Hey everyone,
Has anyone removed and replaced their upper and lower ball joints on their Ranchero before? (mines a 79) I'm really wanting to know if I need a spring compressor or not and a ball joint press or not. I heard that if i put a floor jack under the lower control arm and take the pickel fork to the lower ball joint, i could use the jack to decompress the spring so it doesn't fly out. Also, i bought the Moog or TRW (part of the Performance Suspensions front end kit)ball joints, so i know i will just bolt the new ones in, but would i have to press them in? Any help on the best way to do this will be helpful. Thanks!
Danny

 

I did my 78 yesra ago and they just bokted in, IIRC. Have also used a jack to remove/replace the springs..

 

Your springs you can put a chain through them. Thats what I do if the spring looks like it would slip out. Does this not have the shock up through the middle of the spring? If it does it should not come out. I use a floor jack or a bottle jack to recompress the the ball joint back in and this also will then compress the spring. The other thing is put on the outside edge of the ball joint that has to slide back in. Grease. You only need to put on a thin film,. This helps the the joint to slide back in easier. Without it the metal tends to grab and cause the joint to bind while going back together.

Good luck with the work.

 

the shop i worked at had a nifty set of adapters that work with the main tool, it's an "on the car" ball joint press. to get the old one out we used an air hammer. then a little clean up around the hole, and set up the tool and new ball joint and run it in. i think it was just a specialized puller type tool that used a threaded ram to drive in the new ball joint. the adapters are for different size BJ's so they are supported properly and don't get hurt during the process. it went real fast because the lower arm stayed in, just the knuckle was removed from the lower ball. couple minutes each. this is just one kit, there are many with different capabilities.
http://www.toolsource.com/ost/produc...CT2T2ALGLF52E4
maybe your local parts store has one you can rent? if not you'll be in the ball joint business!