Balls of fun

Just did all four of my ball joints which were shot and looked to be factory. 17 years old!? What a pain in the ass to do. Good learning experience though.

Question: when the steering knuckle is torqued down on the ball joint studs should the knuckle move smoothly or should there be tightness to the movement.

Also I changed out the old ass axle u-joints while I was down there. Similar question. Should the u-joints have smooth movement on the yokes? Or does movement smooth out with wear and tear?

87 XJ/ 4.0L/ Auto/ Tow package

XJade said:

Just did all four of my ball joints which were shot and looked to be factory. 17 years old!? What a pain in the ass to do. Good learning experience though.

Question: when the steering knuckle is torqued down on the ball joint studs should the knuckle move smoothly or should there be tightness to the movement.

Also I changed out the old ass axle u-joints while I was down there. Similar question. Should the u-joints have smooth movement on the yokes? Or does movement smooth out with wear and tear?

87 XJ/ 4.0L/ Auto/ Tow package

Click to expand...

There should be a little stiffness in brand new ball joints, but no roughness or irregularity in the turning feel when you move the knuckle by hand (steering linkage disconnected.)

As far as the new u-joints, they will be stiff until the cups settle into the yokes correctly. (Be sure you grease the cups well before installing them in the yokes.)

Thanks for the info. Much appreciated. Btw. What's that warning tag in the Spicer box about each cap being provided with the necessary amount of grease and the joint shouldn't be tampered with, blah blah blah? Is that just for liability reasons?

That note is so you don't swap them around. Their note suggests that you might transfer lubricant from one position to another; thereby starving one of lubricant. If the lube in the recess on the tip of cross pulled out on one cup and not the other, then this could happen if you swapped them around. I like to whack the yokes on both sides to seat the u-joint cups out where they belong. Don't hit the cup, just the yoke.

I just recently did the same job, 4 ball joints 2 u-joints. The joints were deffinatly stiff to the feal but very consistent. No jerking or inconsistancy. I always add a little extra grease just in case some comes out while you are assembling ect. Besides it can always leak out a bit if there is too much. Just make sure the rubber seals are properly in place when it's all done.

Just curious, did you remove the hubs from the steering knuckles? I was sure that I would break the mounting bolts before they came off. Looked like a PITA, so I did them with the hubs and knuckles together. It was tight but much easier than pulling it all apart.

Bones

Yes I did remove the hubs from the knuckles. Made easy only because I had previously changed out the hubs before. And let me tell you...it was a pain to remove those things!! The job involved blow torches, chisels, hammers, etc. With age (and I assume heat stress) the hubs were "welded" and rusted to the splash plates which were...stuck to the steering knuckles! Needless to say I apply some anti-seize on the splash guard and knuckles everytime I have to work in that area.

Never had problems with the bolts. I did just buy some replacements. The star(?) heads on the bolts are rounding out. So I thought I'd buy some new ones for future use. They were pricey from the dealer though! I kinda regret not going to Ace Hardware to get some "normal" bolts. Probably would've been cheaper too. But I'm kinda clueless when it comes to nuts and bolts. Some people can tell you size and grade just by looking at the things. But I'm one of those people who have to bring the bolt/nut into the store and start trying out different sizes. :dunce:

Anybody have an idea what bolt sizes those three knuckle-to-hub bolts are? How about the caliper mounting bracket to knuckle bolts? I'm sure alot of other people could use that info.