How come my brand new ball joint came with no grease on it? Am I supposed to leave it greseless? Also do any dodges come with a lower ball joint boot that is help on by the snap ring?

 

i have to do my upper and lower ball joints soon. any info you can give me on the install and tools and where you find the pieces. thanks

 

Well me I just hammer the old ones out, with a socket and a hammer. Remove the snap ring first of course. Buy the new ones anywhere. I usually get the LLT ones Autozone/Napa/Oreilys/Advance, they all work. Not sure if on the ram the upper ball joint is removable or if u have to replace the whole upper arm.

Just remove the arm, hammer the old ones out. Be a man about it it works. If u have air supply and an impact u can buy a C-clamp type press. Harbor Freight will work just fine. Just take a balljoint with you and try to buy the set with the right size adapters. Or just go to auto machine shop and have them press in for like 20 bucks tops.

No on to the grease. If I bought them and they had no grease on them does that mean not to grease? All other balljoints Ive ever seen come with grease on them when you buy them new. Even the tie rods I just bought had grease. If so, what kind of grease to use. Will regular high temp grease work?

 

Oh and a few more tips about removing the ball joints. I guess u could just use the C clamp press to remove them from the arm as well. or just have the machine shop do it.

But if you do go the completeDIY route and buy the press, try it, if its still wont budge hammer it out. Then place the new balljoint in the freezer overnight and and heat the hole it goes in prior to pressing it in. Will make it alot easier to go in.

 

the uppers are the whole control arm. so thats only 2 bolts holding that in. not a problem....but the bottom is just the ball joint.....so what i understand from you is hammer that b!tch out? what about the rivets? and once i get it out put the ball joint in and bring it to a shop to have it pressed back in?

 

I have not done ball joints on a Gen3 truck so I am somewhat shooting from the hip here. Press out the old ball joints, make sure the control arm is well suppurted in the press. I have seen hammering on them distort the control arm. I have seen two types of replacement ball joints, press in and screw in. Press in's are just that pressed in on a press (put new ball joint in freezer for a couple of hours first. This contracts the steel and makes pressing in much easier) Screw in types take a socket and somewhat cut their own threads as it is installed.

I look for replacement ball joints with grease zerks in them so I can lube them at every oil change. Regular lithium axle grease works just fine for all front end applications.

Hope this helps!

 

Alright Horse Aplles thanx. I wont guy buy any more grease I already have some high temp Lithium so it should be fine. And MMstar 23 yea u could hammer it out, but just have a shop press it in and out should only be like 40 bucks for both sides. Woudn't want to bend it because control arms aren't cheap. Also While your LCA is off inspect the bushings. Might as well replace those if they're worn. I didnt mine had a few cracks but still looked good and the ride comfort is still good so Ill wait.

Or just take the 40 bucks and buy the C clamp press and DIY if you have an air supply and a good 3/4" 1400 ft/lb impact you should be good to go.

 

alright guys. thanks. all 4 of my ball joints are bad. but for now im just gonna do my upper driver side..thats the only one you FEEL when i hit bumps..its bad! so ill do that myself. all the rubber pieces on my ball joints is all shreaded and ripped...now when you say bushings...do you mean the ones on top of the shock tower and the ones on the sway bar...or what?

 

The bushings between the lower control arm and the K member. Here is a link to some good Polyurethane bushings. These will last forever and wont squeek like the factory rubber bushings will.

http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/se...h=2005%20Dodge

 

There should be bushing in both control arm, and ur steering rack and shocks and sway bars. Im just saying while u have ur LCAs off (if the Balljoint is indeed located in the LCA on the 3rd gen ram) then check the bushings. They are rubber and bolts go through them, and there is usually a big one on the radius ar part of the control arm that virtually never goes bad.

Balljoints dont have bushings they have boots, which will be included with new upper A arms and lower balljoints. Also you might want to go ahead and inspect your tie rods steering gear and wheel bearings and shocks and axles. Also grease ur calipers and check ur breaks. Even if they all were out and you DIY you only spend like800 bucks not including shocks/struts for all the parts. With shcoks and struts look at 1200. This is if your doing all the work yourself and buy all the parts u possibly can with Liftetime warranties because if they go out it is free to replace and the second time u do something is always esaier than the first. So it will take u half as much time as the first time. Any shop would charge close to three grand for all this work or more. I could do it all in a couple days by myself. With about 10-15 hours of work. First time, it might take u a week or two so be prepared to have down time (like another car).

And I am not an advocate of poly bushings, I tend to steer clear and go with rubber. OEM rubber is way better then poly. Poly bushings go out qicker and squeek worse when they go. Also the ride comfort goes down. Unless this is a race application steer clear. still I prefer rubber when racing. Its all a matter of opinion.