4x4 ball joint removal. wont clear spindle

[SiLenZe]

2001 4x4 sport. was able to get the tie rod off and ball joint free. now i cant jack up the A arm enough for the ball joint to clear the spindle. i know i dont have a spindle per say since its 4x4 but i cant clear whatever its called that the studs go into.
the other wheel is on the ground so i will try removing that wheel and trying again. but i dont see how the a-arm will go up any further. it almost hits the front drive shaft. i just seem to need another quarter inch and it will clear.
anyone do this on a 4x4 before and have some tips to give?
thanks
jeff

http://www.haroh.com/explorer/ball_joint.html

Ball Joint Removal

Now go underneath the truck and crank the torsion bar adjusting bolt out as if you were lowering the truck. Remember the number of turns or crank it till it stops when you put it back in like it did.

Place your floor jack under the lower A-arm use a wood block if needed and slowly jack the arm up. You're doing this so the ball joint bolt will clear the spindle.

 

[95expledbau]

why don't you remove the whole spindle then? It's only one pinch bolt on top and then even with the axle still attached you can swing it out of the way.

Hope this helps

 

[SiLenZe]

i dont see anything i can do
putting it back together, letting the dealer do it.

 

[Rhett]

That's a decent enough writeup, but it's for a 2WD truck; if you have 4WD it's a whole nutha ballgame. Got to loosen and remove the pass side front driveshaft to allow yourself room to remove the balljoints.

 

[boominXplorer]

take off the upper control arm. It will be alot easier

 

[SiLenZe]

that would have probably done it. but without a write up i am clueless on how to attempt that.

 

[boominXplorer]

you can take out the bolt where the spinde meets the upper ball joint and beat on the upper control arm with a rubber mallet and then that will pop it out

 

[95expledbau]

you can take out the bolt where the spinde meets the upper ball joint and beat on the upper control arm with a rubber mallet and then that will pop it out

I tried to post a pic of that bolt, but I can't. Can someone else do it to help him out? There's a nice pic of the spindle on the write-up he's using.

 

[EBInterceptor]

That's what I had to do when I did mine, was disconnect the knuckle from the upper control arm. The ball joint on top has a spindle just as the lower does, there is a bolt going through the side the slides in and secures the ball joint. Remove the bolt, there is only one, so it's not hard to find, then with a mallet smack to separate the knuckle from the ball joint.

I don't know if that helps any better.