scottieD
New Member
- Joined
- October 8, 2006
- Messages
- 8
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Richmond, British Columbia
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 1994 LTD
I just thought that I would share my most recent attempt at vehicle maintenance and repair on my 94 LTD, which some steering issues.
The steering was pulling pretty wildy to the right and felt generally very weird, so as I was passing Canadian Tire and noticed that it was empty, I dived in and asked for an alignment, they instead suggested that they check out the steering, which they did and told me that the ball joints were knackered and they could fix them for $1,500, I just about bloody well fainted and right there decided I would replace them myself.
There is a fantastic thread with pictures by TedJ on the above procedure, which I followed to the letter, but when I removed the drive shaft on the passenger side I realised what the problem really was, the drive shaft U joint was completely siezed in one direction, and I mean completely, one of the cups would not come off, despite grinding two flat spots on it, holding it in a vice and cranking on the U joint cross with a four foot length of pipe, all I did was pull the vice off the bench.
I had to resort to the bench grinder and grind the cup off, I can't believe that rust can bond like that.
So to cut to the chase I changed all 4 ball joints, 2 of which were actually good, and both drive shaft U joints, I had to buy a U joint press, $360 from Lordco, or $75 from good old Princess Auto where I got mine, I also had to buy a 12 point 6mm deep socket for the abs housing, and the tool to remove the wheel bearing lock nut, all told I managed to save about $1,200 doing what I thought was a fairly easy job, which took roughly 6 hours.
So the moral of the story, is don't go to Canadian Tire, and if possible do it yourself, it's not that hard!!!
The steering was pulling pretty wildy to the right and felt generally very weird, so as I was passing Canadian Tire and noticed that it was empty, I dived in and asked for an alignment, they instead suggested that they check out the steering, which they did and told me that the ball joints were knackered and they could fix them for $1,500, I just about bloody well fainted and right there decided I would replace them myself.
There is a fantastic thread with pictures by TedJ on the above procedure, which I followed to the letter, but when I removed the drive shaft on the passenger side I realised what the problem really was, the drive shaft U joint was completely siezed in one direction, and I mean completely, one of the cups would not come off, despite grinding two flat spots on it, holding it in a vice and cranking on the U joint cross with a four foot length of pipe, all I did was pull the vice off the bench.
I had to resort to the bench grinder and grind the cup off, I can't believe that rust can bond like that.
So to cut to the chase I changed all 4 ball joints, 2 of which were actually good, and both drive shaft U joints, I had to buy a U joint press, $360 from Lordco, or $75 from good old Princess Auto where I got mine, I also had to buy a 12 point 6mm deep socket for the abs housing, and the tool to remove the wheel bearing lock nut, all told I managed to save about $1,200 doing what I thought was a fairly easy job, which took roughly 6 hours.
So the moral of the story, is don't go to Canadian Tire, and if possible do it yourself, it's not that hard!!!
