Ball Joints, how diffcult are they to change?
 

Just curious cause a certain somebody thought they were low and poked a hole in a sealed boot to grease the joints.:mad: So now I just have to keep and eye on them but I was wondering how diffcult is it to change the joints? The little repair manual makes it look more time consuming then anything else. I always hear people talking about how hard is it to do but then again these are the same people who pay for oil changes.

ive never done it on my camaro but ive done it on other cars and it was a *****:banghead: but hopefully it goes better for u. its not a hard thing it just takes a little while to do.

well i havent done the ball joints on my car, but ive done a few at work. it isnt hard at all.

just remove the cotter pin and unbolt the nut from the ball joint, then use the hammer method or get the fork tool for it and pry it out. theres a tool to press the new one in, but it can be done without it.

Yea its not that hard what caleb said is right, they also sell a tool to pry them off with, they sell them at all local auto parts stores, at advance auto we have a loaner tool program i think we have a tool kit for that, you pay the price for the kit, use it and bring it back for your full amount paid refunded as long as you dont break it.

Oreilly's rent a tool program just sucks. We sell the little tuning fork tool to seperate the joint but what is the tool you need to finish the job? Some sort of press tool?

Just to press it down while you bolt it in, im pretty sure you could just use a C clamp on it

True, I remember a guy came into work looking for a tool to press in the piston on a brake caliper. We told him to use a C-clamp and could not figure how the C-clamp could work in the tool's place.:confused:

Yea a c-clamp is all yah need to press them in, theres a lil special tool out to do the rear brakes on certain cars mostly imports i beleive, this is the part that they use http://www.toolweb.com/pics/LIS28600.jpg

Yeah we sell that too, I have only sold like one though. Their are very few cars that require that tool.

Werd, talkin bout work i better get to sleep its allmost 3am and i gotta be there at 9am ouch

you'd need a deep socket to press against the control arm on one end and the back of the ball joint on the other.

Yea that would be the best way to go without goin all out buyin the special tool

not real hard to do at all. A press makes it a 10 minute job. A ford wrench (aka a 10 lb hammer) takes a bit longer but works. The pickle fork is useless if replacing them (it's to keep you from having to hit teh bolt part, I just leave the nut on a bit and hit the side of the spindle to break them free since the fork can tear the boot getting greae everywhere)