Oh heck yeah. If you have a floor jack, some stands, and a parts store to rent the press for the BJ's then go for it. Two large metric sockets,(28mm and 32mm if I remember right). 15 bucks for the galvanized seal press tool as described eairlyer.You can also get a look at your bearings as well while your in there.
You will save enough money to go on a vacation for a week.
Nice.....I will replace my own joints. Sounds simple enough and I enjoy doing my own work. I just want to make sure I don't get in over my head. I have replaced my transfer case in my 98 F250 in someone's driveway...snowstorm. This should be no problem. I just have to weigh my options as my little daughter (20months old) wants to spend time with Dad...not to mention my wife. They will understand when they save $800 and one day on the weekend.
I took out the old nipple and compared to the selection that they had at the Napa auto parts. They had a big selection of brass nipples there for vacume lines.
I busted one of the fittings for the ESOF vacuum lines and Ed (ftepartsguy) supplied me with the part#: F81Z4022BA (about $7). If you are ordering anything from Ed at all, I'd add on a pair of these just to be safe. My truck has been in CO it's entire life and they don't just salt here for winter, but my fittings were still a little rusty. A pair of these and some vacuum line will cost you maybe $25 and save you lots of headaches.
I bought that as a "quick-fix" but before next winter I'll be getting the braided stainless lines from DieselSite to replace them for a more permanent fix.
__________________ Brendan
1999 F250 CC SB 4x4 7.3 PSD named "Nyx"
BTS VB;6637;A-pillar (pyro, boost, trans temp);XM radio;Alpine CDA-9831 w/RCA inputs;Leveling kit;Adrenaline HPOP;UnderCover tonneau cover;05 headlights
Anyone know how much the Ford dealership would charge to change both ball joints. I am wondering if it is that big of a cost savings.
Thanks guys!!!
Someone said $1500 and I don't doubt it. Even local shops wanted ~$1100 total.
Including by large snap-ring pliers, a LARGE pickle fork, the galvanized pipe to make my own seal installer, Bel Ray Waterproof grease, and all the balljoints & seals, I'm still at less than $400.
A friend of mine just booked a week long vacation in Puerto Vallarta at the Dreams Resort, airfare, drinks... ALL inclusive (from Denver) for $970.
So I look at is "Sacrifice a day to get a 'free' week in Puerto Vallarta" - not a bad day's work!!
__________________ Brendan
1999 F250 CC SB 4x4 7.3 PSD named "Nyx"
BTS VB;6637;A-pillar (pyro, boost, trans temp);XM radio;Alpine CDA-9831 w/RCA inputs;Leveling kit;Adrenaline HPOP;UnderCover tonneau cover;05 headlights
for the ball joints on the superduty it is very easy... if i could sit in my drive way and do them all day i would charge$600 - 700 bux including parts anyway it just takes time... and brute force the main knuckle seal i used 3 C-clamps to get my new ones on... here is a pdf i am sure i posted it before... but it should help http://truckhelpdesk.com/web/ball.pdf kenny
I just picked up the joints and out hub O-rings (I think) the NAPA didnt know what other o-rings and seals I was talking about and I havent seen them yet so I didnt know how to explain which they were. Does anyone have napa numbers? Thanks.
I think the intentions to let people know how to do this job are good but this job can be a real nasty one. 2003 Ford Excursion with 162K miles on it. Live in Northern Indiana where there is not much salt. Still the parts on the left side were virtually welded together with rust. I have a lot of tools, Oxy Acetylene cutting torch setup, Hydraulic press, Impacts etc.
I ordered most of the parts from Rock Auto - trying to figure out what I needed took quite a while. The yellow rings only Ford had - $13.00 for two O-rings. Now I know why they don't need a bailout.
The parts from Rock Auto were about $300.00 using the best Dana joints that they had.
The left side just didn't want to come apart. I ended up heating up just about everything to get things loose. The bearing housing was was stuck hard in the knuckle. I used a puller on the hub to pull on bearing which drives the axle into the axle tube and pushed the big vacuum seal out the backside. The bearing still would not come out with several tons of force on it. It started to move and then stopped. Get out the torch and I heated up the sides of the knuckle where the bearing housing enters the knuckle and it started to pop. A lot of pulling and tapping and heating and finally it came out. Then what to do about the axle with the seal stuck behind the knuckle. After thinking about it for quite a while I fired up the torch and cut the ball joints off. The wheel U joints where shot on the left side and welded into the sockets. Fire up torch and cut out U joint cross, then knock out U joint cups. Clean it all up and put it back together. Total time for left side with U joint - was a tough 12 hours. No joke.
