What I had come up with was a 1 1/4" inch floor flange on a pipe and had to grind off about 1/2" of the flange and it fit in there perfect and used that to drive my seals on and it worked great wasn't all that expensive either.

refuse2

 

Question, Did you have to take it in for alignment after replacing ball joints?

David C 1990 f250 4wd 7.5

 

No alignment needed. It all bolts back into the same position, original specs. There is no real adjustment for ball joints-they use an offset washer on the top ball joint that only goes in one way. You'll see when you take it apart. The only thing really adjusted on these is toe. You can always get it checked for piece of mind, but everything should bolt right back up to original specs.

 

Thanks, I just put new tie rod assembly ( all ford parts ) and had it aligined today and they told me ball joint is out. maybe 1 /16th play in wheel. They want to repack my bearings also but I think I will do this my self as it is hard for me to trust some shops.
HOw long of a Job was it?

 

I plan on taking it in for an alignement check. I had it lined up about two months ago before I realized I had ball joint problems and they did make some small toe adjustment. It seems be tracking and running smooth but I'm going to get it checked anyway.

 

I changed my joints about two weeks ago. All four, took about 6 hours of work and another 1.5 hours of drinking beer and b.s.ing with my brother-in-law. Pretty easy straight forward job. I had issues getting the hub out of the carrier bracket(where the yellow O ring is). I live in Northern Indiana in the salt belt and the hub and carrier where rusted together. Took a lot of beating and air chiseling to break the rust seal. Probably lost an hour there. The directions in the link above are a life saver and very accurate. My one piece of advice is to not "drive" the big seal out and in as described in the directions. Just put a small pry bar or large screw driver behind the Ujoint and pry out. The axle and both seals will slide right out through the hub carrier with no problem with out damaging them. You may be able to save and reuse the big seal to save some money. When installing the axle and seal, install the small seal on the axle first using a punch or drift to set the seat a little at a time and also install the big seal on the axle too. Install the axle and both seals at the same time. You can push the big seal back into the carrier by hand with very little resistance. Installing the hub will seat the seal. No special tools needed. Well worth the money saved in labor.