Well, i went to go get a front end alignment and 30 minutes later i get "sorry sir, we cant do an alignment on your truck". What , why?! :rant: You all know the answer, " your upper ball joints are bad." So anyways they want $700 to replace the uppers. Ill just do it at my friend shop. Just order my upper bj for $100, ill be fixing them nxt friday, hope everything goes good. Any advice you guys can give would be great(yes i looks though the threads airhammer, drill- etc) thanks
Ball Joints
wargz8
1 - 20 of 21 Posts
Joined
·
23 Posts
Well, i went to go get a front end alignment and 30 minutes later i get "sorry sir, we cant do an alignment on your truck". What , why?! :rant: You all know the answer, " your upper ball joints are bad." So anyways they want $700 to replace the uppers. Ill just do it at my friend shop. Just order my upper bj for $100, ill be fixing them nxt friday, hope everything goes good. Any advice you guys can give would be great(yes i looks though the threads airhammer, drill- etc) thanks
Joined
·
197 Posts
I've heard that the upper ball joints are notoriously bad on the Dakotas and Durangos. Sorry, I don't have any information on how to replace ball joints but I am currious how to tell if mine are worn. I've got 105,000 miles on my factory ball joints and my wheels haven't fallen off yet. Is there a easy way to test to see if they're in need of replacement?:huh:
I have replaced the hub assemblies but maybe I'm just lucky regarding the ball joints.
I have replaced the hub assemblies but maybe I'm just lucky regarding the ball joints.
Pick up a Haynes manual...well worth the $10-15 even if you only use it once. Not as good as a factory manual, but its far cheaper and has plenty of good info for general repairs.
If you're mechanically inclined, ball joint swap should be a cake walk. Especially the uppers, lowers can be a PITA (ask me, I know).
To check ball joints, jack up each front corner by the a-arm (to keep the suspension loaded) and grab the top and bottom of the tire, try to rock it in and out, you shouldn't feel any slop at all. If you do, dig deeper and find out exactly whats loose.
If you're mechanically inclined, ball joint swap should be a cake walk. Especially the uppers, lowers can be a PITA (ask me, I know).
To check ball joints, jack up each front corner by the a-arm (to keep the suspension loaded) and grab the top and bottom of the tire, try to rock it in and out, you shouldn't feel any slop at all. If you do, dig deeper and find out exactly whats loose.
Joined
·
197 Posts
Well, Damn! I gotta replace mine too.
It appears as if the lowers are loose, especially the one on the driver's side. I just got two quotes to replace with Moog replacements - both around $430. Are they really easy as you say? They don't have to be pressed out of the A-arm, right? I also noticed both you and caulk04 have '02 vehicles. Do you think the '03 is the same or similar?
Joined
·
4,002 Posts
They can be air hammered out of the a arms after the head is cut off. To my knowledge the balljoint config is the same for 03's. Not 100% sure though
Joined
·
6,587 Posts
look on ebay. i got mine for about 30-40.oo. fit like a glove, and truck runs great now. do the bottoms too. 700.oo is freakin nuts. i got sharged 320 for both my lowers. 700.oo better be for all 4. even then, thats really high.
jack truck up, rest on two jackstands, take jack out, put under the lower control arm until the truck just starts to lift up. take wheel off, take caliper bolts out, and take two bolts that hold the brake lines onto the upper control arm. place caliper off to the side. take pin out of the upper ball joint, get a 22mm wrench, loosen main bolt, take it off. get a ball joint tie rod end splitter, and a hammer, smack it free. break out the grinder. grind off the tops of the rivits. then get an air chizel, take the rivets out the bottom of the control arm. place new ball joint, put bolts into it supplied with them. torque them down real good. take spindle, place balljoint into spindle, and place new bolt onto the balljoint. tighten down till it stops, place new pin in, and bend the tip down over the end of the ball joint. add in zerk fitting and grease it up. dont forget to place rubber skirt thingy on the balljoint before you place it into the splindle. bolt on caliper, and rebolt the brake line back onto the upper control arm. button it all down. and put the wheel and tire back on. your done. onto the other side with same proceedure, and your finished. 1 hour and 45 minutes per side, and thats it. bottoms ones are even easier, cause they unbolt, and dont need the grinder.
Joined
·
6,587 Posts
http://search.ebay.com/search/searc...ss=saleshut&fsop=1&fsoo=1&coaction=compare&copagenum=1&coentrypage=search&fgtp=
this guy sells moogs. cheap as shit too. do the work worself, save the coin for other mods..hehe:woot:
Joined
·
6,587 Posts
lowers arent riveted (i dont think), cause mine were shot, and the mechanic just unbolted them off, and replaced them.
Joined
·
413 Posts
bottoms are riveted unless they've been replaced previously.
the 03's are easy..i did mine a few weeks ago with just a chisel, punch and 3lb hammer...that was the bottoms....got_torque replaced the uppers a while back because they were under warranty....but need to be replaced with moogs
also i got the lower moogs on ebay for 28 bucks shipped
also i got the lower moogs on ebay for 28 bucks shipped
Joined
·
23 Posts
No i didnt get any pictures, forgot my camera. We just cut an X in the rivet head with a cut off tool. Then used an air hammer to pop the rivet heads off. Followed by putting the air hammer between the A-arm and the ball joint, which should pop the bal joint off. The used a hammer on whats left of the rivets to knock them out, and finally installed the new and greaseable ball joints!!:mullet:
Joined
·
6,587 Posts
told you it wouldnt take long
Joined
·
6,587 Posts
did my uppers and truck tracks the same as it did before...
still needs to get done though imo. but for argumants sake, truck tracks the same as it did before i did the work
well, i guess my lower joints were done a while ago. all i know, mine about fell the hell off.
1 - 20 of 21 Posts
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
