Shockingly, they are ok with the 2nd G's up here, plenty floating around the roads. I moved here in 92, I remember those Saabs well. May have even ended up in the back of one or two back in the 90's. With all the urban sprawl and the whole "weed rush" its gotten much "trashier" up here over the past decade, so my old Ram dont stick out too much, except that its almost as long as a bus !

 

Thanks boss ! Patience is probably the only reason I have any mechanical aptitude what so ever. I went to vocational for automotive while I was in high school, but spent most of those years Bondo-ing other students lockers closed, and using the oxy torch to "draw stuff" on random auto body parts. Good times !

 

I learned from my dad and on the electronics part of it I taught myself and learned as I go

 

Well I got in there yesterday. Getting everything off went real smooth and quick, thanks in part to having replaced the rotors a few weeks ago and of course the hubs came out easy, since I did those a few years back, and used lots of grease on everything.

The impact was really the game changer. The axle nuts came off easily without having to play games with having a tire on the ground etc.

However I did get stuck on the very first ball joint ! I opted to go for the driver side lower first, since this is the really bad one. I first tried to use my biggest hammer to get it to pop up out. It almost looked like it wanted to move, but after hitting that stud as hard as I could many times, it didnt look like it was budging.

I set up the press on it and attempted to use a new flip head 1/2 ratchet on the press. It felt like it might break when I put my weight (145 lol) behind it. So I switched to my beaker bar, which is about the same size as the ratchet I was using. I was getting a bit of movement out of the breaker bar, but not much, so I pulled out my "big gun" the 4 foot long handle on my floor jack (circa 70's), this thing is made of thick iron or steel. I slid that over my breaker bar and gave it a go, although I did get a bit of movement it seemed like I might break that breaker bar. When I did my axle seals back in 17" I broke several breaker bars this way and did not want to have to buy yet another so I put that one to bed for a bit.

I think the impact would be the way to go here but the problem is that I cant figure out how to get my truck high enough off the ground to get the impact on there. I got pretty close, but the truck was jacked up so high that the jack was tilting underneath, and even with jackstands looked like it could easily tip off and fall to the side. I didnt want to be one of those statistics that they told us about in auto school, so I left it for the evening.

I gotta say Im dubious about doing any of the other ball joints IF I figure this one out. I might just do the axle u joints and call it good. So I guess today I will try to imagine a way for me to get that ball joint out, and maybe try to get those axle ujoints out. I think when I did these joints back in 17' I ended up taking the half shafts to the local shop to have them press them out and put the new ones in for me. (I think the mech actually said he used the "2 hammer method" ,which I have never heard of) If I remember right, they charged me the better part of $100. Right now that doesnt seem quite worth it, but who knows, maybe after wrestling around with these axles for a couple of hours I will change my mind on that one !

Hopefully I will have some positive news to post here tomorrow or later, best regards my friends !

 

2 or 4 wheel drive?

 

I'm gonna guess 4wd based upon discussion of front axles.

OP, you wanna load up the press and then hit it, hit the knuckle, hit whatever to introduce some vibration. Indeed an impact is far and away the best way to load up the press because you get more of a concentric drive than a long lever which just tries to spin everything including the body of the press itself..

I understand the height/Z-space problem.....you may need taller jackstands and a taller floor jack or jack saddle extension. A good, solid 6x6 or 8x8 will work on your floor jack, wood tends to be excellent in compression if not rotten or overly dry.

 

Howdy fellas ! I managed to get all 4 ball joints replaced yesterday. It actually went fairly smooth, once I figured out how everything worked.
Turned out my problem on the first day with trying to get that first lower out was that I was trying to press it the wrong way ! Also I had NOT removed the knuckle from the ball joints at that time. I rewatched a video and had a better idea of how to go about this. Once I removed the knuckle everything was pretty easy. I realized that the upper pretty much has to come out to do the lower, at least if your using the press. I can honestly say that I dont think I could have done these without that impact gun. There were several points at which I was physically unable to put anymore pressure on the press, but when I broke out the impact it made pretty quick work of getting them old ones out and the new pressed in. It did struggle a few times. I found on the passenger side that the yolk/knuckle really did not want to come off. I must of pounded on that thing for the better part of an hour. It was stuck on the lower ball joint stud. I ended up hammering that spot on the axle where the upper is located until the upper actually started to work its way out, with the knuckle still attached. It even stayed on after I got the upper out ! I had to pound that thing off.
Then, when I attempted to do the lower on the passenger side, the press went right through the top of the old ball joint ! Bugger had a hole right through the middle, but was still in there good. I found the correct attachment and pressed it out, but damn it was reluctant. The passenger side joints went in much smoother than the driver side.

What is haunting me now is that when I was installing that first ball joint on the driver side lower, I noticed that I could not get the nut tight on the stud. The stud just spins, even with the impact, no luck. This leaves it with a bit of play, not as bad as the old one I removed, but concerning none the less. I didnt have this problem on the passenger side, everything snugged up nice. Since I havent done the u joints yet everything is still mostly disassembled. I am considering buying another lower to replace the new one with that spinning stud. But, this means I will probably need to also remove the upper once again. What should I do ? Why does that stud spin so easily ? Any ideas or help would be very appreciated on this stormy sunday morning. Thanks again y'all !

 

BTW, its a 4 wheel drive. 2 wheel drive in the mountains aint no good, never understood folks that live up here and buy 2 wheel drive trucks. Its like a pair of ***** missing the shaft. lol

 

Can you weight the knuckle to get the taper to seat? Also the nuts are castle-ated, yes? On other vehicles I've seen cheapies use locknuts or nyloks and that's BS. I open 'em up with a tap and use copious threadlock upon final installation.

 

I tightened the lowers one when the tire is on and the truck is on the ground. The weight stupid I it from spinning