my tire fell off the other day while driving down the road. broke my spindle and some other stuff. got everything replaced for fairly cheap from a junkyard (dealership wanted $750 for a new spindle)
i put the new spindle on and new lower ball joint but the tapered hole in the bottom of the spindle is too bid for the tapered bolt on the ball joint .
so after some reasearch the dam junkyard lied to me and said they gave me a 99 spindle when it was really a 2002 spindle and the only difference between the two is the tapered hole for the lower ball joint.

so my question is: will a 02 ball joint press into a 99 a arm? ive compared the 2 side by side and there are some differences but i think it will work has anyone done this ? any ideas on what to do ? im pretty low on cash these days due to crappy housing market economy.

 

Not sure if this helps nim but when I replaced my my upper and lower ball joints on my 99 with 2001 upper control arms that had the ball attached and it didnt have any issues. I also replaced the lowers with 2001 lower ball joints from the dealer. Mine where so rusted it was hard to tell if there was any difference but they worked in the end. Now the question is there a difference between the 2001 and 2002 balljoints? you got me there.

 

awsome i dont think there is a difference they changed them in 2000 and stayed the same untill the new gen. im pretty sure the uppers are all the same.
thanks for the info!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

wait a minute youve got me thinking now. why did you get a 2001 lower ball joint for a 99? wouldnt the taper on the ball joint be too big for the 99 spindle?

also when you say "they worked out in the end" did it go smooth or did you have problems?

the only thing keeping my spindle tight on the bottom is some washers i fabbed up but its kinda dangerous and i cant find a 99 spindle anywhere for cheap.

thanks

 

When I went to the Dodge dealership looking to replace the balljoints and the uppercontol arm they told me that they stopped manufacturing them and said I needed to go with the 2001 control arm and lower balljoints. I have a friend that is a auto tech at the local dodge dealership that helped me put them in. Ill give him a call and see what he says. I wouldnt use washers to hold your balljoint in lol. that would be crazy.

 

Ok Nim I talked to my friend rusty. He told me that the only thing the same on those vehicles are the uppercontrol arms. He had to unbolt the 2001 balljoint off the 2001 control arm and attach 99 upper balljoints and the lower he put on were 99. So I am absolutely wrong on this matter and I sincerely feel like a big *** and I apologize gratuitously. =(

 

Hey this is just a though but why don't you just buy the right ball joint for that year spindle? Moog makes great ball joints I replaced mine. I just cut the old ones off the controlarms and bolted the new ones on + they are greaseable

 

hey its cool man dont worry about it everyones wrong at least once in their life .. lol
thanks for checkin that out for me though much appreciated!!!

this is what i want to do, my lowers are press in type ball joints, not bolt on, and i wasnt sure if the correct year ball joint for that spindle would press into my older lower contol arm.

 

double post

 

Mine are are pressed in too with rivets. I cut an x on the top of all four rivets with a cut off drill bit and chiseled the tops off, then drilled the rivets out. Then bolted the new ones on