Guys, I could use some help.

I'm trying to replace the lower ball joints on my '02 4x4 Dakota. I've been going step by step per the Dodge service manual, and I'm using a ball joint press borrowed from O'Reilly's. The manual said to remove the snap ring, if the ball joint had a snap ring retaining it, but it doesn't have one. The manual also said to use a hammer and chisel to remove the 4 stakes, if the ball joint was staked in place, but it's not. It appears to just be pressed in, and boy is it stuck. I'm using a 7' piece of pipe as a cheater on my 1/2" breaker bar turning the ball joint press, and the ball joint still is budging. Is this normal??? I tried heating the control arm area around the OD of the ball joint as well (while pressing with the ball joint press, and I also tried smacking the top of the ball joint press with a 2-lb sledge at the same time) and still no luck.

Any suggestions? Thanks guys.

 

Not sure about that, but I know when I had mine pressed they had to use an impact. The ball joints are pressed in and tight purposely. Only pointer I can give is to make sure the little splines are lined up when you press the new one in. Hope this helped.

 

you probably should heat up the control arm to remove the ball joint, it might take the temper out of the metal. Make sure the the cup that you are using to push on the ball joint with is small enough to fit through the hole in the control arm. and make sure it is centered on the ball joint itself. if that doesnt help maybe bust out a hammer and convince it a little . Good luck.

 

o i did this on my 01... what a c*nt..... what i did was chisel the lip of the top of the lower ball joint so i can see the distinct grove where the lower ball joint rests in the control arm. heated that b*tch up, not too long otherwise those joint ends blow outta that socket like a missile. had a 15/20 pound sledge (it was the shop sledge used for breaking tire/rim assemblies off tractor trailers) with a steel drift and slammed it outta there, takes time and patience. good luck

 

With enough convincing by the sledge, I finally got the old ball joint out, and I used the ball joint press to install the new one. The Dodge service manual says to tighten the lower ball joint nut to 135 ft-lbs. How and why???

Being a ball joint, the whole joint (stud) is free to spin with the nut and will turn long before you ever reach 135 ft-lbs. It's spinning, and I'm probably not putting more than 30 ft-lbs on it (if that). I don't understand how you'd ever reach 135 ft-lbs, which brings me to my other question -- why? It has a castle nut on it which is prevented from loosening up by a cotter pin. Torquing the nut to achieve bolt stretch isn't necessary to keep the nut from loosening since it has a castle nut and cotter pin for this purpose. I'm guessing this is just another goof-up by the service manual authors that didn't know what they were talking about. What have the rest of you done when it comes to torquing this nut?

Thanks

 

the stud will wedge itself into the knuckle assembly, keep trying.. i was able to do it, so should you

 

Yea, the knuckle will wedge itself on the ball-joint stud. And you can get torque on it. You got that nut *off* right?
Yes, the cotter pin is there to prevent the nut from backing off, but, there still needs to be a high torque on it.
We have the same deal with axle nuts on the tires at the aircraft at work. Their torqued down, and kept in place with, well, a bolt actually. Same principle.

 

Thanks, guys. You're right -- I reinstalled the torsion bar and put a jack under the spindle to put some load on it. That was enough to wedge it in.

 

Hello i just joined and was wondering if any 1 knew how far 2 grind down on the lower ball joint on a 01 durango in order 2 remove it. also was wondering if by chance they also put a weld on the bottom of it as well. any help would be great thanks.