What have you done to get your ball joints out?

JEEPnGEO

JEEPnGEO

New member
I had a really wobbly left wheel Friday night so I changed all my plans for the weekend and decided it was ball joint replacing time. My 09 Rubi has 32000 miles on it and has been on factory BJs for most of the them. I went to the local parts store and rented the BJ press. proceeded to extract the drivers side upper. POP! no problems.

Now getting the bottom out is another story. I worked on the MF for 5 hours and used what gas I had in my tourches to heat the knuckle up, 20 pound slege. I even used a ratchet strap from the wrench that turns the press to the front cross member until it ripped and it couldn't have gone any tighter.

I used rust sprays, lubes etc... Nothing will make this thing pop the F out.....

Bothe top and bottom were bad BTW... I haven't done the passenger side yet.


HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Which way were you pressing the bottom one?

The top joint presses up to come out. The bottom one presses down to come out.
 
JEEPnGEO said:
My 09 Rubi has 32000 miles on it and has been on factory BJs for most of the them.
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what ball joints do you have in there that you are replacing. You say that most of your miles were on the factory ones? What joint have you used for some of the other miles?
 
Tcdawg said:
Which way were you pressing the bottom one?

The top joint presses up to come out. The bottom one presses down to come out.
Click to expand...

This was exactly what I was thinking. . .I pressed the wrong way for about 10-15 minutes on one of my lowers before realizing it
 
I agree with the comments from others. If you haven't gotten any movement with just the press, then you're pressing the joint in the wrong direction. To remove, the top joint goes up, and the bottom joint goes down.
 
I just rented a ball joint press from my local parts store. Free 2 day rental. Took me less than an hour for the whole replacement.
 
Tcdawg said:
Which way were you pressing the bottom one?

The top joint presses up to come out. The bottom one presses down to come out.
Click to expand...


I use to do automotive work when I was in High School and for a few years after. That was over 20 years ago. Now I am old and fat and I am working on the ground and not on a lift. I rent the specialty tools I need instead of having every tool at my disposal.

I have done BJ's before just none gave me this much trouble
 
Tcdawg said:
what ball joints do you have in there that you are replacing. You say that most of your miles were on the factory ones? What joint have you used for some of the other miles?
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The originals. I meant to say that I have been running big tires for most of the 32,000 miles on the original BJ's.
 
I got the drivers side upper and lower done only. The new joints work beautifully and the JEEP tracks smoothly down the road. Next weekend I will work on the passenger side.

I wanted to know if there were any tricks incase this happens again.

Thanks all.
 
JEEPnGEO said:
I got the drivers side upper and lower done only. The new joints work beautifully and the JEEP tracks smoothly down the road. Next weekend I will work on the passenger side.

I wanted to know if there were any tricks incase this happens again.

Thanks all.
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glad you got the one side done! On the next side, spray a few times the day before with penetrating lube. That and a a nice break bar for leverage should do it.
 
olram30 said:
there is a video on youtube if you are using a c vice, you can use a flat piece of metal to get more leverage. let me see if i can find it. it might help?
edit, here it is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bf77O90BwKc
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That was a cool video. Harbor Freight had 2 ball joint kits. One with the c press the other one has 14 different rings. If I was going to do this again I would get the aux kit. I found a piece of 1/4 inch armor plate. This weekend I am doing the passenger side. I hope all my sore muscles are gone by then.

Why would jeep make the balljoints fit on the diff and not the knuckles. I pounded hard as hell on the end of the thing with that 20 pound sledge. If I had cracked the end off of that housing I would of been pissed. Not a good design for the D44.
 
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