Well I finally put the front up in the air just a few minutes ago. The passenger ujoint is toast on two ends, one cap is very sloppy. No noise or jumping while turning sharp or anything like that however. I can also get a clunking movement out of both wheels if I grab the top of the tires and push/pull them in and out. The drivers side is worse than the passenger side. Is that upper ball joints, or what else could it be? So to do this I've got to pull the wheel hubs, right? Is there any point in not replacing all four ball joints, both axle joints, and hubs? This is going to be a lot of work and cash isn't it.

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Do it all at once. It will be money well spent in the long run. You have to pull the hubs to put the u-joints in, and also to do the ball joints. Not a ton of money, but a ton of labor. Unless you are up for doing things twice for no aparent reason! LOL

 

And on second inspection (finally got the wife to help me - that was a mistake....), it's pretty obvious that all four ball joints are gone and so are the hubs.

Now for the hard part it seems, how do you get rock auto's website to work??

 

I just clicked the red button that says start here.........then select year make model ect.

 

So before I pull the trigger on the Rock Auto website, has anyone ever had to wait a month for the Spicer ball joints? Also, I think I'm going to find the ebay ball joint / u-joint tool and make that work, since it seems guys are able to get the job done with it. It looks like about $750 for the four ball joints, two axle joints, and the hubs. Does that sound right? Do I need something to get the axle tubes out, or is just pulling on them going to get them out ok?

 

Axles will slide right out. Be carefull when putting them back in. I try to support them with a large screwdriver to keep them centered to keep from damaging the axle seal in the inside of the differential. Those can be a pain to put in! Talk to your local chain auto parts store. Many of them have the tools available on loan to do the ball joints. Do a search for front hub removal. You'll be amazed how fast you can have them out using the power steering method. I went with Moog for all of my front steering components. They appeared very close to stock and haven't had any issues to date.

 

I also have a clunking in the f/e. I believe it is the shaft coming out of the steering box. I can detect a slight wobble there and really no where else in the steering components. Does the bd steering box stabilizer help w/this? Thanks

 

I thought the same thing, since also found the same noise and looseness there. I put a PSC steering brace on, and that fixed the pitman arm play, but not my clunking. The PSC brace made the truck handle much better. It'll be like a new truck once I rebuild the whole dang front end. I think I was in denial about the ball joints and hubs and that's why I tried the brace first. I couldn't see all the hub/joints movement until I finally picked up the front end and used a pry bar on the tire.

 

**** you made my day worse. I just raised the f/e up and got the prybar. The pass side upper ball joint is shot and certainly makes that clunking noise I hear all **** day. Drivers side not so bad but moves a bit. The u joints look good, but I really don't know what to look for. Do the greaseable aftermarket ones last longer than stock ones. I only have 40k on the truck. The 19.5 have been on for 5k so I saur they didn't outright cause them to go. What can I do to make ball joints last longer. Better shocks/air ride suspension up front?

 

I'm going to replace everything with greasable units to make them last a long time. I also will pack the bearings full of grease using the speed sensor (abs) hole. I've learned that quality greasable parts are the key to long life.

The ujoint on the passenger side is loose enough that I could hear it clunk when I was turning the wheel, and then it was obvious to see once I put a light on it. The driver's side doesn't "look" bad, but it does have one cap that looks rustry so I'm sure it's bad too.

Sorry to ruin your day. I just put mine up on stands this morning. I'm not sure it's safe to drive mine, because the hubs are that bad. Hopefully the parts will come in soon.

 

good luck, thanks for the tip. Atleast I finally found the noise. I just didn't figure ball joint @ 38k. But I plow so i guess it can be expected.

 

Well I've got it torn down to the hubs. Power steering isn't moving them. It just bends the spring and trailing arm support bracketry. What to do now? The air hammer was laughable.

 

You have all the bolts out of the back of the hub? I know silly question, but gotta ask.......Try giving the wheel a quick jerk, instead of a long pull.

 

Might be time for penetrating oil, BFH, bad words & beer!

 

Are you using a piece of steel between the axle yoke and the bolt heads? Work the steering both ways while moving the steel pin to each side. Mine came real slow to start but a tiny crack appeared and going back and forth forced them out pretty easy over all.

Cya