Wew, it came out this morning after church. I heated it up and it beat right out. I got the new ball joins pressed in the nuckle and nuckle mounted back onto the truck. Looks like I may be taking the axle to the Stealer to press on the big seal. I tried the Lowes home-made version out of pipe but can't get it to press on. I don't want to mess up the seal.

Thanks for all the input.

 

don't be afraid of the home made version. like others have said, if you take it to ford they will beat the snot out of it!

 

The difference is that at the dealer we'll beat the snot out of it with the proper driver that won't damage the seal

 

I took my axle and seal to the Stealer this morning. The Service Manager was cool. He walked me back to a mechanic and said make it good with him and walked away. The mech slammed the seal on in about 30 seconds. I slipped him some cash and was out the door.

 

After work today I put the driver side back together in nothing flat. This weekend I'm going to tackle the other side. Kind of excited now that I know how it comes apart.

I also did the brake slide pin upgrade while in there. Wish I'd had a set and the money of a pair of PowerSlot Cryo rotors with Hawk pads. O'well, someday.

THANKS TO EVERYONE, REPUTATION POINTS TO ALL.

This site is what make us "driveway mechanics" motivated to take on a job like this. I have all the pnuematic stuff, but someday I'll have a shop and lift and be able to do something like this in record time.

 

Haha, lifts are over rated for ball joints IMO, i prefer a set of jacks for ball joints/ front axle service. But thats me, glad to hear you got one side done, after the first one, it should be all cake.

 

Glad to hear that you got the one side done. Great news is as you need to do other repairs, it usually comes apart easier the second time around

 

Ok, the Ball Joint deed is finally done. I wasn't able to work on the other side last week so had to wait until Saturday. It went very smooth. It's amazing how that is after you do it once. I can see now how somebody that's done the whole deal 2 or 3 times could really get the time down.

One trick I did take pictures of (and will post soon) is the C-clamp trick to hold the center of the lower joint. No matter how tight I thought it was, that dang center would spin with the nut. So, I cut an old allen wrench to the same length as the groove in the center of the ball-joint. Then I cut a groove in the c-clamp to match the allen wrench laying in the groove. It worked great. Tightened down the c-clamp and Wala as they say, the nut tightend right up.

Thanks again to everybody for your help and wonderful instructions w/photos. Doing this job myself saved me nearly $600 in labor. Now I can get my ATS housing.

Oh, and I took my axle to the Stealer again to have the seal pressed on. The tech did it for free. He wasn't around when I went to pick it up but I will be going by there this week to slip him a few bills for hooking me up again.

I drove it tonight and it's like a new truck. Seriously, I hope you all know how much I appreciate everything.

 

What i do if the bottom one starts spinning, is put a jack under the knuckle, and lift up that side of the truck essentially with it. that usually gets it aswell. Congrats though!

 

It was the threaded stud the nut goes on that was spinning. So the ball was spinning inside the cup that is pressed into the nuckle (Weird, I know all these parts of my front end now).

Thanks for the congrats.

I tell you what. After pulling the tie-rod ends apart to do this job. I'll never pay somebody to do that on any vehicle again. With the right "loner kit" from Advanced Auto those things come right apart. I'll replace them and then go pay for an alignment.

If you can't tell, I'm pretty stoked about accomplishing this job. It feels good to "Get Er Done" as a not wise but funny man said.

 

He may not seem all that wise but I think he probably makes more money than most of us
lol

 

Heck ya. And still everytime I hear him on the Sirius Comedy Channel my eyes water up I laugh soo dang hard. Even if I've heard it before it's funny.

By the way, I will be keeping your instructions and pictures in my 3 ring binder for when my Dad needs to do his on his 99. They're going to make me look like a genius. Na, I'll be giving you the credit. But he will be telling me to pass on a thank you. He lives in the middle of no where so he's still on dial up. When I send family pictures I put a stamp on an envelope, it's faster.

Thanks again. You ever come through central-Indiana and need a hand let me know.

 

You're welcome

And thanks to all the other guys here too for chiming in with more tips and help.