replacing my brake rotors today and when i lifted the passenger side, wow what a wobble, glad i found it that way and not on the hwy. anyone removed their ball joints and can shoot me some inf it would be greatly appreciated , also anyone know the correct torque on the 1 11/16 hub nut?

thanks, in advance what a great site

 

It calls for some special tools ck them out here
http://www.otctools.com/products/detail.php?id=1815

 

Autozone has a ball joint press you can rent.

 

As far as the torque is concerned, it makes a difference as to which frame you have, as per my 96 FSM. I don't know why.

Floyd

 

My 02 took something outrageous like 360ft/lbs, get ready to reef on it!

To get the ball joints out you'll definitely want to get your hands on a press. You can rent one from autozone (free with deposit), buy one from harbor freight (you will need to get the extra cups before having the right selection), or go the expensive route and buy the good stuff... I dunno if the "good stuff" is really any better, but I bent the snot out of 4 ball joint presses from harbor freight doing my ball joints... You'll also want a smaller sledge, 2lbs or so will do...

Anyway after you've secured a press, and assuming everything else has been removed from the ball joint and it is the next thing to be removed, put the press on the ball joint with a reasonable (but not outrageous) amount of pressure. Now take the small sledge and smack the living daylights out of the axle housing around the ball joint. Check the tension on the press (it should be less), tighten it up again and repeat the beating once more. Keep doing this until it finally pops out, every now and then it doesn't hurt to remove the press and give the BJ itself a few good smacks.

That's how mine finally came out, and they were in there pretty good. The reason I went through so many presses was because I kept trying to push the BJ's out, BAD idea .

 

How do you know for sure when you have a bad ball joint without taking it appart? Is the smallest click a problem when you try to lift the wheel when the truck is jacked up?

 

Like others have said, get a ball joint press. I bought the one from Harbor freight along with the extra cups. A big hammer helps, I have a 8 lb min sledge that worked great. Also if you have the access to an Oxy/Acetylene torch it will help alot! I had to ball joints that needed heat to get them to loosen up. Also allow yourself the better part of a day, they can be a pain.

 

Blue3quarter, were you responding to me? I was asking, how do you know for sure when you need a new ball joint?

 

No, I was just porting a general answer to the original poster. I should have specified a little more but I was tired when I wrote my response.

Now for your question, Jack up one front wheel. Stick a good heavy bar under the tire, one that won't bend easy. Pry up on it and then left off, If you feel or see movement in the wheel the balljoint is bad. Repeat on the other wheel. When I checked mine out they made a popping noise when I did this. Actually they were making noise when I hit bumps in the road, they had 120K on them when I changed them out. I ended up rebuilding the steering and suspension parts on the front when I did them. It was easy to do everything at once instead of some now and some later.

 

I had to use a 3/4" impact on the press and a torch on the last set I did, just in case you're wondering how much of a pain these can be.

 

I just did a full set today ..left and right upper ,lower and unit bearing hubs and break pads 6 hrs start to finish . I used a harbor freight press and the set of different cups to do it not hard just time consuming .