Ball joint problem

I mentioned in a previous post about a camber problem in my 99XJ.
Got lots of advice, here is the story.
I bought a 99XJ for my son about a year ago.
Soon after, my son took it in for alignment, only to find out that the right camber was positive out of limits. I looked at the ball joints and I saw that the right upper bal joint was the off set type. The grease fitting was off center by 1/4" more or less.
I went to NAPA and asked them to show me one of their offset BJs.
The grease fitting on that one was 1/2" off and it was a 2 degree offset.
It was obvious that mine was approx 1 degree. I took the Jeep to a Hibdon Tires for a free check. The tech told me that it was off by 1.2 degrees. I asked him to turn the BJ to decrease the camber and increase the caster and both would be in limits.
He refused, he insisted that the way it was, was the best, my D30 was bent and if anything I needed a BJ with more offset, like 2 degrees. I was unable to convince him of the obvious, so yesterday I bought a set of spicer (upper and lower) BJs for about $51, (the dealer wanted $230 for the same) and I replaced both.
Today I took it for alignment and surprice!!!! it was perfect.
It seems that the previous owner was told that he had a camber problem with the axle, they sold him an adjustable BJ that he didn't need and in the process, they screwed it up.
Based on my experience, I'll be very carefull before I use non standard BJs.
One more thing, although you can find the upper and lower sepatately, both Jeep and Spicer sell them in kit. I think I know why.
The lower had play, I think that the hammering involved in removing the knuckle damages the lower BJ. If you need to replace one, consider replacing both.

falcon556 said:

I think that the hammering involved in removing the knuckle damages the lower BJ. If you need to replace one, consider replacing both.

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That's something I was thinking about, since I'm going to do my ball joints this summer. Is there any way to get the BJ stud out of the knuckle without the hammering?

montanaman said:

That's something I was thinking about, since I'm going to do my ball joints this summer. Is there any way to get the BJ stud out of the knuckle without the hammering?

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This was my first Jeep BJ job, I went according to the FSM that says beat it up!
If there is a better way, I hope somebody will say so, because the FSM way sucks big time.
Something to consider, the lower BJ has a large nut and the torque to go with it.
When installing the knuckle, all you have to do is tighten up the bottom and it will also push the top up. It seems that the bottom is the tighter fit of the two.
Because of that, it will take most of the punishment during removal.
I think that if you change the top the FSM way, the bottom should go too.
I bought an upper from O'Reilly for about $45, when I asked for the bottom, they wanted another $50. I called the 4X4 shop and they had the Spicer kit that included both for a little over $50. OEM stuff.