I may need to replace my lower ball joint. The chilton manual says to remove the lower control arm its attached to. That is easy. But what do I do after that and what speical tools will i need?

 

ill tell you what man.. that was quite a project for me. i replaced all four and it took almost 13 hours with a lot of problems. the worst part for me was that the ball joint mounts are riveted in. i replaced the entire thing thus having to cut and drill out the rivets. im not certain but i think you can replce just the joint itself without the entire mount using some sort of press.

 

when a shop did the right side for me they cut out the rivets and just bolted down the new BJ. But they said they had to press out he old joints even thought they had removed the whole thing. I'm confused and not really too sure what to do.

 

it looks easy enough. just cut the rivits off, bolt on the new one. the hardest part would be to sperate the joint from the suspension.

 

took me 4 hours for all four, but i cut the rivet heads and used an air chissle to remove the rivet shank. dodgeman, thats the pic of the upper, the lower has 4 holes. as far as i know you cannot press out the old ball joint out of the mount because its one piece. the lower ball joint mount is between 2 plates. it took me a rubber hammer and a couple of hits to get it out. here is a tip, when the mount prtially out from betwene the plates, place a mounting bolt in the now open hole and continue to wack the ball joint untill its out. also its a good idea to replace both the uppers or lowers at the same time, as not to lose ride quality by having one ball joint that is new and another that is old.

 

usa a air hammer to cut the rivets and install them w/ nuts and bolts all 4 can be done in 2 hours