So im doing my own ball joints :D

[Brandons]

After thinking and thinking, and constantly being discouraged with the state of the truck, and so close to taking it in to get the ball joints done, suddenly dad has the idea i should do them and if we screw up get a friend who knows what hes doing to come over and help.

So were heading into town soon to pick up some tools. Also replacing the front brakes since they were so bad that one of the pads is actually missing on the right side, then taking it to a mechanic to get new front lines put on since im not even messing with that.

Were going to get the front brake parts today, ball joint c-press and, front bearing seals (if i need them, haynes will help me there), front spring seats, i dont know if i need to replace the camber adjuster thing too though.. ill see how expensive it is.

Also we just got the 2" lift coils on the front, going to get the back lifted soon, im going to mix leaf packs into one for the lift since i have extras, until i get new leafs put on it.

Anyways if anyones got any suggestions im glad to hear em, thanks guys

 

[11lariat]

make sure you've got a big hammer and lots of PB Blaster or Liquid Wrench to get that spindle off..the balljoint tool makes the job pretty easy other than that..my father and i have done 3 sets of these..my '88 BII, his '92 XLT, and my '94 XLT..enjoy!

 

[Brandons]

hehe got a big hammer, been pre-soaking to get the spindles off already , im really nervous about doing it though. We got the c-frame press for it today and almost all the parts, i have enough to get me to ball joints. Rancho 5000 shocks are also on the way so ill be doing them tomorrow hoping to have it done by tomorrow night.

A friends coming over to hang out for a bit too, i find it boring in a barn doing all this by yourself so thatl help.

anyways just finishing soldering this remote control for the brothers plane and ill be starting. thanks for the advice

 

[IZwack]

i want a barn to work under

 

[Brandons]

lol

this things been a total pain in the butt. So many parts are rusted right on, dad broke the thing near the front of the spindle, looks like some abs thing, goint to look for one tomorrow when we pick up the shocks. Ill try and post a pic tomorrow too.

Off to bed for me pretty soon

 

[exploderlepracy]

sounds like how i work on mine breakin stuff

 

[EXPLORME]

Yeah I was going to try this my self ,buuuuuut dono now let me know how this works for you k thanks, maybe i missed it what kind of ball joints you going with?and whats the cost ?

 

[Tony H]

Rent /borrow a Spindle Puller. It's a Slide Hammer with a special Socket that threads on the end of the spindle. Two Slides and it's off. Or you can get nuts trying to get it off.

Freeze the Balljoints the night before install. They shrink a bit and it helps a lot.

Scratch a mark in the Camber adjust Star thing so you can put it in the same way as it came out.

 

[Brandons]

ill get back to you on the names for all the parts im using, going into town soon as well as trying to find my 6mm long socket lol.

 

[Brandons]

Sorry tony didnt see your post, we rented the ball joint c-press last night, im not sure if were on the same topic there but the spindle is almost out on the right side (lower ball joint castle nut giving us heck with that damn cotter pin).

Also i called up crappy tire and 4 rancho 5000 shocks have arrived and are ready for us to pick up (as well as an axle seal). Were going soon to pick them up, had a slight interruption and moms talking to dad for a few min an were off. I will be picking up two more wheel bearings as well when we get there, and a 6mm deep socket since i cant find mine.

I'll take some pics and get them up, also we have the lift springs installed so i have to change the camber which doesnt seem to be very hard, the notch on the camber thing was facing straight out so im going to reverse it to compensate for the springs.

 

[Brandons]

oops i somehow missed the 2nd part of your first sentence tony, i didnt have the tool sorry to say, we hit the crap out of it and got the spindle off alright.

And a bit of an update, got all 4 ball joints pressed into the spindles just have to get the damn c-clips on the lowers and the grease nipples in, i was well on my way getting both upper grease nipples in (waiting till the spindles reinstalled to put the lowers on) when i discovered 1 out of the 4 ball joints we bought wasnt tapped for the grease nipple.. Talk about a few 4 letter words after that. So thats going to hold me back a bit till dad taps them out, so im going to get started on the radius arm bushings and front shocks.

I also come to a point were i ask myself, should i keep the sway bars on or off, im definately thinking of removing the front one entirely. Anyone think this is a good/bad idea?

Also i tried attaching a picture of the shocks, im a little worried the front ones are too short and the guy at crappy tire ordered the wrong ones :S. But ill try them and hope.

 

[Brandons]

Ok all back together, well almost. I got everything up the the brakes done.

I was quite happy to get the truck back on the road, got everything one cept tires and hubs since i needed to bleed the brakes. I started bleeding them and fluid started leaking from the lines like crazy! Im going to look into it tomorrow, i probably forgot one small thing, for now after working on it for 10 hours, im toast.

 

[Brandons]

Small update today, ready for the tires , i decided im going to put a small bead of high temp silicone on the hubs to seal them from the elements. Ill update if all goes well.

 

[Tony H]

The Hubs should already have a rubber "O" Ring for that purpose. About 6" in Diameter

 

[Brandons]

yeah but i wouldnt mind the extra. unless of course it will affect it

 

[Brandons]

Alright everythings done up and running very well. Im a little cautious about the brakes, the "mechanic" that did it happened to be a co-op student from the highschool here, which im alright with (though i was under the impression the head mechanic/owner was going to do it), but when your brother comes back from school telling you that that kid said your truck was a piece of s***, you really start wondering about the quality of work he did. The brakes dont feel right, kinda spongy just as they were when i did the damn things. The only thing they fixed was the back left line, which i knew was leaking, but didnt touch the front left which i also knew was leaking. If theres any trouble someones getting in crap.

 

[entinnovations]

How much of a difference was there in the ride after replacing the ball joints?

 

[Brandons]

I no longer had an annoying clunk when i hit large bumps, play in the steering is gone, but also remember i changed the springs, shocks, radius arm bushings and wheel bearings so theres many things that could contribute to the better ride qualtiy.

As of now i cant take it off the property (needs the brakes fixed again but not by that stupid idiot) which hopefully will be going good soon. Going to lift the back soon and get the ranchos on the back.