Ball Joint Press Kits - Quick Review

I would like information you might have on any of the following brands (OR OTHERS), particularly regarding pricing, ease of use, cross-brands, source, extras included or whether or not any special adapter kit (D30/Jeep) was necessary.

I haven't found much info out there, so this should help others too, also looking to buy their own.

Basic Presses:
1. NAPA UltraPro #62908 $220CDN
2. Specialty Products #7250 $122USD
3. Miller Tools #???? $189USD
4. EastWood #49064 $109USD
5. Harbour Freight #40650VGA(?) $ 60USD

Adaptor Kits:
1. NAPA UltraPro #62908R1 $159CDN
2. Specialty Products(?) #41570 $????


TIA

Why do you want to but one? You can rent a pretty good one at any Auto Zone for a $99.00 deposit any you can keep it for as long as you want and then get all of your money back including tax. I just rented it over the weekend and it worked flawlessly. Just a suggestion. The one I rented at autozone was the specialty products. My buddy bought the harbor freight one at it bent the first time we used it.

Personally, I'd say get the heaviest press you can. The lighter ones, especially on joints that have been in a while, don't work so well.

I bought the Specialty Products kits a year ago, and they've worked quite well. The adapter set is pretty much required for doing D30 ball joints, IMHO.

The C in the Harbor Freight kit looks a LOT like the one I have, but the kit is packaged differently, and I'm not sure if all of the other adapters are there.

Can't comment on the rest of the kits.

tony597fitter said:

Why do you want to but one? You can rent a pretty good one at any Auto Zone for a $99.00 deposit any you can keep it for as long as you want and then get all of your money back including tax. I just rented it over the weekend and it worked flawlessly. Just a suggestion. The one I rented at autozone was the specialty products. My buddy bought the harbor freight one at it bent the first time we used it.

Click to expand...

For both AZ and HF........ they carry good stuff, and some not-so-good stuff. My local AZ doesn't have the heavy press.

One of the guys in the NAC was given the Harbor Freight set (the smaller one) for Christmas, and we recently used it to change out all his ball joints. It worked fine, but we found that for one of the operations (don't recall which one) we had to add a rectangle of 1/4" steel plate to supplement the adapters in the kit.

the one's i've used from AutoZone have performed quite well. We changed the ball joints / axle joints on my 86 that has 200K and is rusted to hell.

It held up incredibly well...and best of all it was free (once I got my $99 deposit back). I can attest to keeping it as long as you want. I went on vacation and returned it almost 5 weeks after having it with no problems. Oh...and when I picked it up it was brand new still in the plastic.

Can you justify replacing enough things to buy one?

My OTC brand press #7249 came off a Snap-On truck and cost me almost $150. I think it was Harbor Freight who also carried it for ~$100.

It's come in handy for myself and several in the NAC...

If you're looking to buy one, It'd be a good idea to get one with big enough cups to do control arm bushings as well.

If you find one that is, let us know. I havn't been actively looking for one so I can't say for sure if there is one made.

Thanks for all the replies so far!!

It's obviously impossible to justify the purchase versus loan of a press from an economical standpoint. Mucho$$ vs. Zero$$

Practically, however, I think for a person in my situation it would be a good idea because 1) Our Jeep family is only growing (two cherokees, one more XJ and a FC Jeep in the scopes, and my wife is dead set on getting either an older CJ5 or new Rubi (as soon as she gets a job!!! 2) I live 60miles outside of the nearest 'town' with an auto parts store and like the idea of being self-sufficient when it comes to tools. 3) It could currently serve to come in handy for a bunch of jobs, i.e, 4balljoints, two uca bushings, and I haven't even started to look at the '99. 4) As easy as it is to change a ujoint, having a press to do the work isn't that bad an idea. 5) If I keep it in the Jeep when in the woods I'll never have to worry about the nightmare of losing a balljoint in the BFNW

ANYONE know what brand of tool the NAPA one is? I know is says UltraPro, but what is that? Specialty products? ANd where can a person buy OTC brand in Canada?