Has anyone replaced ball joints on an 06. Today I stopped in to see my truck and the ball joints were still not in. I spoke to my mechanic he said he has never seen ball joints so hard to press into a new axle housing before. he tried to freeze 1 ball joint and heat the housing this allowed the ball joint to press in but the heat transfer melted the interior of the ball joint. I will be spending wednesday at the shop trying to press in my own ball joints, but I am wondering if there is a secret to getting the things started so that the press may work as designed.

Any help would be appreciated and I will provide what feed back I can. I have pressed in ball joints on other trucks but never on my 2500. I am missing my truck just want the thing to become roadworthy again.

 

hope you bought greasible ball joints as theyll last longer.
They have ball joint press kits, basically just a long c clamp.

 

The bottom ball joints are greaable , but the uppers are not. I know about the ball joint press, but I physically was not there when the ball joint was destroyed. I have to pick up another one in the morning to replace the melted one.

 

So today I pressed in the new ball joints and hang the new axle housing. The next step is for the gears and carrier to be switched from the old one to the new. Backlash and fill it up with oil and test it out. This should be done by Saturday this week. Cannot wait until I have the option to drive the truck again.