CaddyChris Posted April 12, 2005 Report Share Posted April 12, 2005 Well, I'm no mechanic, by all means, but I know when brakes begin to make contact with the rotar. Well, this happened to me over the weekend and luckily I was home. I jacked up the front end and took both front wheels off. Sure enough both sides needed replacement and both actually just started to hit the rotar. The brakes were definately sticking as the outer pads were completely gone but the inner pads had a 1/4" left on them. My dad had brake "take-offs" upstairs. He helped me do the brakes, we cleaned everything and used the right grease to make sure they would slide easily... Anyway, I knew the car needed front end work, put the wheels back on and my Dad and I were looking for problems. Well, this was very interesting, the RF balljoint was bad and so was the hub and bearing. The wheel had almost 1/2" of play in it. The RF side was much worse... I shook the wheel with the car up in the air and I almost checked to see if the lugnuts were tight. The wheel must of had 1" of play all around. I mean, this hub and bearing was shot. It was really scary. My Dad's like, " I wouldnt even drive it". Consequently, I was driving the car around all weekend with people inside, heavy people. Haha, it's just lucky that we caught it before the inevitable happened. Anyways, got ACDELCO parts extremely cheap...15% over cost, 2 balljoints, 2 hub/bearing assemblies....310$...dealer price 800$. I could not believe that someone would get charged that much plus labor! JEEZ what an expensive job. I couldn't have done the job bymyself. My Dad helped me do both sides. No big deal really....except for getting the balljoint off. Oh yes...get this... The hub/bearing on the really bad side fell apart on the way out. The abs sensor was all cracked and it came apart in like 5 pieces...talk about needing replacement. Anyways, the balljoint...getting it off is a real pain in the *smurf*, we had to lower the cradle a bit and smash it a bunch of times with a hammer...like I said...I wouldnt have been able to do it. It didnt take all that long...but we did both sides and I finished up bymyself. The car is much tighter now...although it still needs struts and other front end parts... Just thought I would share my experience. Lesson here...Don't ignore obvious problems or something bad may happen. Chris Christopher Petro 94 sts 67 coupe de Ville Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlamingGoatBalls Posted April 12, 2005 Report Share Posted April 12, 2005 How bad would it be to replace a ball joint? I think mine is going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted April 12, 2005 Report Share Posted April 12, 2005 How bad would it be to replace a ball joint? I think mine is going. You need to remove the lower control arm, its connected at the ball joint, strut rod and control arm and drill out 3 rivets. The new ball joint comes with hardened bolts and nuts. While you are at it you can replace the strut rod bushing. I did this job last month, and I did not think it was too bad, but I did both sides of my 91 so I had practice. This time I used a vice, new drill bit and milwalkee 1/2 drill and the job was easy for me. You will need a torque wrench and REMEMBER to final torque the control arm bolt at TRIM HEIGHT not while the wheel assembly is hanging or you will damage the lower control arm bushing from the torsion. Ignore the red circles on this picture it was for someone else Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaddyChris Posted April 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2005 The trick to getting the tapered stud of the ball joint out easily is to leave the nut on the stud. Loosen it several turns but leave it fully engaged. Jack the car so that the balljoint is holding the tension of the spring. Hit the metal of the nuckle from the side just where the ball joint stud goes thru the nuckle. Usually a couple of very "firm" raps from a sizeable ball pein will make the ball joint stud pop out. The nut will catch it so that you can re-jack to compress the spring. Simple and easy. One of my neighbors bent his 'pickle fork" trying to remove the ball joint from his Ford pickup the other day and came to borrow mine. I went over and showed him this trick and it popped right out. If you hammer on the stud to try and drive it back thru the hole it will NEVER come out and trying to just forcefully pull it out with a pickle fork tool is also very difficult. By rapping the surrounding material of the nuckle with a hammer it forces the female hole in the nuckle that the stud is in to be "out of round" for an instant and the tapered ball joint stud looses it's grip and comes right out. Hmmmm, That makes more sense than what we did. Use the spring compression to help with the tapered stud. I will definately keep this in mind if I ever have to do something like that again. Thanks Bbobynski. Chris Christopher Petro 94 sts 67 coupe de Ville Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted April 13, 2005 Report Share Posted April 13, 2005 Guru, tell me if I am wrong here. The way you describe is the way I used to break the ball joint years ago when we had traditional front ends with coil springs that applied pressure to the lower ball joint, back the ball joint nut off a few turns and hit the knuckle with a heavy hammer and BAM the stud would break loose and the nut would hold the control arm (from flying out and parting your hair). With struts there isn't any spring pressure on the lower ball joint. Does the technique you describe above and that I have used also, work on these new-fangled front ends with struts? I purchased the pictured tool below as I do not like to use a fork, as it tends to damage the ball joint grease seal.... Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CadiKing Posted April 13, 2005 Report Share Posted April 13, 2005 ... I purchased the pictured tool below as I do not like to use a fork, as it tends to damage the ball joint grease seal.... Mike Boy Mike, You will just do anything to get that picture of your crotch on this web site...What's this... four times now? LOL LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted April 13, 2005 Report Share Posted April 13, 2005 ... I purchased the pictured tool below as I do not like to use a fork, as it tends to damage the ball joint grease seal.... Mike Boy Mike, You will just do anything to get that picture of your crotch on this web site...What's this... four times now? LOL LOL Its at least 3 times, thanks for noticing! I am just showing off my tool! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CadiKing Posted April 13, 2005 Report Share Posted April 13, 2005 ... I purchased the pictured tool below as I do not like to use a fork, as it tends to damage the ball joint grease seal.... Mike Boy Mike, You will just do anything to get that picture of your crotch on this web site...What's this... four times now? LOL LOL Its at least 3 times, thanks for noticing! I am just showing off my tool! TOOL! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted April 13, 2005 Report Share Posted April 13, 2005 The control arm weight is still hanging on the stud. It will basically just fall out if you hit the nuckle. Trying to force the ball joint apart with a tool like that is medieval. You might use it to just load up the ball joint and leave the nut loose on the stud but you will still need to hit the nuckle to get it to release. So what if the fork damages the grease seal....???...you are throwing the ball joint away, right...??? There are times that I take the ball joint apart where I don't throw it away, and I don't want to damage the grease seal. Thats a good idea to load up the stud with pressure and then hit the knuckle..... Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaddyChris Posted April 14, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2005 Mike, Here is my question to you...When you took that pic why did you orient the tool in that position.....haha....why didn't you say.....just put it on a table or something like that? haha Chris Christopher Petro 94 sts 67 coupe de Ville Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted April 14, 2005 Report Share Posted April 14, 2005 Mike, Here is my question to you...When you took that pic why did you orient the tool in that position.....haha....why didn't you say.....just put it on a table or something like that? haha Chris I know but look at all the discussion it has created! I was so excited with my new tool that I grabbed my digital camera and shot it! Normally my photographic skills kick in a little better than this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adallak Posted April 14, 2005 Report Share Posted April 14, 2005 I know but look at all the discussion it has created! I was so excited with my new tool that I grabbed my digital camera and shot it! Yeah... it's definitely not a good place for a ball joint separator The saddest thing in life is wasted talent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CadiKing Posted April 15, 2005 Report Share Posted April 15, 2005 I know but look at all the discussion it has created! I was so excited with my new tool that I grabbed my digital camera and shot it! Yeah... it's definitely not a good place for a ball joint separator Adallak, You SLAY ME! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.