satburn
New member
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2007
- Messages
- 789
I started Saturday, on what I thought was going to be a nice day full of replacing all 4 ball joints on my '01 and front axle u-joints. Who knew, it would turn into 2 days full of swearing, hammering and sore muscles.
The good news? I'm done. As a result of this I thought I would pass on some helpful tips that I learned while doing this that made life easier after doing the passenger side first. I didn't see some of these published out there in the internets while doing my searching.
#1) Axle nut. Unless you are replacing the hub assembly, there's really no need in straining to get that thing broke loose. If you do plan on replacing it, use a strategically placed jack stand and put the breakover bar in its saddle. You have at least 400ft/lbs of torque, no sense letting it go to waste.
#2) PB Blaster... buy it, use it... on everything.
#3) Ball Joint Press... The O'reilly's here rents a nice one, it served me well. Tighten till resistance is more than you can overcome... smack axle housing around ball joint with hammer a few times, repeat tightening of press, oh and PB Blaster...
#4) The old lower ball joint nut. Keep it. This can be used to assist in pressing out the upper ball joint as it slides over the threads of the stud and rests against the taper. This also can be stacked under the press plate for pressing out the bottom ball joint. The set I rented didn't have press plates that were deep enough to push the ball joint all the way out. That nut assisted in doing both.
#5) Socket trick for removing the hub assembly. You can use a combination of a 3" extension and a 14mm deep socket against the end of the axle, or a 6" extension and a shallow 14mm socket against the lower spring mount. Use the truck power steering to walk the hub out of the knuckle, alternating sides.
#6) Use the jack and a breakover bar to assist with loosening stubborn hub bolts if your hands hurt from swinging the hammer.
#7) Need a cheater bar? Your floor jack handle might be stout enough depending on who made it and if the handle is easy to remove.
#8) Unless you like removing brake calipers, then the brake caliper mounting bracket, then leave the whole thing together and just remove the caliper mounting bracket... saves a couple of bolts.
#9) ABS Sensor. Don't go bending your rotor rock guard all up trying to get that little thing out. There's a notch in the metal guard adjacent to it, lead the wire up through the slot and twist it out of the larger hole at the top.
#10) U-Joint Clips. Smack the caps with a 3lbs hammer to loosen them up and drive them in a bit. Makes getting those little c-clips out much much easier.
Granted I started in the evening, got thirsty and took plenty of breaks, but I did NOT have to use a heat wrench on them, they all did press out. Man were those joints shot! Drives much differently now and I actually have this thing called bump steer? Weird...
Now on to doing the 3rd gen steering upgrade.
The good news? I'm done. As a result of this I thought I would pass on some helpful tips that I learned while doing this that made life easier after doing the passenger side first. I didn't see some of these published out there in the internets while doing my searching.
#1) Axle nut. Unless you are replacing the hub assembly, there's really no need in straining to get that thing broke loose. If you do plan on replacing it, use a strategically placed jack stand and put the breakover bar in its saddle. You have at least 400ft/lbs of torque, no sense letting it go to waste.
#2) PB Blaster... buy it, use it... on everything.
#3) Ball Joint Press... The O'reilly's here rents a nice one, it served me well. Tighten till resistance is more than you can overcome... smack axle housing around ball joint with hammer a few times, repeat tightening of press, oh and PB Blaster...
#4) The old lower ball joint nut. Keep it. This can be used to assist in pressing out the upper ball joint as it slides over the threads of the stud and rests against the taper. This also can be stacked under the press plate for pressing out the bottom ball joint. The set I rented didn't have press plates that were deep enough to push the ball joint all the way out. That nut assisted in doing both.
#5) Socket trick for removing the hub assembly. You can use a combination of a 3" extension and a 14mm deep socket against the end of the axle, or a 6" extension and a shallow 14mm socket against the lower spring mount. Use the truck power steering to walk the hub out of the knuckle, alternating sides.
#6) Use the jack and a breakover bar to assist with loosening stubborn hub bolts if your hands hurt from swinging the hammer.
#7) Need a cheater bar? Your floor jack handle might be stout enough depending on who made it and if the handle is easy to remove.
#8) Unless you like removing brake calipers, then the brake caliper mounting bracket, then leave the whole thing together and just remove the caliper mounting bracket... saves a couple of bolts.
#9) ABS Sensor. Don't go bending your rotor rock guard all up trying to get that little thing out. There's a notch in the metal guard adjacent to it, lead the wire up through the slot and twist it out of the larger hole at the top.
#10) U-Joint Clips. Smack the caps with a 3lbs hammer to loosen them up and drive them in a bit. Makes getting those little c-clips out much much easier.
Granted I started in the evening, got thirsty and took plenty of breaks, but I did NOT have to use a heat wrench on them, they all did press out. Man were those joints shot! Drives much differently now and I actually have this thing called bump steer? Weird...
Now on to doing the 3rd gen steering upgrade.
