Replacing ball joints

Reply Subscribe

Thread Tools

Search this Thread

12-15-2009, 04:13 PM

Cal01

Registered User

Thread Starter

Join Date: Oct 2009

Location: San Gabriel Valley

Posts: 169

Likes: 0

Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts

Replacing ball joints

anybody here here ever done it without using special tool? hard? mines smashed up and want to fix it before replacing the tires.

Reply Like

12-15-2009, 04:28 PM

BigBluePile

Contributing Member

iTrader: (3)

Join Date: Dec 2006

Location: Sedro-Woolley, WA

Posts: 15,177

Likes: 388

Received 182 Likes on 127 Posts

There's alot on here about this...

Mine pretty much fell out. However, a tie rod end puller is fairly cheap and works just fine poppin ball joints out.

Reply Like

12-15-2009, 06:09 PM

Zelephant

Registered User

Join Date: Oct 2008

Location: New Britain, CT

Posts: 1,018

Likes: 2

Received 1 Like on 1 Post

I used a pickle fork on mine. Took quite a bit of hammering but it did come out.

Reply Like

12-16-2009, 12:01 AM

brian2sun

Registered User

Join Date: May 2009

Location: Lake Arrowhead, CA

Posts: 1,829

Likes: 0

Received 1 Like on 1 Post

Just did my lowers, pickle fork and a hammer worked fine and mine popped out easy. I used the pickle fork for the outer tie rods too. New ones just slide in and then you tighten the nuts. Upper ball joints are a little harder to do.

Reply Like

12-16-2009, 12:04 AM

a4runnerfreak

Registered User

Join Date: Jul 2008

Location: Grew up in S.C.V, So Cal.....now in Hampstead, NC

Posts: 4,592

Likes: 0

Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts

Uppers or lowers? You can do the uppers without a puller. Jack up the side of the truck your working on, and put a jackstand there. Then put a jack under the A-arm, remove the shock, the 4 nuts on top, and lower the jack.....then get a BFH, and pound on the A-arm, lower the jack down some more...repeat. It took me'bout 35 min to change 1 upper.
If your doing lowers....sorry I can't help you there.