99 Expy ball joints
Thread Starter
|
New User
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 20
Likes: 0
99 Expy ball joints
I need to put in new ball joints the lowers are very bad, but figure I should do uppers as well. I have been looking around on here and I think I am gonna go with the Moog's. My question is, I know I need a press to do the lowers , but how difficult is this, is it a day project or weekend? Anything else I should know?
Posting Guru
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 1,083
Likes: 0
99 Expy ball joints
Probably going to take you most of the day if you have never done it before. I found it easier just to replace the upper control arm, as its just 2 bolts and the new control arm comes with a new ball joint and new bushings. Autozone will loan the ball joint press for free. Helps if you have an impact wrench.
Fleet Owner
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 24,316
Likes: 5,127
From: 0,0,1
Not quite, they charge you for it, but you get a 100% refund when you return it. Yes, in the end it's free, but you have to have a credit card with you, or you have to have the cash for it. I'm not trying to play semantics, but one should be forewarned to go there prepared for the initial charge.
Temporarily Deactivated
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 969
Likes: 1
I just did the lowers on mine. If you do the uppers you will need an alignment. I will do the uppers in conjunction with tie rod ends, which also necessitate an alignment. The lowers carry all of the weight, my uppers were still in good shape at 135k miles.
I did the job in my driveway using the Autozone press procured as alloro describes (about an extra $100). It was my first time doing ball joints and the job took me just over two hours start to finish.
I did a fair amount of research on ball joint brands before undertaking this job. MOOG used to be a premium brand, now they are just part of TRW and reportedly the quality is not what it once was. I decided on DANA/Spicer parts from NAPA. From what I can tell, these are a superior part. My truck does a lot of hard duty in the mountains so I wanted a better grade of part. For road use I suspect the MOOGs will last as long as the OE.
I did the job in my driveway using the Autozone press procured as alloro describes (about an extra $100). It was my first time doing ball joints and the job took me just over two hours start to finish.
I did a fair amount of research on ball joint brands before undertaking this job. MOOG used to be a premium brand, now they are just part of TRW and reportedly the quality is not what it once was. I decided on DANA/Spicer parts from NAPA. From what I can tell, these are a superior part. My truck does a lot of hard duty in the mountains so I wanted a better grade of part. For road use I suspect the MOOGs will last as long as the OE.
