I'm going to try and tackle changing both front u joints and ball joints because they all need to be done. I've been reading lots of threads and found a lot of good info. I was just wondering if there's any important tips that I should be aware of or any tricks anyone knows that could help. Thanks.

 

when i did mine i used a ball joint press, impact gun and some heat. and they were still a PIA to get out. I ended up cracking the tube of the press.

 

so you think its a pretty big job?

 

Well,its not an easy job.Big hammer,lots of PB Blast,and a ball joint press makes it a little easier.I'd rather do it then pay 600 bucks for a mechanic to do it.

 

The hardest thing is getting to the point of removing the ball joints.
The hub nut is most often a PITA to remove, and after that the hub assembly is usually rusted in place.
Advice=
start using penetrant now

Break the hub nut free before jacking truck up and removing tire.

instead of hanging brake caliper use one of those 5 gallon buckets from Home Depot and put it upside down and set brake on top of it.

Use the ball joint press to press the cups out of the universal joint too.

If you have front ABS make sure you have the ABS sensor wires tucked back into place otherwise the rotor will cut into them and ruin yet another weekend for you.

There is more, but there is plenty of info on here about it.
Good luck

 

I have an OTC ball joint press and it works great for the ball joints. but, I found that a vise works best for the u joints. it doesn't have to be mounted to anything I just used my tailgate as a workbench. it has a way of pressing them together all aligned up. a scotchbrite pad to clean up the yokes, pb blaster and just turn 'em in.

 

i just did axle u-joints, seals, inner bushings. it kicked my *** for 3 days.
best tip was from Sheriff for removing the front differential. if you don't have a case spreader, that SOB is in there tight. i wrapped a nylon strap around the spider gear cage and hooked it to a come-along, which was chained to the tow hook. i jacked it tight, and then used a crowbar on the ring bolts. i still had to keep jacking on it, and beating it side to side with a BIG rubber hammer.

disconnect the tie rod on drivers side to get it out of the way for removing diff. Sheriff used a large 2 jaw puller. i used an idler arm puller. note the hex shape on top of the stud for holding it from turning when reinstalling.

you should use a torque wrench to retighten the diff bearing caps.

i used a BFH and a vise to beat out, then press in the joints.
i used a dremel with a sanding wheel to clean up some damage from a previous replacement and to ease the sharp edges on the yokes.
i bought Precision 377 greasable joints from napa.
seals are hard to find. each Napa and similar had only 1, if any.
i got the bushings/inner bearing from alljeep.com for the best price. $8 + $8 shipping.
removing the diff was the hardest part.
seating the seals was the 2nd hardest part. i wasted one on the passenger side by getting it cocked.
pressing out/in the u-joints was the 3rd hardest part.
removing the axle nut and bearing was easy for me. 3/4" impact wrench and mine were not rusted in, and just fell right out...
i used several cans of brake cleaner, lots of gas trying to keep things clean.
i spent 3-4 hours cleaning the knuckles and axle tubes. they were full of sand, mud, grease, etc. since you have to push your axles down those tubes, you'll push all that **** right into the diff if you don't clean them.

seating the seals was the biggest time consumer. what ended up working the best for me - was i used a 3 ft piece of 5/8" threaded rod from Lowes. Several 5/8" and 3/4" washers and nuts. you need 4 nuts. for the passenger side, what finally worked - was a 1" flat washer, with a 5/8" washer tack welded to it, and then the 1" washer ground down to the size of the seal. then i used my 1-11/16 socket on the axle tube. and a double nut at the outside end, to hold it from turning. the drivers side is a little better because you can tap it from the diff cavity. you can't tap anything inside the CAD.

 

dhvaughan, I forgot to tell ya how to make an awesome axle cleaner in the PM, sorry.
I just grabbed a scrap piece of stainless and clipped it close to the shape of half the tube with some sheet metal shears and then smoothed it out to match the shape of half the tube and screwed it to the end of a skinny board that I had laying around. I could push it down without touching all the way to the seal and then scraped the crap out.



tuski, I knocked the u-joint too far on one of mine and I couldn't get the cap to go back into the yoke without digging in, so keep your Dremel handy.


After you crack the hub nut loose, it is pretty easy to get the three bolts on the back of it if you disconnect your tie rod (which you'll have to do anyway to get the ball joints out). I had mine disconnected because I was changing the boots on them and it made it easier to get at those bolts because I was able to swing the steering knuckle back and forth to get a good angle on them.

I wouldn't bother with PB (pretty bad) blaster or WD-40 for penetrating the rust because they don't. CRC Knock'er Loose, Cyclo Breakaway, AeroKroil (Otherwise known as Kroil and it's made by Kano Labs), CRC Freezeoff, CRC Screwloose, Twister (I haven't tried this one but I'm told its good), and a 50/50 mix of ATF and acetone are all good penetrating fluids. If you can't get any of the fluids I listed then you should get liquid wrench, it'll take longer than the ones listed but it will work much better than PB blaster or WD-40.

To crack your hub nut loose, stick a pry bar or screw driver in the cooling fins on the rotor and let it rest against the caliper. Do this first because you need the brake hardware connected to use it to pry on that nut.

Here's my combo. A 15$ 3/4" breaker bar and a 6$ 1 11/16" socket from Tractor Supply. If you use a 1/2" breaker bar then there is a good chance that you will snap it.

 

Thanks for the tips guys, today i jacked up the front of my truck and tried moving the tires side to side, and top to bottom, there was no movement top to bottom on either tire, although there was some side to side, on both tires. Is this a good test to see if anything needs replacing? or is it not very accurate? I know i need to do the u joints but i don't want to spend the money on ball joints if i don't need too.

 

Having a second body helping you never hurts.....

If you cant move the top of the tire by hand, the upper ball joint is probably ok. To check the lower, stick a board, prybar, whathave you under the tire (truck jacked up) and pry UP on the tire, watch for movement in the lower balljoint.

If either one is bad, replace them both. Avoid having to go in there a second time in the near future.

Buy quality parts. Putting cheap ones in there will just make sure you do indeed get to do the job again.....

Do it once. Do it right. Don't worry about it again for quite some time.