ctcost

2WD. Although the procedure is not much more difficult for a 4wd. Somone else can add the extra steps if they wish.

For anyone that hasn't done this before...THIS IS A CINCH! And definitely should be done when you first buy your truck. Sorry I didn't take pics but here's how the procedure goes...

This applies to each side:

1) Jack up truck and remove front tires. Place the tires right behind the front spindles...leaving enough room to work, but keep them close enough so that you can set the spindle on the tire without removing the brake line.
2) Crack loose the tie rods with pickle fork, and mark the topmost thread with a piece of chalk (where they connect to the sleeve). You can unscrew them at this point as LONG AS THEY ARE MARKED!
3) Loosen the big nuts on BOTH ball joints. Remove the top one but leave the bottom one connected...just loose.
4) take the nut, washer and grommet off the top of the shock
5) Crack the top joint loose with a pickle fork...then do the same with the bottom.
6) Remove all the nuts on the top ball joint and remove the joint. At this point the spindle will come loose but will be held by the bottom nut.
Remove all the retaining nuts from the bottom joint and remove the spindle. Lay it on the tire.
7) Put the new top joint on the spindle and use an extension that will fit through the bottom hole to tighten the top nut. It is important to tighen the lower nut on the top joint before installing the lower ball joint. Otherwise you will need to remove the Pitman arm...
8) install the lower joint.
9) This is where it gets interesting...Slip a bottle jack in behind the A arms and have your partner crank those babies wide open...while one guy slides the spindle in place...the other guy will raise and lower the jack to get the arms to clamp over the joint bolts.
10) Install all the small bolts and washers and tighten down the shock...Then tighten everything to spec. Slip in the new kotter pins...DONE!!!

TIE RODS:

2) Take your new tie rods and match em up with the old ones and put a chalk mark towards the outside, matching the mark on your old one...It's important to match from this end as some are longer we found.
3) Screw the new ones into the mark and press back down into the Pitman arm...Install bolts and kotter pins.

GREASE ALL THE ZIRC FITTINGS ON BALL JOINTS AND TIE RODS! If you did all this correctly...The alignment will be as dead on as can be...Mine was!

Well that's it for now. I'll add all the tools We used later...HAPPY RUNNING!

99_Runner

Man, good write up. Do you have any after pics?

ctcost

Thanks man. I can take a few the second I get a chance. As for tools:

Pickle fork with three detachable forks- $4 @ Harbor Freight on sale.
4 pound sledge $6 @ Harbor Freight
Ball Joint Press ($100 deposit @ Autozone...fully refundable...tax too)
We had an impact hammer, power inverter, and a full set of sockets my friend has...this helped alot!
Pair of pliers, regular socket set, screw driver (flathead), hmmmm what else...Oh yeah a 3 inch extension and like an 8 or 9 inch extension to fit through the lower hole and tighten the top ball joint nut. Oh and a good breaker bar too.

We probably could have gotten by without the press if we had one of those tie rod pullers from Harbor Freight ($6.99) because thats the only part that required a press of any kind.

ctcost

Here's a couple shots. I'll post some with the wheels off as soon as I feel like getting greasy again.



Hmmmm I need to clean and paint under there...