The right side literally fell apart compared to the left side - I have no idea as to why. The coolest trick I read really worked well on the right side. Back the knuckle nuts off all but 3 or 4 threads. And use a impact driver - aka air chisel,muffler cutter etc with a straight driver in it. It drove the bearing right out of the knuckle. But for some reason the corrosion on the right side was much less than the left? Someone napping at the spray gun at Dana that day??? I dunno. Still the wheel U joint was corroded (welded) together rust so out came the torch and I cut out the cross in that one also. Autozone had the wheel U joints for $30 each.
Right side total hours 7 1/2.
Besides using my 1/2" and my 3/4" impact wrench, and my 3/4" ratchet set for the lower ball joint nut, I made good use of my hydraulic press. I have a ball joint install/remove tool and it wouldn't budge the big ball joints - those things are huge and they were welded in with rust. Also used the impact driver. Had a hard time finding a snap ring plier that didn't bend with that large axle snap ring. Also the Oxy-Acetylene torch set was necessary on this truck. Without it I'm not sure how I would have gotten the left side apart.
I've done a fair amount of heavy mechanical work and on a zero to ten scale I'd rate this as a 8 as far as difficulty. It was much worse than I expected. I could have pulled the engine and trans in the time it took me to rework this front axle.
Cost wise:
$300 for seals and U joints from Rock Auto
$12 for Yellow rings from Ford
$60 for wheel U joints from Autozone
$50 misc tools - two sets of snap ring pliers until I got one that worked, pipe pieces to make the driver tool.
$422 total and that was with discount part prices from Rock Auto.
Probably 4 hours driving around finding the wheel U joints and Yellow rings. Napa did not have the wheel U joints in stock and if I ordered them from Napa they were $69 each!!!
Would I do it again - yes but only if I had a cutting torch setup on hand with a number 2 or 3 tip. If you don't know how to handle one don't attempt this job on anything but a one year old truck or unless you live in the southwest where things just don't rust. I was thinking that after I had the left side torn down that if I didn't have the torch to cutoff the ball joints I would not be able to even reassemble the truck so it could be towed to a shop. I would have been totally screwed.
I can see why Ford would charge $1500 or more for a ball joint job. It's simply a tough job. Add in the wheel joints and that is probably another couple hundred - probably approaching $2000.
But the truck drives great now - no problems. Why some idiot at Ford didn't think that a superduty truck needs $1.00 worth of grease fittings I have no idea. The wheel U joint crosses I cut out where hollow. All they needed was a grease fitting to lube them.
So shade tree mechanics be warned. This one might be show stopper for you.
Wow. Sure was a stubborn PITA for you. Good think you had the mechanical experience to get it done. I'm just trying to imagine a Ford dealer trying to cope with it.
Couldn't agree more about the penny pinching short cuts that happen during manufacture. What ever happened to grease nipples, thread sealant or anti-seize on hardware. And my pet hate, not having a coat of paint on everything. Like you said, it wouldn't really cost much, but the customer (and servicing guys) appreciation and satisfaction would be priceless. Never mind improved re-sale values too.
I think the intentions to let people know how to do this job are good but this job can be a real nasty one.
Many people here have done the job using RacerGuys most excellent guide ..... and removing the brg/hub from the knuckle is the big variable, time wise. Sometimes they slip right off, others take hours of frustration. Saving many hundreds of dollars .... thousands .... is worth it to many, though.
I took a short cut and used a torch to cut a balljoint off because the shaft was spinning in the body. I cut the shaft high up ... a few minutes later, the balljoint shaft/ball exploded out of the housing. Could have killed someone. That was new to me.
BTW, the Advance Auto's near me, now lend the new expanded Balljoint Press Kit, with the correct spacers/cups for the SD balljoints. (I buy fluids and filters and such from them to thank them for the free tool rentals)
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RCV Supertourer 6.0 V8 TDi.
