I broke one when we did my ball joints but it did make it far enough to finish the job. Next time I'll rent or borrow a good tool and install Prosteer versus the cheap Crowns.

 

Thanks for the write up

 

I beat the crap out of the Harbor Freight C getting a stuck Ball Joint out and it held up fine. Just letting others know that might be considering the purchase.

RT

 

Is this common on most jeeps after such low mileage?

 

I'm looking at doing mine soon. Last March I replaced the factory POS with Crowns and now it seems the Crowns need to be replaced.

A note on the Harbor Freight tool. Our club has three of them that have seen some frequent use.
Two of the tool's Cs bent after repeated use, member brought them to the store expecting to get the C replaced. HF replaced the entire kit.
Also one of our members got the factory adapter specs and had them machined at work.
THe ones that come with the kit do not have the proper angle to align the ball joints perfectly as part of the axle Cs are angled. Parts stores that rent the tools should have vehicle specific adapters available.

THanks for a great write up. I was very afraid of doing this, but with some guidance from an experienced club member it went fairly easy the first time I did this. And yes it took a good 6 hours due to many things going on at the same time at our wrenchfest and me taking my time.
Being a member of a club has sooooo many benefits!

 

Thanks for the instructions! Thanks to you I decided to do this myself. I live in MA so things did not go as easy as I would have liked. Due to the salt and sand used here parts were not so easy to disassemble. I purchased the ball joint press and additional sleeve kit from Harbor Frieght. I did break the speed sensor tring to remove it so I ordered two expecting the other side will be no easier. I used anti-seize putting things back together so hopefully I won't have to swear so much in the future. I'm tackling the passenger side tomorrow. Wish me luck and thaks again for a great write-up.

 

I just changed my ball joints and u joints yesterday! Using harbor freight tools they are cheap and took me longer because the kit does not come complete with all extensions you need for ball joints you will have to improvise! I broke a speed sensor! Next time I will rent a good kit!

 

Thanks Bondsy for this great tutorial! Changed mine out with no issues whatsoever!