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Ball joint removal and Replacement


Merlin

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I started the yfz front end transformation and I can't seem to get the ball joint separted from the spindle, both the top and bottom. Are there any tricks to doing this? I have an automotive pickle fork, but it seems to be oo big.

 

Second, on the a-arms that I bought, the upper ball joint boot is torn a little bit. Can I replace the ball joint? WIth either a new one or the one from my old a-arms?

 

Thanks for the help

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to get my ball joint seperated from the spindle i got the castle nut to the last thread on the ball joint then with a small hard rubber mallet i tapped them until they came out. pretty easy. the upper a arms on a yfz can be replaced but i dont know how i had a shop do it for me people may disagree and tell you it cant be done to the upper a arms on a yfz but it can ive had it done. hope that helps some.

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upper ball joint isnt replaceable. you shoud be able to replace the boot however, maybe, with a boot from your stock arms...(not sure tho). or from a dealership.

 

lower joint, try an open end wrench that fits snuggly around it and pry, while tapping (sometimes means beating the piss out of) it with a hammer or mallet, preferably one with a lifetime replacement warranty.

 

dont forget to repack them good with grease.

 

 

 

EDIT:above post about replacing the upper ball joints, interesting info. i would think it would have too be cut out and then a ball joint with snap rings or something would be the replacement...

Edited by Mullet Man
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as for breaking ball joint loose back castle nut off except last few threads.

use aluminum or brass bar and a BFH...... might soak it down with pblaster penitrating oil around spindle day before the big wack. should pop rite off............ :beer:

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yeah im not sure how they did it but the shop i had replace the ball joint did it and it hasnt failed me yet... and there isnt any snap rings on it it looks like the stock one. my other boot tore and i got alot of sand and water in there and destroyed the thing so it had to be replaced they couldnt just rig it to work.

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Okay this may be hard to describe but I made my own ball joint separator out of a spare drag lug nut (drag style as in threaded all the way through, NHRA requires full depth lug nuts) and a spare bolt that I had laying around. Basically you thread the bolt into the lug nut, put it between the upper and lower ball joints in the spindle and start threading the bolt out of the lug nut; making the separator "longer". I just thread it out to apply a good amount of constant pressure and usually a few light taps (actually light) on the spindle with a ballpeen hammer will pop it loose right away. This way I also don't ever worry about boogering up threads! If you have an option other than a BFH do that please! Too many people use the get a bigger hammer solution.

 

As far as replacing, and I haven't looked at the 450 ball joints to see if this is possible. But you might be able to disassemble the ball joint itself, leave the "socket", for lack of better words, in the stock arm and replace the pivoting threaded portion. This is the only way I could think to do it, but I don't even know if the 450 ball joints could have this done to them or not.

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