New ball joints installed

I'd installed new Bilstein shocks and ome coils a week ago . And noticed the passenger side upper ball joint boot was cracked and no grease was left inside.
So I ordered new upper and lower joints for both sides.
I stopped by harbor freight and picked up a nice ball joint press kit.
It's extremely beefy.
The bottom wasn't bad at all . But the top was a bear . I wound up beating the upper joint out. Replacing it was easy with the press.
I'm waiting a week or so to do driver's side.

 

Ball joints are known to fail on our trucks ... lower more so than upper...so good on you for getting ahead on maintenance! I did my uppers not 3 months before I switched to new UCA’s....go figure.

When I did it I kept the spindle on the truck... what a PITA that was... I know for a fact I coulda had the hub and spindle out in less time than it took me fiddling for space to fit the press in the wheel well

 

Could you tell us the part number of the kit that you ordered, or post an image?

 

I'll dig it up. Or take a pic of part number. When I get back home.
I ordered them.on Amazon.
They came in from 1a auto .

 

I didn't see a part number anywhere on order page. But price and company info should be on it.
But I know it's on the bag they came in. I'll post a pic when I get in from work.

 

Bottom wasn't bad.
But the top was a bear to get out.
With the spindle still in the truck there's no place to get a good leverage on removal clamp. And hold ball joint upright . Hold clamp from twisting. And try to tighten clamp enough to push joint out .
When it was over I felt like I needed a new joint.
A 5 lb shop hammer is how I finally got top out.

 

I may do driver's side lower during my Thanksgiving holiday. Then upper when enough time has passed for me to forget how much trouble it was.

 

Upper and lower packages

 

I'm going to suggest right now before you go and do the other side to ditch those Amazon ball joints, and get OEM or 555 branded BJs.

You can find OEM lower BJs for !$100 a

The lower balljoints are nothing to skimp on.

Uppers probably aren't as critical, but jesus, the lowers are.

 

I'll look into new lowers .
They or easy enough to change out.
I may need a new passenger spindle.
One of the 4 bolt holes on bracket won't get tight .
Bolt went in fine . But won't get tight.
And won't back out ether

 

Like this guy said... see that “made in China” label? Trust me, I installed a full set of those in mine. Lasted four months. Sorry for the downer.

 

WHAT?!?!! Oh my Christ......find a New England style pothole. They will come right out....

 

They said it already but ill share my experience. I bought the A1 auto kit that included the tie rods as well.. in under 10k miles of only on road driving they were scary loose when I replaced them with quality parts. I mean SCARY loose

 

2002 4x taco. Tried replacing lots of front end stuff today. Had experienced friends with all the tools helping me. We COULD NOT get the left lower left ball joint out. I’ve been using pb blaster for six weeks in anticipation. Nuts were fine. By “could not” I mean impossible. Three grown men. Two knowing what they were doing. Heat, hammers, pressure from C clamps and ball joint press, a few choice words. Three hours. Nope. We also couldn’t get the right upper or right tie rod end out. This is rust free Texas/California truck. My friends are Nissan guys and real trail guys. They’ve done plenty of trail repairs. They were baffled. Tomorrow we will cobble it back together and limp to their mechanic. I’ve watched 20 videos just on ball joint removal on 1st gens. Most guys just beat them out. In 2020 isn’t there a more elegant, dependable way?

 

pittman puller is the elegant way

 

Good thing is ive only done one side
Lol
I'll order oem lower joints .
I want to take it apart and see how to fix the one bolt hole that seems to be stripped out.

 

Psst; Don’t tell anyone but I’ve had one snapped off for over 8 yrs....

 

http://www.bajataco.com/tech/control_arms_05.html

 

Oh. Hell ya. Mines staying like it is then. Lol
It's a second vehicle I drive around town. And around 90 acres we have where I deer hunt .

 

I stripped the 1st couple threads on mine a while back from not noticing that 2 of the bolts were shorter. Luckily, I was able to just clean the threads with the appropriate tap, and then used a slightly longer bolt (Ace hardware has TONS of good hardware - I found all the metric grade 10.9 I needed there).

depending on which bolt is stripped, you could just use a nut and bolt, or you may need to get a helicoil kit if it's one of the bolts that doesn't go all the way through the spindle.

good luck!