Ordered the Carli upper ball joints today, $550 + tax +shipping... ouch!

also ordered moog lowers from Rockauto.com ($130 or so shipped) and plan on doing axle joints at the same time. Still not sure if I'm going to do the work myself or not, wife says she'd rather have me drop it off at Dieselnutmotorsports and let Jason do the work so the truck is not hogging the garage for a week (which is what it would take...) tear down & replace bj's 1day and drop axles off at shop for ujoint swap 1 day (must be during the week).

If I do the work, I will take pics and post them up in a diy writeup.

 

4 wheel parts did a write up on it. By chance did you get a price on their whole "front end" upgrade kit?
http://www.4wheeloffroad.com/techart...ade/index.html

 

nope, only want to do this 1x so I'm banking on the carli joints being everything everyone claims them to be. that plus a (hopefully) better lower joint in the moog, I hope it'll be years before I have to address it again.

edit: I think I mis-understood... I already have a heavy duty steering kit, steering stabilizer, steering brace, tracbar & longer arms... (Kore 3" springs), which upgrade kit are you referring to?

 

I replaced my ball joints (Carli Uppers and XRF Lowers) this past weekend and installed the Tie-Rod upgrade kit from Dodge. I thought I would pass on a couple of things i learned.

1. The basic ball joint kit that you can rent from Autozone does not have the correct cups to remove or reinsert the ball joints. I purchased the accessory kit from Harbour Freight for $59. Check the price on the web and print it out before going to the store. They will not honor the web price w/o a printout.

2. The axle nut is 1 11/16". You don't need to remove this nut unless you are removing the stub shaft from the unit bearing/hub. The socket is sold at Tractor Supply for about $14.00.

3. Total time to change out the ball joints and install the Tie-rod upgrade kit was about 10 hours. Most of this time was spent getting the correct Ball Joint press accessories.

 

thanks for the heads up... would you suggest jut buying the harbor frieght kit and adapters? Also, 10 hr for both sides?

how'd you get the hubs off?

 

The Harbour Freight kit does not include the C-Clamp press. You actually need both kits. Autozone wanted $150 for the basic kit with press. I think I could change out both sides in about 4 hours now. The 10 hours also included replacing front brake pads.

Harbour Freight
Basic Ball Joint kit - 38335-9VGA - $32.99 (I think the instore price was $29.99)
14pc Master Ball Joint Adapter Set - 46389-1VGA -$59.99 (Instore was $79.99)

After buying the Carli's the $$ was a little tight so I only bought the 14 pc set as I had already rented the Autozone stuff. My Bro is wanting me to change his out also. I will make him buy me the basic set in exchange for work.

To get the Hub off, after removing the 4 bolts on the back side I used a rubber mallet with a couple of small pry bars to work it out. Really wasn't that difficult. To get the rotor off you will need some needle nosed pliers to remove 4 retainers that attach to the studs.

 

http://www.thecarlisuspension.com/do...ontendkit.html

this is the one I was referring to.

 

I fixed your link so it was active..

I never saw that. I have the thurenfabrication.com steering stabilizer & tracbar on my truck. both make a nice difference on the front end. The tracbar gives you the opportunity to recenter the axle after a lift.

 

10 hours isnt long... maybe the thing to do is swap the ball joints & leave the axles for another day (unless the ujoints are obviously bad).

thanks for the p/n's... I'll have a look at them over the weekend.