Ball Joint Installation Question

[huskyfan23]

I'm at the part in my Haynes where I have to take off the spindle. Took the 5 nuts off, but there's this .. thing in the top left corner that seems to be holding me back. I don't see anything about it in the manual. Anybody know what this is and how to remove it?

[AlaskanJack]

well yes I do!!!

I am doing mine now just re installing

on the back side of the knuckle there are two bolts going into that ABS part. You will need an 8mm to remove the small one and then there is a half round section on the knuckle where you will need a deep socket or thin wall 12pt 10mm to remove the other bolt. Once the bolts are out and the spindle is off you can tap out the ABS softly with a copper drift. Dont hit it too hard or it will deform making it tough to get back in

[huskyfan23]

Thanks a bunch! Going back to tackle it now

[AlaskanJack]

just in case I will check back from time to time tonight just to see if you ran into any other problems I can help out with

[DeRocha]

I would leave the aluminun Anti lock sensor alone, since it is somewhat delicate and does NOT need to be removed. You do however need to remove the sensors protector or whatever it is called (Red thing in the pic below). The left most hole in the steering knuckle (to the left of the ABS wire) is the bolt hole that you need to access from inside of the steering knuckle as AlaskanJack as indicated. Not too many parts places carry the 12 pt 1/4" drive socket (you can NOT use 3/8" as it is too big to fit). The center of the pic shows the old bolt and the new Cap bolt (6mm x 1.00) I replaced it with...


This next pic shows how I had to remove my spindle. The book says to tap gently with rubber mallet and it will loosen up. That is crap, I beat mine for like 45 minutes with zero results. The spindle gets rusted on and you need to drive several screwdrivers as wedges around its perimeter.

[AlaskanJack]

I have gently tapped out my abs sensor on both knuckles so I could take it to my vise. I have had no problems before with this method. I have also found that by removing the abs drift in the knuckle it loosens up the spindle allowing it to come off without driving the screwdrivers in as wedges. I only discovered this as I was doing the same thing to remove my spindle then decided to remove the ABS sensor and the spindle just loosened right up. I clean the abs drift and lube it with Wd40 as well as the knuckle hole for re-insertion and it goes very smoothly back in.

My $.02 cents

edit: after looking at your pics maybe I should have por-15'd my parts before re-installation that looks real good.

[huskyfan23]

Thanks everyone. I did end up removing the ABS stuff. The proper socket for the 12-sided bolt is a 5.5mm. I didn't have one so I hammered out the ABS holder on each side. Gonna get new bolts tomorrow. Everything went fairly smooth. Pressing the ball joints was a bitch, but it's done. Need to retap a couple bolts tomorrow. Everything went well. When I first started the X fell off the jack stands. Just a slight scare (don't use little Craftsman jackstands when supporting the frame) My old ball joints definitely needed replacing. My next project is installing new radius arm bushings!

[AlaskanJack]

thats strange both mine were an 8mm for the small bolt and a 10mm 12pt for the other.

I once had mine on jack stands and I had put the jackstands too far back on the frame and it was tipping forward well it was seesawing actually and kept freaking me out cause I would think it was rocking forward but I would check and the rear wheels were on the ground. But I eventually figured out it was seesawing and moved the jackstands.

I did however pull my Ex off one of the jackstands when I was wrenching a bit too hard and the luckily the front axle landed on a block of wood 2.5 inches off the ground