OK SINCE WE desided the plow wont fit the bronco I have to do the right front axle joint and ball joints.The ball joint nuts are real bad,what do i do now.And no i dont have a torch.

 

What do you mean real bad, are they rounded, or just rusted? If there rusted use a good penetrating oil on them. 6 point sockets hold better on rounded nuts.

 

a sawzall maybe. I was gonna say torch first

 

Rounded,rusted,ugly, I found a friend with a cutting torch.The u joint is falling out of the front axle.1/2 play completely shot will this cause a vibration while driving in 2 wheel with hubs locked off.I'm going in wish me Luck !

 

Same thing happened to me; 81 F350 and it looked like the front U-joints might have been
factory original, the spiders bounced around in the void that used to be filled in with caps
& bearings. With your hubs unlocked, I can't see 'em contributing to any vibration or
anything, I'd first check tire pressure, then wheel & tire balance.

To pull the pass side axle out of the pumpkin, I rigged a chain to it; the other end got
attached to the spindle, I merely turned the steering wheel to pull the thing outta there.

-chris
colorado, usa

 

Dremel with a cut off wheel and cut the nut off, or 4" hand grinder?

 

On the passanger side where the shaft goes to the short shaft how do i separate the two.Is there clips?Could you explain the chain thing again ,do i leave the upper and lower ***** and the spindle in for this?

 

I never tried to separate the two... I think there are three bolts holding a bracket that's
bolted to the side of the pumpkin where the smaller shaft enters. The bracket kinda
reminds me of an exhaust header collector bracket - it encircles the shaft. Clear out all
the grease & crud that's in there and you'll find 'em, this bracket is what keeps the axle
in place in the pumpkin.

I was merely replacing my U-joints, not ball joints (that's a project for next summer) but,
regardless, the way I did it, yes, you'd need to leave the spindle connected to the ball
joints as well as the tie rod (which connects to the Pitman arm which connects to the
steering box which is turned by the steering wheel). I somehow rigged a chain,
somehow connected it to the axle, probably wrapped it around the (majorly broken)
U-joint assembly. I turned the steering wheel all the way to one of the stops (can't
remember which direction, whichever direction was needed to pull that thing out of
there) and then somehow connected the other end of that chain to that spindle. It was
in true, Neanderthal fashion - merely wrapped around where the tie rod end is
located, I may have used a nut & bolt through the chain to keep it in place, I don't
remember. Then, merely turn the steering wheel (required a bit of force. more than I
was expecting but not too awful much) pulled that thing out of there at which time the
chain flew off (Neanderthal Engineering at its best).

I hope this helps, I can't say I've re-read the entire thread from start to end before
writing, gotta be careful; I just wrote to some dude trying to test his EFI-based EGR
and i wrote stuff referencing a carburetor. *sigh*

-chris

 

This might help:
AutoZone.com

As well as this:

Bronco Ball Joint Replacement - Trucks 4x4 @ Off-Road.com

Somebody within the past 3 or so months posted links to short movies of some dude
separating ball joints, he was using a press that looked kinda like a C-clamp that seemed
to work really well. Search this forum, I'll bet you can find it.

 

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/7...placement.html

 

I looked for the bracket at the front end.Dont see any bolts,i am down to the spindle so i will try to seperate at the connection under the rubber boot.Tommorow will tell.

 

if you're talking about the slip yolk in the rf axle, you just take a clamp off the boot and it puuls right apart. You should try to get it back together the same to keep the u joints in time

 

Thats the one. I will pull the boot off tommorow and try to get it out.question is do the ***** or not? am i asking for trouble.They are tight but nasty and i'm right here.I have a press ready to go.I just have to pull the trigger.

 

if you have a ball joint press and have the axle out and bad ball joints.... hmmmmmmm... yeah replace them unless they are not very old

 

I pulled off the spindle the shaft wont come out to the wheel side hole too small,can i pull shaft toward middle of the truck thru the independent arm?I'm scared to pull the ball joints.