Changing ball joints...How to

[97splorer]

Alright, I have recieved a few quotes for new ball joints (all of them) for around $900.00. I would much rather do it myself for cost of parts. I have searched high and low on this site for good directions on changing ball joints. There is a ton of great info, but no real specific step by step directions. I am pretty handy with tools and have a basic understanding of cars,but I want to make sure I don't f--k up my front end. Where could I get a decent how to for a 97 AWD and list of all tools needed. If I can get a good idea of the whole process I will do a kick ass write up with pictures on how I did mine.

Thanks-Brian

 

[Blee1099]

Easy.. Take the wheel, rotor, caliper off.. Remove nut from lower ball joint and get the knuckle out of the way.. You may need to use a C-clamp style universal ujoint/balljoint tool to pop the balljoint out. put the new joint in with a press preferrably then re-assemble.

 

[explorer4x493]

Are the uppers that simple too??? If so, why would it take a trustworthy shop about an hour and a half?

 

[EBInterceptor]

It's not as simple as it sounds, it takes some time to figure things out if you haven't done it before. 4x4 makes things a little difficult getting a press in there. I did one of mine then had a shop put in my others. You have to find a good shop to do it, they only charged me 30 min of labor to do my other lower, and like 45 min. labor for the upper.

 

[Garth]

The hardest part for the upper is getting the driver side bolts out because you have the brake lines in the way. Other than that its a easy job for the uppers. Upper is even harder to get those two bolts back in. Took a few hours just thinking about and trying to get them in. Without that problem it could take about 30 minutes.

Lower is much easier in terms of time.
On the lowers, after removing the wheel and the the nut that hold the drive shaft (have someone hold the brakes while you break that nut). Remove the the pin and the nut that hold the steering knuckle (use a hammer to break the seals/rust that sort of welds the two parts together, dont hit the steering arm nor the bolt itself). Do the same for the seperating the lower ball joint(hammer time). Then you can either press or knock the ball joint out(that is after you remove the c-clip from the ball joint). Re-assembly for the lower is a charm.

 

[explorer4x493]

Garth- So, after you thought about getting the bolts back in the uppers, did you come to a conclusion? I am going to be doint this soon, and don't want any delays.

 

[Garth]

Yours will be much easier to change the lowers being that you have a 2wd system. On the uppers I just use a small pry bar to lift the brake lines (gently) to get the bolt in.

 

[97splorer]

I did just as Garth said, pry the brake lines out of the way to remove the bolts. It is a pain in the ass so take your time and do not try to force anything to its breaking point. Make sure that the oval shaped wahers attached to the bolts are facing the right way when re-installed. My allignment guy told me that mine were not seated right and he fixed them.

Good luck!