Will I need a ball joint press???

[Snotrocket]

OK I've been reading through threads for an hour about doing my balljoints and it seems pretty simple other that the actual removal. I have an air grinder and a full bag of four letter words already. Seems like many people recommend grinding the heads off the rivets and using a hammer and punch to drive them out. Is that what you did or did you discover any tips that may make it easier? Since I'm doing upper, lower, and tie rods, is it easier to unbolt the everything from the knuckle and just remove it from the truck? Thanks I'm trying to gather as much info as possible cause I have to do this at a buddys house and I need to make sure I can get it done in one day.

One you grind the top of the rivets off they should come out with a few good accurate whacks with a punch and BFH.

If they're bolted in and not riveted they've been replaced before. Once you do them once it won't take nearly as long on the second side.

I always use Moog front end parts. They will last far longer than even OEM in my opinion.


It looks like you live in California so removal will probably be a lot easier than it is for those of us who live in states that use road salt. Your roads are probably a lot better as well.

 

[DGA1]

I'm going through my entire front suspension as we speak and I'll let you know how well the grind and puch method works. Mind you this is for the upper ball joints in my '96 K1500. My lowers are pressed in.

 

[ChrisAU]

I grinded the heads off of mine, then drilled through them, then punched out what was left. PITA!

 

[dirtridinz71]

I grinded the heads off of mine, then drilled through them, then punched out what was left. PITA!

I had to drill mine out also. And yes removing the knuckle will help giving you more room to drill and hammer on the lower ones.

 

[tsoderstrum]

Sweet guys thanks for the response. Yeah Moog seems to be the consensus so thats what I'm going with.

 

[93 K1500]

Remember to cover or block the sparks from the CV boot before grinding off the tops, one spark melts thru and ur doing more than ball joints. I have a whole bunch of pics from when I did mine I will try and post em when I get off.

 

[Nick94]

I need advise in removing the lca bushings. How hard is this job?

 

[dirtridinz71]

I need advise in removing the lca bushings. How hard is this job?

Its not a hard job but can be a PITA. You need to unload the tbars and remove them, unbolt the lca, to make it easier to owrk at I would remove the CV axle and seperate the lower ball joints. Once removed the bushings can be pushed/burned out. I've been told a balljoint press works great for doing that. I used torches and burned the bushing out.

 

[AirmanSkee]

Just changed all 4 ball joints in my 97 K1500... lowers were pressed in and GOD were they a pain. Tops were still rivited from 97 and we had to completely take the UCA off, grind off the heads, drill all the way though and then use a punch and a BFH and finally got them all out. Used MOOG so hopefully wont have to change them again soon. Will be easier this time. Also nice to have 2 people working on it since its all pretty heavy and nice to have another set of hands to hold things. Needing to change my tie rod ends here soon. Not too bad of a job, I dont think, is it?

 

[dirtridinz71]

Just changed all 4 ball joints in my 97 K1500... lowers were pressed in and GOD were they a pain. Tops were still rivited from 97 and we had to completely take the UCA off, grind off the heads, drill all the way though and then use a punch and a BFH and finally got them all out. Used MOOG so hopefully wont have to change them again soon. Will be easier this time. Also nice to have 2 people working on it since its all pretty heavy and nice to have another set of hands to hold things. Needing to change my tie rod ends here soon. Not too bad of a job, I dont think, is it?

Changing the TRE's is simple. Most of the time it jsut takes a little wack with a hammer to remove them from the center link and knuckle. Keep the old ones together and assemble the new ones to the same length and that will get it close. Will still need an allignment afterwards.