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ball joint replacement

Am I missing something here? Like wheretheheckthere's ball joints on a XJ?
It's Friday night and I don't want to think so somebody please just tell me. :dunno:
 
Could have been voices. Dunno, scared to turn down the radio enough to tell for sure, and I'd rather not think about that anyway. Thought I got rid of them.
 
HOLY CRAP they are expensive! 80 bucks a pop at the local O'reilly. the guy behind the counter winced a bit when I yelled "holy shite" when he told me the price. I had gone there expecting to spend 40 bucks for both.

found them for 30 bucks a pop at the Advance auto parts, but that still seems a bit high...

AND I Highly reccomend getting that tool. I beat on them for quite a while trying to get them out, and hit myself in the knee once.
 
AND DON"T USE HEAT!

Ball Joints will EXPLODE when heated too much, the grease boils and the expanding gasses have no where to go so the ball becomes a bullet.:lecture:
 
Really its not that bad as long as you have patience and have a buddy to help. YOu should take a trip to autozone and rent a ball joint press and possibly use an air impact wrench if you can with it. YOu press them out press the new ones in and bolt the knuckles back in. For the tie rods ends on the knuckles try to take them out gently and not deform them while doing so. I would change the front wheel ujoints while doing this, it wont hurt.

pete
 
spraying them with wd40 or pb blaster for about 2 weeks ahead of time helps too. and with the press get a friend to tap the side of the inner c next to the ball joint whith a hammer or some other blunt object thiss helps loosen the rust a little bit. and the press is worth the money.
 
Auto Zone (Longmont, Colorado) rents the ball joint press ($106) and a pickle fork ($11), and returns those dollars when you return the tools which you can keep for 90 days. The ball joints are a heavy press in the knuckle, and the press makes the job fairly easy and safe. The press kit comes with three sleeves, but they may not be the correct size for your ball joints. I just did a similar ball joint job on an F-250 4WD, and it required some home made sleeves made from water pipe. It took a long cheater on the end of a 1/2 inch ratchet to press the old ball joints out of the knuckle. I was a bit surprised that the press did not bend. Be careful where you press on the new ball joints when you press them in; you can damage them otherwise. The instructions that come with the new joints explain this. Well, good luck.
 
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