1998 Tahoe Balljoint Replacement

[phlegm]

I've seen a few questions about this, and I had to do mine anyhow.. so I put together this how-to.
I used my old school t-bar lug wrench to losen the wheel nuts

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I supported the vehicle with jack stands under the frame and the hydraulic jack under the lower control arm.

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First I had to clean off all this grease garbage.

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At this point, I did remove the one bolt that was holding the brake line bracket in place. (13mm wrench used on both the bolt and nut)

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Then remove the cotter pin from the ball joint nut.

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I ripped the cotter pin in half and took it out in 2 pieces.

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Mine used a 1 1/6" wrench to remove the nut. I spun it all the way off, and then back on a couple threads.

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Not recommended if you expect to re-use the balljoints, I

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Next I used a punch to mark the centers of the rivets.

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I started drilling, used a 1/4" drill bit first

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Drilled all the way through

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and followed that up with a 1/2" to remove the rest of the rivet head

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I used the same punch to wedge between the top of upper control arm and the balljoint, mashed the punch with a ball peen hammer a few times and it lifted

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Which left me with some rivet stumps to deal with

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I tapped them with a hammer until they were down close to the upper control arm, then used a punch to drive them the rest of the way out.

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Once all the rivets were out, I found that I didn't drill them exactly through the center, but that's OK.

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Reassembly is very straight forward, first I screwed in the grease zerk (no picture), then I put the balljoint into position and put in 3 new bolts/nuts

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If you are wondering why I didn't use all brand new bolts, it was because the ones provided in my replacement kit weren't log enough to go through the ball joint, control arm, hold the brake hose bracket and a lock nut. Also by this time you can see that I also put the nut back on the ball joint and the new cotter pin in place. This hint may help one of you, I hope. First I put the ball joint in place and at first the cotter pin hole would have put the pin facing directly at the spindle, which would have been a pain to put in and take out. So I grabbed the balljoint stud with a pair of vice grips and turned it 90 degrees.

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Aside from the jack and jack stand, and 4 way; these are all the tools that were required
Electric drill
1/4" and 1/2" drill bits
13 mm box wrench
13 mm socket and ratchet
vice grips
5/16" socket and quarter inch drive
flat screwdriver
standard hammer
balljoint pickle fork

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Total time for both sides (and this was my first time) it took me 1hr.

 

[dowsewashere]

Hey man. Thanks so much for this write up.

 

[Chitown Tom]

Sweet write up!

 

[kennythewelder]

Grate post

 

[twomanymontes]

Really good right up.

 

[dowsewashere]

Bump on this because I'm going to start this little venture. How exactly did you get the cotter pin out and did you just use a open end wrench to get the castle nut off? Do you have to hold one end or something stupid?

 

[What?]

I always used wire cutter, cut the pin, pull one out at a time. Quickest and took least effort in doing so. I always replace with new one anyways.

I used socket to loosen/tighten the balljoint nut. I can't remember but it was at least 32mm but not more than 36mm.

Balljoint stud is literally stuck in the pocket that it won't really come loose when you're loosening the nut.

 

[phlegm]

I always used wire cutter, cut the pin, pull one out at a time. Quickest and took least effort in doing so. I always replace with new one anyways.

I used socket to loosen/tighten the balljoint nut. I can't remember but it was at least 32mm but not more than 36mm.

Balljoint stud is literally stuck in the pocket that it won't really come loose when you're loosening the nut.

Exactly this. I apparently left out the ball joint nut wrench sizes.. My nuts were different between the old and the new. To remove the old one was a 1 1/16". To install and tighten the new one it was a 5/8". I used the box end of SAE wrenches.

32mm or 36mm is usually a size that is reserved for CV shaft nuts, that's huge.

 

[1997]

thanks for posting,,doing mine this weekend.

 

[Kemit]

Why didn't you replace the lower one as well? Mine were both OEM at 215k. The bottom was shot and rattled while the top seemed ok. I replaced them both and it took a bit longer than an hour. Lol