Ball Joint Replacemnt FYI
Thread Starter
JK Enthusiast
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 241
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From: Castle Rock, CO
Finally replaced my stock Ball Joints. Man, what a pain in the butt! thought I would pass on a couple of things... DON'T use a Ball Joint kit without the angled tube... I first got a kit from O'Reilly... very simple kit... wasn't great. It worked ok getting the joints out, but when pushing the tops out, I had to add some washers on the bottom part of the joint to get it out... the piece in the kit was not deep enough. Trying to get the uppers in without an angled tube was ridiculous. I went to Advanced Auto Parts to get a different Ball Joint kit that had the angled tube... MUCH easier. Also, I didn't read anything about this in my research, but the last like 1/8 of an inch getting the uppers in was VERY difficult. I even checked them to make sure they were going in straight.
The second thing, which kinda freaked me out, is that I was leaking fluid out of the axle tube... AFTER I got everything put back together. It was a significant enough amount of fluid to make me nervous, so I went and picked up some new seals. Then I saw what I would have to do to change them. Basically take apart everything I had just put back together. Soooo... I called a local 4x4 shop to see what they would charge. Luckily, the guy was stand-up and let me know that sometimes fluid will leak out of the tube when changing ball joints just from having the axles out while doing the work. He told me to wait a few days, and if it persists, to then bring it in to him. Sure enough, the leaking has stopped.
So... just wanted to throw that out there for anyone else doing their joints.
The second thing, which kinda freaked me out, is that I was leaking fluid out of the axle tube... AFTER I got everything put back together. It was a significant enough amount of fluid to make me nervous, so I went and picked up some new seals. Then I saw what I would have to do to change them. Basically take apart everything I had just put back together. Soooo... I called a local 4x4 shop to see what they would charge. Luckily, the guy was stand-up and let me know that sometimes fluid will leak out of the tube when changing ball joints just from having the axles out while doing the work. He told me to wait a few days, and if it persists, to then bring it in to him. Sure enough, the leaking has stopped.
So... just wanted to throw that out there for anyone else doing their joints.
Last edited by Robar; Sep 8, 2011 at 12:11 PM.
Thread Starter
JK Enthusiast
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 241
Likes: 0
From: Castle Rock, CO
yeah, I took both sides out at the same time, and I think the passenger side was a tad higher, so that totally makes sense to me now... just freaked me out when I saw a nice little puddle under the Jeep when I went to lunch!
JK Junkie
Joined: Nov 2010
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From: Valencia, CA
