I'll probably be picking up some ATS arms later this week.
I just wanted to know how difficult the install will be and if anyone has a writeup for this. Also, will I need any specialty tools?

 

Where did you find those?

 

From Inland Trucks, just north of me.
They're the place the guy was trying to get the group buy from.
I've got all my other stuff(SAWs,OME,etc) I want to do it all at the same time and just get one alignment. So, no time to wait for a group buy. Seemed like not that many people were gonna do it anyway...

 

are they still called ATS arms or do they call them something diff? I think install should be pretty simple, just follow the FSM R&R of the stock ones because the concept is the same.

 

http://fastq.com/~sschaefer/ats.html

 

depending in the mileage and since you'll be getting an alignment anyways, you might think about going ahead and replacing the balljoints. have a shop press the top one out and a new one back in the knuckle if you decide to do it though.

 

That is a good idea, I'll have to take a look at the ball joint.
Thanks for the link Steve, I don't know why I don't check your site before I ask here. You've got all the suspension issues covered.

 

So will I have to remove the entire ball joint and take it to a shop to have it removed/replaced? And do I bring a new one with me for them use?
I'll be doing all the installation at my buddys shop, he's got a pretty big press there, could we do it ourselves? I think I remember someone else coming over to use it when we were working on my sliders.

 

Just hope your ball joints are fine, you have to take the entire spindle/breaks off.

It's not a huge job, but it is a good deal of work.

 

The lower balljoints come already pressed into a new flange which simply bolts to the bottom of the knuckle and torques into the lower a-arm. you just need a pitman arm puller to pop the old balljoint out of the lower arm. that is the easy one.

the upper balljoint pops out semi-easy from the upper a-arm (use a 3 jaw puller like Steve does on his site). after that, pull the knuckle off the vehicle (yes, this requires removing the axle nut and popping the stub out of the hub) and take it over to the press. press the old upper balljoint out of the top of the knuckle. then press the new balljoint in its place. be careful at this point so that you don't accidentally press the balljoint in upside down. hehe. check out my half-ass webpage which shows my home made rigged jigs and I also attempt a crappy explanation of how I did it. don't critique me on it, it's no "Bob" write-up. hehe

http://www.keisur.com/upperbjrnr.htm

 

...but man it was fun.

 

just as a note they are willing to do a group buy, but right now with the holidays and finals coming up i don't really have the time to put stuff together nor do i feel that there is enough interest to get a really good deal. if someone else wants to take this over then they are welcome to, Inland was very open with the idea and has a few of their own!

 

Yeah, I talked to Dalon at Inland Trucks today, he's really cool.
He said even if we don't get enough people for a group buy, he's got them at a special price for us until the end of the year. I think it was $360-something, I'm in state so with tax I'm looking at $390-something out the door. Finally I can stop looking(read- drooling) at the SAW/OME stuff in my garage. I even went wheeling today so I'll have a recent trip on the stock setup to compare the new stuff to.

 

360!!! what was the original price, wasn't it 380??!! that doesn't sound like a very special price to me. of course, I don't remember what the original price was exactly but I thought it was under 400. that's what's keeping me from them, I could get sliders for way under that price and there's more work involve in their manufacture and a whole heck of alot more metal. it just doesn't make sense to me to cost so much.

 

Take a step back. They have to machine the tapered sleeve for the bal joint. That was the time consueming part when I talked to him. At 350 they made 20 bucks. So Inland is looking at making 50+ since they are not painted.

They make so few of these all the sleeves have to be hand made.

 

i just popped the upper ball joint out, put in ATS arm, and then tightened the bolt back on the upper ball joint. no probs here...

 

sorry, I was looking at it from an end users point of view, cost-to-benefit. I understand the machining costing more, so long as you have a machinist that is worth the extra money, at Baker Oil Tools we didn't.

 

the $360 price includes powder coating, he was interested in other forms of a group buy to get the price down even more. but he was most interested in setting a date and just offering a "sale" on them until that date, that appears to be what he is doing and good for him! People have been searching for these things for months and now they are available at the same price that they were before and everyone starts complaining about it. That is one reason why i don't want to get involved in a group buy, i see how Steve and Mike got so frustrated with their skid plate project already.