yo_marc

This past weekend I replaced the ball joints in my JK. In the time leading up to the work, I read every JK ball-joint replacement thread I could find. Here's my experience...

During the last week and a half I noticed some (extra) wandering in my front end. I jacked up each front corner and sure enough the drivers side lower ball joint was bad. Passenger side had some minor play, but wasn't terrible.

The stock ball joints lasted 125K miles. Pretty good.

I bought a ball joint press-kit from Harbor Freight, and started to collect the spacers and parts that I have heard you need to get the job done.

I ordered Moog ball joints, and when picking them up from the local Advance Auto location, I happened to ask about ball joint tools. They pulled out two nice kits they rent out. The larger of the two kits had a few of spacers that I needed or was trying to mock up. I ended up renting both kits.

The job went shockingly easy (I was prepared for worse) -- it just took a LONG time. With a couple of small breaks, and a tape-measure alignment afterwards - 8 hours.

The ball joints all broke free from the C's nice and easy with nothing more than a 24" breaker bar on the press. After reading some stories on the site, I was nervous about that part. They pressed in just as easy.

I never used the kit from Harbor Freight, but I did need one short spacer that was provided in the smaller rented (Harbor Freight equivalent) kit.


I did have a few hiccups along the way:

1) The upper passenger side ball joint started to spin in the knuckle when removing the nut. After soaking the nut with PB Blaster and working it back and forth, it came off. It looked like that joint had been taking apart before at some point. There seemed to be a light coating of anti-seize on the tapered parts. Perhaps it was grease leaked from upper joint.

2) The 90-degree zerk fittings provided with the Moog lower joints interfered with with each axles u-joint knuckles. I was mentally prepared for this, but hoped it was just a Rubicon requirement. Moog ships the lower joints with a threaded brass 'plug' for the hole, but I didn't want to fight with that plug every time I wanted to service the joints. I happened to have some 90-degree fittings laying around that were about 1/8" shorter than the ones provided. They clear the drive shafts by about .050". Tight. Gotta keep an eye on that.

3) I hate working with chassis parts so I went crazy with anti-seize. I didn't think it through too well, and I coated the tapered surfaces of the ball joint to steering knuckle fittings. It wasn't til the next morning, laying in bed, that I had the realization, 'perhaps I shouldn't have done that'. Did some research online and decided to give in to those suspicions. I didn't want to fight with ball joints spinning in knuckles ever again, so I tore it all down and brake-cleaned those parts. Live and learn?


My tips for those looking to tackle the work:

- If you can purchase or rent the 'good' ball-joint press kit, do so! It's great not having to use washers as spacers and worrying about them spitting out like watermelon seeds.

- Double check the sizes of all your hardware before tackling the job and make sure you have the necessary tools ready.

- Play with the ball-joint press kits - Mock up the removal and installs before jumping in. Make sure you have the proper spacers ready.

- For Moog joints, It would be a good idea to have extra zerk fittings handy - Or be prepared to use the provided plug.

- Also, for Moog joints - note that the provided castle nut is a different size than the stock one.

dellpjJK

I did mine a few weeks ago with a harbor frieght kit. I should have been a bit smarter in my installation because I was trying to remove one the wrong way and ended up bending the press, taking it back and getting a new one. I didn't need anything other than the HF kit and some washers. I had a long pipe, at least 36" and a propane torch that helped things out a bit. I don't think the propane torch is necessary, but it certainly makes it easier.
I also jacked up the whole front end, and did each side kind of at the same time so I was doing the same steps, which I think reduces the time to do it. If I had to do it again, lets say on a weekend, jack it up Friday night, remove the wheels, brakes, etc, and spray everything in penetration solution, then get started Saturday morning and you should be done before dinner. I started Saturday morning and finished Sunday morning. I now have some other things i want to do to tighten the front end up even more, but that's another story.

mtb856

Thanks for the writeup! I'll have to keep that in mind, my front end has felt like it's wandering more...I wonder if that's what is happening with mine.

TheTerminator

I think you are the first person I hear about that had his ball joints come out so easy. Glad it worked out for you so well.

P1Rh0

I started this project this last weekend... And three days later I'm still working on it.

The first day the hang up was finding all the tools I needed in the shop I was working in. It's kind of a communal shop so even though I had checked to make sure everything was there a few days before, now all the tools I needed had suddenly disappeared. So after multiple trips and getting the right tools I got on my way to tackling this project again...

Everything was going pretty well until I got to taking the lower BJ outs and thats where this project went to hell...

I tried everything I could from using the press with a breaker bar and a impact wrench to using a hammer and a blow torch. To be honest, I'm not sure what loosened them enough to get them out, it could have been all the tools, or swearing at it or the fact that i got on my knees and prayed to the auto gods (was even willing to offer a burnt sacrifice) but they finally broke loose.

Of course as I said, I used a torch to heat it them up, but what I didn't mention is by the time I got to this point it was 1 or 2 in the morning and I had pretty much lost all sanity. So in torching it I forgot to move the stuff around me away a good 5 feet because soon after putting my flame thrower to the BJ I could smell rubber melting. Low and behold I was melting down my tool bag and had already melted a bushing to my quick disconnect (manage to weave another tapestry of swear words).

So now here I sit five days later with my girl up on jack stands still and only one of the new ball joints in. But tonight I'm determined to finish this damn project and start planning my next one.

SiliconTi

I did mine today with the help of a friend that is a MOPAR mechanic. Took 5 hours i total. I'm glad he was there with the right tools and knowledge - It would have taken me two days.

P1Rh0

Dang, only 5 hours? I wish I could have had your friend around when I did mine. Took me a total of nine days. Mostly because there were a couple of days that I couldn't get out to work on her.

SiliconTi

Yeah, I'll admit I got lucky. Also, the Jeep is not all rusty and only has 25K miles on it, so it was not as bad as it could be. He also knows a lot of trick to remove the unit bearings that are hard to get out - a mixture of short sockets and adapters will allow the power steering to press it out for you - literally 10 seconds to remove the unit bearing.

scononie

Hey all,
I'm getting ready to purchase moog ball joints for mine..
My question is, Do I need to get alignment specs first to determine if I need adjustable or not?


Thanks!

millwright15

I replaced mine this weekend with synergy ball joints. It took me longer than planned but was rewarding when I finished. I used a cheap press kit (I assume the same as Harbour Freight) and regular hand tools. I was quoted over $1000 to have the job done with all 4 OEM ball joints, finished the job with all 4 synergy ball joints, a $100 press kit and $80 alignment for under $500. Was worth the time.

My 2 cents, if you live in the Canadian North East, be prepared to fight stubborn rusty parts (83,000 km). I fought with the hub/ bearing assemblies for quite some time. And it took some serious force to get the old joints out. I had to put pressure on the passenger side lower and lots of penetrant for the night. The next morning it came out much easier. The lowers pressed in with ease, but the uppers can be tricky.

advice:

-installing the uppers, use washers between the press piece and c-clamp not between the press piece and cast (they'll get in the way)
-use lots of penetrant, PB Blast / WD40 / ......
-have a long breaker bar handy
-one side at a time to keep the diff oil in
-have a press kit
-anti-seize for threads and hubs
-I used an axle stand, then jacked the body a little for extra room
-get an alignment after
-be careful not to break the speed sensor, mine went ok but I broke one a few years ago on my super-duty

Give yourself lots of time, don't get frustrated.