Upper Ball Joint Question
05-19-2012, 01:27 AM
#1
Staging Lane
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Location: De Soto, IL
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Upper Ball Joint Question I was looking through my Haynes and Chilton manuals on how to change my upper ball joints. It says I have to remove the strut and coil springs and the whole kitten kaboodle. Is there anyway to change the upper ball joint W/O taking everything off? Or is it dangerous because of the spring and such? Any answers would be greatly appreciated as I'm gonna attempt this in the morning.
05-19-2012, 06:40 AM
#2
This is EASY!! I just did it with MOOG replacements.
1) Jack up car
2) Remove wheel
3) Remove upper ball joint castle nut (18mm?) (retaining pin if there is one)
4) Smack the steering knuckle a few times to loosen the mount. (Me personally, since I was replacing the ball joint, I smacked the bottom of the ball joint stud. It popped right out.)
5) Hopefully it popped out; Now, on top of the upper A arm you see the tops of 3 rivets. Either use an air chisel and zip the tops off, hammer and chisel, or a grinder of some sort.
6) Ball joint should pop right out.
7) Assemble new ball joint (3 bolts), attaching grease fitting if you got the MOOG.
8) Insert ball joint stud through A arm.
9) Thread on castle nut.
10) (I didn't use a torque wrench) Tighten castle nut. Make it tight, but also ensure the hole for the cotter pin is clear. You'll see what I mean.
Hope this helps. This was just off the top of my head, but should be fairly accurate.
1) Jack up car
2) Remove wheel
3) Remove upper ball joint castle nut (18mm?) (retaining pin if there is one)
4) Smack the steering knuckle a few times to loosen the mount. (Me personally, since I was replacing the ball joint, I smacked the bottom of the ball joint stud. It popped right out.)
5) Hopefully it popped out; Now, on top of the upper A arm you see the tops of 3 rivets. Either use an air chisel and zip the tops off, hammer and chisel, or a grinder of some sort.
6) Ball joint should pop right out.
7) Assemble new ball joint (3 bolts), attaching grease fitting if you got the MOOG.
8) Insert ball joint stud through A arm.
9) Thread on castle nut.
10) (I didn't use a torque wrench) Tighten castle nut. Make it tight, but also ensure the hole for the cotter pin is clear. You'll see what I mean.
Hope this helps. This was just off the top of my head, but should be fairly accurate.
