So I decided to try and replace my ball joints today by myself. The upper ball joint was easy but I am stuck on how to get the bottom ball joint out. I am going through the haynes manual trying to figure it out but it isn't helping me out very much. The problem I am having is that a pickle fork isn't big enough to separate the ball joint from the lower control arm and even if it does separate the shaft will be in the way where I don't think it will be able to slide all the way out. So I am trying to figure out how to get the shaft out of the way but I am stuck. I have a small 3 jaw puller but I don't think its big enough to make it work and the guard behind the rotor makes it hard to get a puller in there. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

You need to pull the axle to get it out of the way. You will also need a ball joint press to get it out of the control arm more than likely.

 

You need to remove the axle nut and push the cv/axle out of the way. Don't remove those three bolts that hold the wheel bearing in unless you're replacing the wheel bearing.

I used the one with 2 jaws.




And the BJ press kit.

 

^^^ +1 on using the 2-jaw puller. It works much easier than the 3-jaw puller. The time I used the pickle fork I also had to use a BFH and really beat on it, then I found an easier way that didn't involve smacking the heck out of the truck.

* What was your question on your 4th pic about the tie rod end?

 

thanks guys i kind of figured it out i wasnt sure if i needed to remove the tie rod end or not so i tried and tore it to hell so i replaced it to. i got one side done and am going to do the other tomorrow i might try and make a tutorial for it on my truck. the other side should go easier now that i know what steps i need to take.

 

Yeah it took me (with some help) 2 days to do upper and lower BJs, tie rod ends and shocks. Was my first big truck repair! After you get everything back together don't forget to get an alignment done. I followed the tips like counting the turns on the tierods and torquing down the UCA bolts after the truck was back on the ground, but when I got my alignment spec sheet everything was so far outta whack, the mechanic gave me this WTF look until I told him all that I just replaced. Oh I also adjusted my torsion bars, 1 side was almost a full inch lower than the other.

When all is said and done, you actually feel real good about completing those repairs yourself!