That's not to say you don't have to be careful. Jack the van up high and then use a floor jack under the control arm as the means to lower and raise the arm after you disconnect everything from it, including the upper ball joint.

 

My Chilton manual is lacking and I could use some guidance on the calipers (the manual apparently supports all vans except the B3500).

The caliper mounts to what they call the "adapter" through some slide surfaces, which in turn is mounted to the steering knuckle via two 12-point bolts. I should be able to figure out this bolt size OK, and buy the appropriate socket, but I don't know about the torque on these bolts for the 4000 lb axle B3500. They say 100 ft-lb but I imagine this is for the other vans, and probably not for mine.

The other thing is how to remove the caliper from that adapter? Chilton shows bolts holding the anti-rattle clips, that should be removed, but mine does not have any bolts here. I tried for a while to figure out how to get the clips out, or to pry the caliper out of the adapter, but I failed. There must be some trick. Anybody know it?

 

I just figured out those two bolts for the adapter are 5/8 and I have a 12-point socket to work with them. Still trying to find the torque.

 

Right LOL

Glad you got the caliper under control.

To separate the BJs out of the arms, for the lower you can use either a pickle fork or a hammer. I used a combination of both. First the fork then when I needed to do the last few centimeters, the hammer.

The uppers I have had easy luck with the fork, but you can also screw them out when you get them loose in the knucle socket.

There is no reason I can think of to remove the lower control arm. Maybe they were just "doing it that way." Do one at at time and I would probably do the lower first, then the upper. When you are separating the knuckle, keep a small floor jack under the lower control arm so it doesn't spring down hard when you separate the knuckle. You only need to compress it a inch or two to keep it from slamming. You will need to do this same action to put it the lower back into the knuckle after you have both changed out.

You will need the press to put the bottom back in. I do not recommend trying to hammer the new one in - you have to press up and it just doesn't work.
Here is some other general info. The lowers should press in tight to very tight. If they don't you either need the Moog Problem Solver, replace the control arm or tack the new ones in. I had to use the Problem Solvers because my BJ sockets are probably out of spec. If I have to do them again, I will either tack or replace the arm.

The touque is in my manual and I cant wake my kids up - so I have to look up the exact spec, but is just over 100 if I recall correctly.

 

Parts are in. I'm taking a break for a couple days - I don't really want to work in 95+ temperatures...

 

I notice both lowers ball joints have the blue boots and are obviously newer. Now I'm tempted to leave them be. I was trying to pry upward on the rotor to check for movement. The upper ball joint has obvious movement so I am replacing those, but the lower does not. But this seems to be a poor test of movement in the lower joint. Any hints to do it better? Pry on the lower control arm instead, or wiggle something?

 

If you are sure the uppers are bad, when you take the uppers out, you will be able to really feel if the lower is bad or not by moving the knuckle around.

My van when the lowers were bad would 1. would make a really weird grinding sound when backing up 2. when turning on a smooth surface it would pop, sounding a little like popcorn and 3. the tires would wear very irregularly.

 

Dont pry on the rotor whatever you do.

Ball joints are usually easier to remove with the control arm still bolted to the vehicle. A ball joint fork or screw type ball joint separator and significant effort is usually required. Autozone used to rent these at a reasonable price, not sure if they still do. One is screw in and one is pressed in: if you arent sure which you are looking at take them to Autozone or your preferred local mechanic and they can remove them and install the new ball joints for you.

 

Unfortunately that Sunex ball joint socket mentioned earlier in this thread was for the lighter suspension, I assume. Mine measures 2 1/8 across the flats (note to self, next time measure before buying) so I have to get this one:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-4-Drive-Ba...sAAOSwQjNW9dWb

 

I separated the joint from the steering knuckle with a pickle fork (destroying the boot in the process) and then with the new socket and about 5 feet of leverage, turned the ball out of the upper arm.

It was strange to see the threading in the upper arm - there wasn't much! It's like the threads were never cut very deep in the first place? I also have some rust in there.

I'm thinking of using one of those rust dissolver products. Also, it sure would be nice to be able to chase those threads. I'm just curious what people do with these threads to fix them up, if anything. I haven't tried turning the new Moog ball joint in yet.

Generally this van is clean of rust because it is an Oregon vehicle (no salt). I can't imagine what folks in states that salt the roads would be dealing with; I suppose they just buy new control arms!